Goals reset after Hilton's top summer

To borrow from the KPI-focused parlance of a modern workplace, Hilton Cartwright continually met and exceeded expectations this summer.

The goals Cartwright set himself at the start of the 2016-17 season would have appeared challenging but attainable at the time, but are laughably modest with the benefit of hindsight.

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The hulking allrounder's plan was simple; play all 10 Sheffield Shield matches for Western Australia, secure his spot at No.5 or No.6 in the batting order and avoid the kind of fitness and selection setbacks that have plagued his previous summers with the Warriors.

Not only did Cartwright play all 10 Shield games, he was the competition's second-highest run-scorer and he heads into a well-deserved off-season break with a Baggy Green literally on the shelf and the second-highest first-class batting average of any current Australian player next to his name.

Cartwright's 861 runs for the Shield season, plus the 37 he scored in a surprise Test debut in January, has seen his first-class average balloon to 52.07 from 22 matches, joining the world's best batsman Steve Smith (57.52 from 103 games) as the only current Australians to average more than 50 at first-class level.

Speaking to cricket.com.au after his unbeaten 170 last week steered WA to the verge of the Shield final, Cartwright's pride and excitement as he reflected on his breakout season was almost palpable.

"I had a few goals at the start of the year and it definitely didn't involve getting a Test call-up," he said with a laugh.

"But to look back on that, even if I don't get the call back for another couple of years, I will always be proud of that.

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"And even to get into the Australian one-day squad (in December), even though I didn't play a game, was awesome.

"For me it still feels like it was two weeks ago. All the memories are so vivid and I can remember everything as it was on the day.

"I've definitely reflected on that with my family and I think every time I see them, Mum always wants to see the Baggy Green and my granddad keeps wanting to see photos.

"They keep reminding me of it and to think of what I did there, I was stoked and I still am.

"I've got my Baggy Green sitting on my chest of drawers at home and I see it pretty much every morning, so I'm never going to forget it."

While the 25-year-old's comments almost give a sense of being content with just one Test match to his name, his performances since his debut at the SCG prove that a drop back to the domestic ranks has only enhanced his desire.

An elevation up the WA batting order to No.3 ahead of veterans Adam Voges and Michael Klinger resulted in an average of 75 following the mid-season break, with two centuries and two fifties in the final five games of the season.

Cartwright's shift up to first drop is yet another example of him soaring well beyond even his own expectations this summer; he'd floated the move to coach Justin Langer before the season began, but with an understanding that it wouldn't happen this campaign or even the next.

But after the Warriors lost the opening four matches of their Shield campaign and with Voges and Klinger performing below their usual lofty standards, Langer gave his new Test allrounder the promotion he desired.

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"I'd chatted to 'JL' (Langer) about it at the start of the season and I said that’s what my goal was, to get (to No.3) for WA eventually," Cartwright said.

"I didn't think it'd happen this season; I was thinking more like two or even three seasons’ time that I'd get there and earn the right to bat at that level.

"But they came up to me first game after the Christmas break ... and said ... we're going to give you that spot and hopefully you can make it your own.

"I think the extra bit of responsibility for me to take control and work out the best way for me to go about it helped me.

"Thankfully it worked and hopefully I can keep doing that for the next few years to come."

Cartwright's speaks warmly of an extended family that is scattered on both sides of the Indian Ocean, in his native Zimbabwe and his adopted home in Australia's western-most capital city.

He recalls fondly how Australia losing just three wickets on the opening day of his debut Test meant his maternal grandparents, whose last-minute flight from Harare seemed destined to arrive too late when the Aussies won the toss and elected to bat first, were able to be there in person when their grandson strode to the crease at the fall of the first wicket on the second morning.

Having spent last winter at the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane and the summer jetting around the country, Cartwright will spend the start of the off-season at home with family, a rare luxury for a player who appears certain for higher honours – and much more travelling – over the next decade.

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After enjoying some time off, he will focus on a long pre-season on the training paddock, and some significantly recalibrated goal-setting, ahead of next summer.

"I'm just looking forward to being in Perth for a while," he said. "I've spent quite a bit of time away from home so I'm looking forward to having a bit of a break, being around home and being around the family

"I'm absolutely wrapped with the way things have panned out this summer, regardless of the Australian stuff.

"The way I've gone about by cricket with WA, I was really hoping to knuckle down and do well for WA so everything that's come on top of that is an even greater bonus.

"I've been absolutely stoked ... because as you know, things can turn quite quickly.

"So if you don't stop to smell the roses - if you want to put it that way - before you know it, they could be gone."