With a match-winning knock to begin a new campaign, the 22-year-old is looking to settle into a regular role with the Blues
Reborn identity: Salzmann finds his middle ground
Will Salzmann is hopeful that regular game time for New South Wales will help solve his cricketing identity crisis.
The 22-year-old has battled numerous injuries over his fledgling career, limiting him to just 16 appearances for the Blues since coming onto the list four years ago.
A serious hamstring injury prevented the right-arm seamer from bowling for the majority of last season, a cruel blow for a player whose primary asset to that point had been his skills with the ball.
However, then-NSW coach Greg Shippherd saw an opportunity for Salzmann with the bat, and promoted the right-hander to open in the Sheffield Shield. The red-ball rookie passed 50 twice in 10 innings at the top and showed the technique and temperament to succeed against the new ball.
But it left Salzmann with some existential questions. Is he a fast bowler? An opening bat? An allrounder?
"It's been really hard," Salzmann said after NSW's One-Day Cup win over Queensland on Tuesday night. "At the start of last year, I was bowling a little bit, coming back from injury and playing through that. All that was new to me.
"This year going into the season (and) not knowing what my identity is as a cricketer … I haven't seen that as a bad thing … I tried to look at it as quite exciting."
Perhaps his heroics against the Bulls will help make his path a little clearer.
While ineffective with the ball (0-45) despite his impressive List A numbers to date (16 wickets at 20.37), it was with the bat, and from the middle order, that Salzmann played a pivotal role.
Coming in at No.6 (one spot lower than he was listed after Ben Dwarshuis' promotion), the former Under-19 national representative set to work with NSW still needing more than 140 to win.
Although he started slowly, with 28 off his first 41 balls, it was his calm head that pulled the Blues over the line in the largest successful chase at Allan Border Field.
Salzmann finished with 70 off 65 balls, his best in 50-over cricket, and his unbroken century stand with debutant Jake Scott (52 off 39) took NSW to their target with six balls to spare.
"It wasn't fun at the start of the day, going for nines (runs per over) and getting whacked around," Salzmann said.
"It's both edges to the sword. It's nice to be an allrounder.
"I've got a long-term goal: I want to be a genuine allrounder, I want to bat in the top four.
"But how I get there, I've not worried about it.
"It's been tough, but you probably look at how happy I was out on the field, and how happy I am."
The Blues were responsible for 20 of the game's 35 sixes, giving a clear indication of what to expect from Brad Haddin's side this summer.
The former Australia wicketkeeper was an attacking, stroke-playing batter who looks set to instil the same philosophy onto his batting group.
"I know us as a state want to play positive cricket," Salzmann said. "Whether that's (in the Sheffield) Shield, in different conditions, we'll always look to take the aggressive option."
2026-27 One-Day Cup standings
Round 1
| Team | M | W | L | T | D | N/R | NRR | Ded. | Bat | Bowl | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
TAS
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.863 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
|
2
NSW
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
|
3
VIC
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.103 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
|
4
SA
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
|
5
WA
|
2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4.863 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
|
6
QLD
|
2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.132 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
D: Drawn
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
Bat: Batting Bonus
Bowl: Bowling Bonus
PTS: Total points