Western Australia’s cricketers are addicted to winning.
It’s what drove them to a third straight Sheffield Shield title last season, despite being stricken by unprecedented injury and unavailability.
And while winning Australia’s greatest domestic cricket prize just once is difficult, there is now a growing feeling this campaign — where they will bid to become the first team to win four on the bounce in the six-team era — could be the hardest of the lot.
Players as young as 21-year-old Cooper Connolly and teenager Mahli Beardman are being called into Australian squads. National selectors have Jhye Richardson and Lance Morris on a short leash. Any number of WA’s batters could be called up for international duties and so could spinner Corey Rocchiccioli.
New South Wales won nine straight shield titles between 1953-54 and 1961-62. That dynasty was engineered by Richie Benaud and Bob Simpson.
Daryl Foster coached WA to nine red-ball championships in two separate stints in the chair between 1975 and 1995.
The humble and determined men at the frontline of this legendary team are — in the most part — yet to reflect on what they have already achieved.
“I’m not great at reflecting, to be honest. Winning is so addictive that your mind quickly shifts to next season,” two-time title-winning captain Sam Whiteman said.
But what makes this team the greatest is they have done it across two formats — and almost three — while managing what has become the big business of cricket with the lures of overseas leagues.
Their third title is considered the most difficult of the trio. With all its road bumps, it probably shouldn’t have happened at all.
Ashton Turner believes it did because success breeds success.
Turner battled a knee injury at the start of last summer and played no cricket for WA, or Perth Scorchers, after Christmas. It gave him a chance to consider what has made this group so good.
“We are in a modern era of cricket and there are so many directions that a lot of guys in our squad are getting pulled in,” he told The West Australian in a candid pre-season interview.
“Franchise cricket is a reality and there are pros and cons of that, but one of the things I think is keeping our squad together is the success that we have created, but also that is possible in the future.
“If you look at the age of our squad, there is no reason that our success can’t be sustainable for a number of years into the future. That’s exciting and I think more or less that’s one of the reasons that we have been able to keep the squad together as much as we have.”
Whiteman, who has taken over the captaincy of WA’s red-ball team full-time, said it would be a “legacy piece” for his team.
“If we can achieve this as a group, we’ll go down as a great team,” he said.
The chance to play in leagues across the globe is behind stars Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff and Andrew Tye knocking back contracts with WA.
Turner doesn’t believe it will impact the dynamic of the group and testament to this is that Agar — who played at a World Cup just months ago — is expected line up for WA’s second
“To be honest, as a player, in the squad, to me it is more of a technicality,” he said.
“Whether guys are contracted, not contracted, we view them as teammates and West Australian cricketers and it’s a little bit like international selection, we know guys are going to be available at times and other times they might not be.”
Some of WA’s international stars are expected to line up in a Hollywood clash with Queensland — who will feature Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne — in a season-opening clash starting Tuesday.
That could include Mitch Marsh, Josh Inglis and Aaron Hardie.
Many of them will be available for the first two matches and some the first three, pending the selection of Australia’s white-ball squad for a November series against Pakistan.
Then late-season selection will hinge on the squad for a January Test tour of Sri Lanka.
“We know that every year, whether we like it or not, our depth gets tested and there will be a lot of guys who get opportunity,” Turner said.
“It might not be round one, but if you look back over the last three years in particular for Western Australia, the amount of guys that have played a role in campaigns — it’s a lot of people.”
Coach Adam Voges is steadfast in his belief his job is to create Test cricketers. Seamer Matt Kelly, who swept all three domestic titles two seasons ago but watched on injured in March, said watching mates succeed was at the core of their culture.
It’s why watching on “wasn’t tough at all”.
“As a group we have evolved in that we love seeing our mates succeed and that’s all we want really, is to celebrate our mates doing well and if we can do well as a team and win some trophies that’s a bonus too,” Kelly said.
Players and coaches aren’t afraid to think ahead to just how special it would be to lift the shield again.
“We look at it internally and say how exciting that would be and what a special thing that would be for our group,” Kelly said.
To win one shield is a really difficult thing to do, so to be able to put ourselves in a position to potentially win four in a row is really special.
WA will face Queensland at the WACA Ground from Tuesday, then play back-to-back matches against Tasmania, first in Perth and then in Hobart. They then play Victoria in Melbourne, South Australia in Adelaide and New South Wales in Sydney before they swap white for orange during the BBL break.