Bulls invest in youth for charge into the future

Queensland have continued their youth policy adding a pair of highly-rated teenage prospects to the 2016-17 squad as they seek to improve on an impressive last season.

Under new coach Phil Jaques, the myFootDr Queensland Bulls impressed in the Sheffield Shield on the back of a string of strong performances from youthful talent to finish fourth. They were in line for a spot in the Shield final until a horror final round saw them fall short. The Bulls five wins for the season was the same as the other top four teams, but five defeats and bonus points saw them finish just 2.97 points away from hosting the final.

"We know we have improvements to make but the willingness and desire to improve their skills and to work hard is very prevalent in this group of players," Jaques said in a statement today.

"We had some encouraging signs last season and that gives us a pretty good launching pad for our off-season and pre-season.

"We will have players involved in a number of winter programs and playing opportunities both here and overseas and that will provide added incentive for the players to improve."

The backbone of the Bulls will continue to be experienced talents such as Chris Lynn, Ben Cutting and Chris Hartley, but they have an exciting future, particularly in batting stocks. The Bulls have secured 20-year-olds Matt Renshaw and Sam Heazlett, 21-year-old Marnus Labuschagne and 22-year-old allrounder Jack Wildermuth on full contracts for 2016-17 having previously been on rookie deals.

Left-handers Renshaw and Heazlett had stand-out seasons for the Bulls. Renshaw finished third in the ACA's Sheffield Shield player of the year standings and scored 738 runs at 43.41 with three centuries. Heazlett, a former Australia Under-19s representative, produced the third most runs in a debut season for the Bulls with 649 runs at 40.56.

Indeed, four of the ten players aged 23 or under to score Shield centuries last season were from Queensland.

Australia Test players Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja have earned Cricket Australia central contracts and Queensland Cricket Convenor of Selectors Justin Sternes said that helped the state invest in youth.

"Having Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns on national contracts has allowed us to contract some exciting young rookie talent but also reward those players who emerged (last) season," he said.

"Ultimately we want to produce more players for Australia, and to do this, we need to continue to develop the potential that we have, complemented by experienced players and coaching staff.

"It is a stable playing group at the moment and that is quite encouraging for us as we plan and work towards meeting our collective goals."

Quick Single: Shield opens door for next generation

Towering quick Billy Stanlake and Sunshine Coast allrounder James Bazely have also earned full contracts.

Gold Coast 17-year-olds Xavier Bartlett and Max Bryant have earned Bulls rookie contracts after impressing in Premier cricket as well as at the recent PRO Camp for unsigned talent at the Bupa National Cricket Centre.

Bartlett is a 192cm right-arm fast bowler and Bryant a hard-hitting right-handed batsman and medium pacer. Both are still high school on the Coast and were part of the Queensland side that won the National Under-17 title.

The Bulls have seen stalwart James Hopes retire while former Australia T20 leg-spinner Cameron Boyce and allrounder Simon Milenko departed to Tasmania. Queensland have not renewed the contracts of batsmen Nick Stevens and Scott Henry and fast bowler Nick Buchanan, son of former Australia coach John.

Henry joined Queensland last summer after losing his NSW contract and scored a century on his Bulsl debut at the MCG against the pink-ball bowling of eventual Shield winners Victoria. But a string of low scores followed and he was unable to win his spot back after the break for the KFC Big Bash League.

Queensland Bulls squad: James Bazley, Joe Burns (CA contract), Ben Cutting, Luke Feldman, Jason Floros, Peter Forrest, Cameron Gannon, Peter George, Chris Hartley, Sam Heazlett, Charlie Hemphrey, Usman Khawaja (CA contract), Marnus Labuschagne, Chris Lynn, Michael Neser, James Pierson, Nathan Reardon, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Jack Wildermuth. Rookie contracts: Xavier Bartlett, Max Bryant, Brendan Doggett, Jack Prestwidge, Matthew Kuhnemann, Bryce Street.