Top teens added to CA's rookie squad

More than fifty of the top teenage cricketers from around the nation have been named in Cricket Australia's first Pathway Rookie Squad.

It is the widest net to capture bright young cricket-playing talent since the creation of the national cricket academy in 1987.

The initiative is part of the CA's new Australian Cricket Pathway strategy, a programmed designed to make clear the journey from the backyard to Baggy Green for cricketers as well as umpires and other officials involved in the game.

The 52 players named today are all aged between 14 and 17, selected by state and territory talent managers and overseen by CA's National Talent Manager and former Test skipper Greg Chappell.

The teens have been graded into three levels of bronze, silver and gold, with progression between those levels possible, which represent current and future playing and training opportunities.

"The focus will be on improving the all-round skills that the modern day game demands, as well as assisting each player by challenging them to grow as individuals away from the field," Cappell said.

"By introducing this program, we want to provide a quality cricket experience for players aged between 14 and 17 and increase their opportunities to stretch and extend themselves as they further develop their skills.

"We will be able to better observe their development and especially in the case of the younger pace bowlers, work on gradually building up their physical capabilities to assist them to develop resilience to the rigours of fast bowling," Chappell said.

The announcement comes days after another former skipper, Mark Taylor, worried there was a lack of young batsmen pushing through the ranks into the Australian Test team.

"It's a concern for our young batsmen," Taylor told cricket.com.au when asked if he was alarmed by Australia's failure to repel high quality attacks away from home.

"I'd like to see more young players come into the Australian side. 

"That's been the concern that there's been no young state cricketer force his way into this team."

It was a sentiment echoed today by National Selector Mark Waugh.

"From a selector's point of view, you'd like to see maybe a few more batsmen scoring bigger hundreds in Shield cricket and really knocking the door down," Taylor said.

"That's probably one area we haven't had the younger players putting together a couple of seasons back-to-back with big runs."

The first change under the Pathway program will see Australia's U16 squad, selected from the recent National Under 15 Championships in Darwin, playing in the National Under 17 Championships.

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Oli Davies is a 14-year-old with a big future // MyCricket

Players in the rookie squad hail from metropolitan and regional areas, with the most remote including Moree 14-year-old Patrick Montgomery (NSW), Humpty Doo resident Dean Fry (NT), Whyalla product Josh Pengelly (SA) and Townsville wicket-keeper Josh De Munari (Qld) who grew up in the township of Mena Creek near Innisfail.

It also includes 14-year-old Sydney player Oliver Davies, who scored the most runs of any club cricketer in the 2014-15 season.

Davies amassed a total of 1,755 runs, which included a high score of 136.

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