Voges hails patience on long and winding road

It is one of those ironies with which professional sport is rich.

That in the most productive years in his cricket life, Adam Voges reasoned that the short form of the game presented his most likely route to international recognition only to belatedly find that patience rather than belligerence would deliver him an even bigger prize.

Having been added to Australia's Ashes squad when Damien Martyn abruptly quit during the 2006-07 whitewash and then handed his first ODI cap in New Zealand two months later – on the cusp of the 2007 World Cup – a future in national colours seemingly beckoned.

But despite forcing his way to the front of the line, the then 27-year-old watched helplessly as a stream of middle-order queue jumpers including WA teammates Marcus North and Shaun Marsh as well as Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, George Bailey and Joe Burns elbowed past him to a Baggy Green.

So given his increasingly frequent appearances in Australia's one-day set-up in the wake of their disappointing 2011 World Cup campaign in India – for which Voges was again overlooked – he fixed his ambition on the subsequent World Cup in Australia in 2015.

Image Id: ~/media/6D3A9ACF00A247DAB6D24FEBB153F84C

Hussey and Voges during an ODI in India // Getty Images

However, not long after Darren Lehmann replaced Mickey Arthur as coach and despite Voges playing 10 of Australia's 11 ODIs in England and India in the latter half of 2013, when it came time for Lehmann to settle a preferred line-up a year out from that tournament the reliable right-hander was again overlooked.

In a candid conversation with the new coach, Voges – by now entering his 35th year and with many more cricket days behind him than ahead – was told that he was no longer part of Australia's ODI plans.

With Bailey preferred as auxiliary skipper and Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh bringing more explosive all-round options to the middle-order, Lehmann explained to the disappointed veteran that what Voges saw as the last remaining window for an international presence was instead painted shut.

Image Id: ~/media/9A0E94A904594135A00580163052013F

Voges bowls during a T20 international // Getty Images

"I'd been in and out of the one-day team, and in Test cricket I'd been part of the squad (in 2006-07) but hadn't really had a sniff since," Voges said in Cardiff today where he is preparing, three months shy of his 36th birthday, to make his Ashes debut.

"So a lot of my focus during that time was probably on 50-over cricket and getting myself prepared to try and play in a World Cup.

"(Then) I had a pretty honest conversation with Boof (Lehmann) and it was pretty obvious that wasn't going to happen, that the team was looking in a different direction.

"I didn't think I'd ever let anyone down when I'd played one-day cricket (for Australia).

"I thought my performances statistically were good and I played in a lot of teams that won games, so from that point of view it was pretty disappointing.

"I think during that conversation I said 'Well, I'm done then am I?', and his answer was 'No, you're not'.

"Which again, at the time, I was sceptical (about) but he did say 'No you're not done, there's always opportunities'.

"So maybe there was that little glimmer of hope when I walked away from that (conversation), he certainly didn't shut the door that's for sure.

"Boof was very honest, and as hard as it is to hear at times … I moved on.

"It took a little while I must admit, but I moved on and my focus after that was just playing as well as I could for Western Australia, and the product of that is I'm here now."

Image Id: ~/media/4A632CA8FC814295843028F7A11BA9D2

Voges celebrates a century in the Shield final // Getty Images

In truth, Voges made it impossible for the selectors to continue ignoring him.

In a remarkable Bupa Sheffield Shield season last summer, he became one of only four players – along with Bill Ponsford (twice), Don Bradman and Matthew Hayden – to score in excess of 1,000 Shield runs and average above 100 per innings in the process.

But just as compelling was the manner in which he compiled those scores.

As a composed, reliable source of runs in any match situation which seemed almost at odds with his earlier push to establish himself as a white ball player, credentials that were underscored when he finally won a Test debut.

The man who had progressed through the cricket academy and Australia under-19 teams with Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson went to the wicket in his maiden Test in Dominica with Australia wobbling at 3-61, having entered the arena past Clarke who was on his way back to the sheds.

Image Id: ~/media/D8D7A31E3FE24DF69866BB85C7866E6B

Voges is presented with his Test cap in Dominica // cricket.com.au

Just 20 overs later that score read 6-126, still 22 runs adrift of the West Indies' inadequate first innings and with only the bowlers left to help him erase the deficit and build some sort of lead.

Which Voges did with all the expertise and nervelessness expected of a cricketer with more than 11,000 first-class runs but rarely seen in a Test debutant, as he enabled his team to more than double their score and personally finish with an unbeaten 130 along the way.

It's that capacity to continue playing his own game regardless of the match situation that sees him favoured to win the contested middle-order batting berth ahead of his long-time WA teammate Shaun Marsh for the first Test starting in Cardiff on Wednesday.

Image Id: ~/media/2EE278DA3A82468B912F2FED340C6670

Blewett, Clarke, Voges, Marsh and Waugh all scored centuries on debut // Getty Images

And being labelled an accumulator rather than a dominator does not faze the WA skipper, who led his Alcohol.Think Again Western Warriors to the finals of the Bupa Sheffield Shield, Matador One-Day Cup and KFC T20 Big Bash League last summer, winning all but the Shield.

"I was batting (for Australia in an Ashes warm-up game against Essex) the other day and I came out and (David) Warner was smacking them," Voges recalls when asked if his 12-year first-class apprenticeship has left him ready-made for Test cricket.

"Then he got out and Watto (Shane Watson) came in and he smacked them, then he got out and Mitch Marsh came in and he smacked them.

"I was quite happy doing my thing at the other end.

"If I can build partnerships with those guys then that's what I try and focus on.

"There will be times where I'm hopefully get a bit of a run on as well, and I'm not there to just occupy balls.

"I'll certainly be proactive and positive in the way that I play but those guys were on a different level the other day (at Chelmsford)."

It's not only his extensive grounding in the Sheffield Shield and years of county cricket with Middlesex and Nottinghamshire that has taught Voges about the method and mindset that best suits his game.

Image Id: ~/media/C2E42127AB974A3BA41B227928AFE299

Voges hits out for Middlesex's limited overs side // Getty Images

As the father of two youngsters (Xavier and Ella) who, with their mum Kristy will arrive in Cardiff today, he has learned patience and context, and it's those virtues as much as his on-field experience that he will draw upon amid the scrutiny and gravity of an Ashes Test.

That and the fact that he knows the England bowlers who will be searching for a chink in his game almost as well as he does the British venues and conditions.

"I've faced most of the (England) guys," Voges said prior to Australia's first pre-Test training session at Cardiff's Swalec Stadium today.

"Obviously (Stuart) Broad I played with at Notts, (Mark) Wood I've seen a bit of and played against and (James) Anderson, (Ben) Stokes and Moeen (Ali) I've played against, so I don't think there's going to be anything there I haven't seen before.

"So from that point of view I guess that's an advantage for me, but they've seen me as well.

"It's going to be a big occasion, I'm sure there will be some nerves – you'd be disappointed if there weren't.

"But the preparation has been really good in these few (warm-up) games so getting out there and getting into the heat of things, that's what I'm looking forward to."

Click above to learn more about how to stream the Ashes and more cricket