Paris is burning to keep his Test dream alive

When national selectors tune in to watch the live stream of the Sheffield Shield season opener next weekend, expect the fortunes of Western Australia's Joel Paris to warrant more than a passing glance.

Australia have seen their two most prolific left-arm pacemen in Test history blossom over the past decade in Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc, and Paris is eager to put his case forward to be the next in line following a rotten run with injury.

Western Australia's busy start to the domestic season that has them playing four Marsh Sheffield Shield games in four-and-a-half weeks in an Adelaide hub presents a golden opportunity.

Left-armers have long been highly desired assets at Test level, and recent Sheffield Shield numbers suggest Paris, when fit, has been up there with the country's best.

Among left-arm quicks since his debut in 2015, only Starc and WA teammate Jason Behrendorff (who has not played a first-class game in three years) have recorded better Shield bowling averages than Paris' 23.25.

Among all bowlers during that period, only two (James Pattinson and Chris Tremain) have better strike-rates than Paris, who has taken a wicket every 46 balls.

But showing he can stand up the rigours of first-class cricket remains his biggest challenge; Paris has played just 17 first-class matches in five years.

After the birth of his daughter Emmy in January this year and the subsequent derailment of the end of the cricket season, he has worked closely with WA bowling coach Matt Mason in the pre-season on slowing the speed of his run-up to allow him to get more pace in his bowling action.

Having been in Test calculations as recently as two years ago when he was picked for the red-ball segment of an Australia A tour of India, Paris admits hopes of winning a Baggy Green have been a major motivator during his injury lay-offs due to back and quad issues.

"If you lose that dream of Test cricket, everything else can tend to crumble around it. I've still got that in the back of my mind and that's the ultimate goal," said the 27-year-old, who is hopeful of re-signing with the Perth Scorchers in the coming weeks.

"But I've certainly had a real focus over the last 18 months on having an impact for us in Shield cricket first.

"I still feel like if I'm doing well at that level and doing it for a consistent amount of time, being a left hander and being able to swing the ball, I think that's an attractive thing for selectors.

"For me it's about being consistent with my bowling and playing consistent Shield cricket."

Like the two left-arm Mitches early in their careers, the question marks over Paris have been less about his skills with the ball and more about his ability to stay on the park.

Paris burst onto the domestic scene as a 21-year-old when he helped lead WA to the domestic 50-over title in 2014-15 with 12 wickets at 12.92, vaulting him into the Australian team to play two ODIs against India the following summer. 

Those two games, which remain his only international appearances to date, came amid a remarkable maiden 2015-16 Sheffield Shield campaign in which he captured 35 wickets in just six games.

While he spent more than two years between 2016 and 2018 among the ranks of talented WA pacemen facing constant rehabilitation, Paris has re-emerged as one of the state's most promising players.

"The last 18 months, I feel like I can back up day-to-day better than what I could in the first part of my career," he said.

"(Injuries) have mentally been the biggest challenge for me.

"I spoke a lot to (former WA coach) Justin Langer when I was going through my quad stuff. He said a lot of the stuff he dealt with throughout (his) career was being dropped or not performing well, and he'd go away to try and improve that.

"But for people who go through a lot of injury troubles, it's a bit different. A lot of the time it's not necessarily your own fault."

By adding last season's leading Shield wicket taker Cameron Gannon, Western Australia now possess two of the six most effective (by average) bowlers in the competition over the last five campaigns in Gannon and Paris.

With WA desperate to claim their first Sheffield Shield crown in over 20 years, those two loom as crucial players, especially given allrounders Cameron Green and Mitch Marsh are likely to play as batters only during the early stages of the season.

"There's no secret that in bringing Cam over is a big part of what we're trying to achieve,” said Paris.

"We've been really successful in one-day cricket in the last five or six years – that's still going to be a focus if and when that happens in terms of the one-day competition – but there's no secret within the squad we want to have a crack at winning a Shield.

"We've got some young exciting guys coming through but in terms of experience and a senior head, we felt like we needed to add something else.

"Myself and Matt Kelly were probably the two senior bowlers at the back end of the season so we felt like we needed a third to be around the group and Cam was a perfect fit for that."