No shortage of talent in Australia: Chappell

There's no shortage of cricketing talent within Australia’s junior ranks, according to Cricket Australia National Talent Manager Greg Chappell.

Chappell has been casting his eye over the Under 17 National Championships, which are being playing on the Sunshine Coast and in Brisbane, looking to identify the players who could one day follow in the footsteps of current stars such as Steve Smith and David Warner.

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And while there's plenty of talk about a 'war on talent', Chappell believes cricket is providing the opportunities to develop and keep the country's most talented young cricketers engaged with the sport.

"Talent’s not our problem in Australia. We’ve got plenty of talented young cricketers," Chappell said.

"We’re now providing the sorts of opportunities we need to provide for cricketers at that age, because generally kids who are good at one sport are good at other sports.

"There’s a lot of competition for that good talent, so we need to be in the contest for the best players."

The biggest part of that competition is providing plenty of match-play opportunities, through tournaments such as the under-age championships.

"One thing we know is players develop from playing the game, they don’t get better in the nets," Chappell said.

"So we’ve got to provide plenty of quality playing opportunities for the best young talent to draw that talent out and to get them to develop the all-round skills - not only the physical skills, but also the mental skills to be able to cope with adversity."

It’s an opportunity more than 100 players from ten teams across the country have been trying to take advantage of, with a number of young players emerging.

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Queensland batsman Angus Lovell leads on the run-scoring front, with two centuries heading into the semi-finals, while South Australia leg-spinner Lloyd Pope has claimed 12 wickets to be one of the tournament’s stand-out bowlers.

"It’s really just giving them the opportunity to play and show what they’ve got," Chappell said.

"Just to be able to see in them in one place against the same opposition over two weeks, the better ones rise to the top.

"If we’re finding half a dozen good young cricketers each year in each age group, then the pipeline’s pretty well stocked to make sure the future looks rosy for Australian cricket."