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Doolan's Hobart to Sydney race

Test squad call-up brings rushed trip to collect red ball gear

Alex Doolan’s call-up to the Australian Test squad came as such a surprise to the 28-year-old that he now faces a rushed trip back home to collect his cricket gear before he joins the team in Sydney.

Doolan is currently in Melbourne where he will turn out for the Renegades in this evening’s KFC Twenty20 Big Bash League match against the Brisbane Heat, and was on his way back from the Melbourne Renegades’ training on Sunday evening when he learned he had been added to the 14-man squad for the Sydney Test.

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Only Shane Watson’s capacity to recover from a groin injury now stands between Doolan and receipt of a Baggy Green cap in the fifth and final Test of the Ashes series that begins on Friday.

But while his new national team-mates head north to Sydney tomorrow morning, Doolan will be on a plane heading south to collect the tools of trade he requires for first-class cricket and which he left at home in Hobart believing he wouldn’t need them until the Bupa Sheffield Shield resumes next month.

“I don’t have any of my white pads or red-ball bats with me, so I have to go home without trusting my fiancée (Laura) to get everything ready for me,” Doolan said today.

“I think it’s best that I go home and collect it myself.”

The fact that Doolan keeps his favourite bats exclusively for use in “red-ball cricket” shows just how seriously he is committed to making his mark and succeeding at the elite level.

Even though he has been on the Australian first-class scene for a number of years, it was last summer – when he finished fourth in the list of Shield runs scorers – that he signalled his game had reached the level required to come to the attention of Australia’s selectors.

During that season he committed himself to learning as much as he could possibly absorb from his team-mate and fellow Launceston native, Ricky Ponting, who was playing out his post-Test retirement days as the dominant Shield batsman.

“I had met him (Ponting) a few times before and played a couple of games with him,” Doolan said.

“As you can imagine he’s a pretty busy man and he didn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to little old me.

“Last year was when I really got to know Ricky and when he put his mark on me. (What I noticed) is how normal he is.

“When you meet someone as great as him you expect to be wowed by every little thing he does, but he’s just such a normal person and it’s really quite refreshing to see how good he is around everyone he meets.

“I learned a lot from watching him play, but he’s just a determined little monster when he’s playing so that’s probably what I’ve got out of it.

“He doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary, but he works hard to make sure he gives himself the best opportunity to score runs.”

As Australia’s batting coach and former Tasmania all-rounder Michael Di Venuto said today, the major change in Doolan’s approach has been the level of self-belief he’s developed.

And Di Venuto attributed much of that belief to Ponting’s influence.

“I think that’s really where he got to believe he is a good player,” Di Venuto said.

Doolan reaffirmed that assessment, and claimed there was nothing technical nor overtly inspirational that Ponting passed on to him during the Shield-winning season they shared with Tasmania.

“He didn’t necessarily tell me how I had to go about it,” Doolan said.

“He just tried to instil the belief in me and to believe firstly that I was a good player and that I could do it and not be satisfied with everything I’ve done – to make sure if I got a hundred and then next time I bat, I got a hundred again.

“I think there’s a difference between belonging and wanting to dominate and contribute in every game.

“I’ve probably felt like I’ve belonged at (first-class) level for a while but been happy just belonging and not wanting to be one of the best players in the competition.

“That’s probably one of the main differences for me after having chats with Ricky – wanting to play for Australia.”

In addition to having a prolific summer last season, Doolan scored an impressive century in his opening Shield match of this season against New South Wales at the SCG, a game in which Australian captain Michael Clarke was making a rare appearance for the Blues.

What he saw doubtless remains fresh in his mind, and will provide him with comfort should Doolan be required to bat one spot ahead of the skipper in the New Year Test.

Doolan said he has no expectation that he will become Australia’s next Test player, nor does he automatically expect to fill the No.3 berth should Watson fail to prove his fitness even though that’s the position he has batted at for much of his career.

“If I get an opportunity, I’ll bat at eleven,” he said today.