Baggy-less Steketee says Test selection is old hat

Mark Steketee might have justifiably felt his days of relative anonymity in first-class cricket ranks were over when he was elevated to Australia's Test squad last summer.

But there's a chance the Queensland quick will be less recognisable than ever when the Bulls begin their Marsh Sheffield Shield defence against Tasmania at Karen Rolton Oval from tomorrow.

That's because Steketee, along with teammate Jimmy Peirson, were victims of a brazen theft earlier this week when the team's van was broken into outside their Adelaide hotel and the pair's kit bags stolen.

As a result, if replacement gear doesn't arrive from Brisbane today, Steketee concedes he'll have to take to the field in a borrowed playing strip which includes his individually numbered shirt and maroon cap.

"That was a lovely start to the summer," Steketee told cricket.com.au today.

"There's probably a couple of young cricketers walking around Adelaide with some nice wicketkeeping gloves and a few good bats from Jimmy, and maybe a Queensland baggy out of my bag as well.

"But it's just another one of those things that's out of your control."

Steketee's pragmatic view of the local larceny mirrors his assessment of the previous season, when the highs of a five-wicket haul for Australia A against India's touring team and his subsequent call-up for the men's Test tour of South Africa were juxtaposed against the postponement of that series on medical grounds.

And to complete the rollercoaster, the 27-year-old seamer sustained a side injury late in the summer and was forced to miss Queensland's last two games including their thumping Shield final triumph over New South Wales.

Consequently, and despite being named as one of seven specialist quicks in Australia's 19-man squad for the South Africa campaign that never was, Steketee returns to Shield ranks knowing last season's efforts – when he claimed 21 first-class wickets at 34.90 – count for nothing come 2021-22.

"It was very surprising at the time I got the call," Steketee said of his brief tenure as a Test squad member.

"It was nice to know I was up there or thereabouts, especially with how strong the Australian bowling stocks are at the moment, but it's a new summer and a new season now.

"You have to come back out, perform well and first and foremost, it's about performing well for Queensland.

"I've always said selections don't really matter as long as Queensland are winning, then all that other stuff takes care of itself.

"As long as you're going as well as you can, there's no point worrying about selection because you can't control it."

What he hopes to change are the factors that led to a decline in his bowling effectiveness when the Shield competition resumed after the KFC BBL hiatus last summer.

Prior to BBL|10 starting last December, Steketee took 4-43 from 22 gut-busting overs to help deliver Queensland an outright win over South Australia at Glenelg Oval, then followed up weeks later with match figures of 6-93 and 2-54 (as a concussion substitute) in successive games against India.

However, his post-BBL return in Shield cricket netted just six wickets from three matches before injury struck.

While Steketee is unable to pinpoint any single culprit for the downturn, he believes his strength and fitness suffered due to being within bio-security bubbles for long stretches last summer and he has therefore spent the off-season in the gym preparing for another atypical season.

"I felt I wasn't bowling quite as well as I would have liked coming out of Big Bash for whatever reason that was, and it was certainly a disappointing end to get injured," he said.

"I thought I started the summer really well, had that good period before Big Bash and then played pretty well through Big Bash but felt it dropped off a little bit after that.

"It's definitely not swapping between formats or anything like that.

"I just don't think I got my body in the right condition after Big Bash, with the little amount of gyms available and all the hotel quarantine and stuff, that probably played a bit of a part.

"But it also comes down to me as well, just not getting that work in when I should have.

"So hopefully I've got some better plans in place if we happen to go into bubbles again this year that will keep me bowling better for longer, through the whole summer."

After an off-season of intensive strength and fitness work, Steketee has eased into summer with a couple of one-day Premier Cricket outings in Brisbane to prepare him for his first four-day outing since last March's rain-ruined draw against Victoria at Allan Border Field.

However, he knows his workload will dramatically ramp-up on what is expected to be another flat pitch at Rolton Oval where SA and Western Australia played out a bat-dominated draw in the Shield season opener last week.

Given he bowled the second-most overs for Queensland last Shield season (behind leg spinner Mitchell Swepson), Steketee seems certain to be the man skipper Usman Khawaja turns to for inspiration with Swepson absent from this game as he departs for the upcoming T20 World Cup this week.

"Obviously you can't replace Mitch Swepson or the way he bowled last summer, but we have Matt Kuhnemann and Marnus (Labuschagne) as well as a couple of other guys who can bowl a bit of spin," he said.

"Those guys do a good job for us if the conditions are spinning, so it's a good challenge for them and a nice change to bowl on some helpful spinning wickets without Sweppo here.

"As a fast bowler down here (in Adelaide), your role becomes pretty simple.

"You try and build a lot of pressure for the spinner, and as soon as it starts reversing or there's a good match-up for me that's when you can attack a bit more.

"But other than that, you have to be quite patient, defensive and wait for the batter to make a mistake."

The Bulls have taken a 16-man squad to Adelaide for Shield and Marsh One Day Cup fixtures against Tasmania and South Australia which, in addition to Test-incumbent Labuschagne, includes Ashes aspirants Khawaja, Joe Burns, Michael Neser and Steketee.

They have also named ex-NSW and Tasmania seamer Gurinder Sandhu who has relocated to Brisbane, and uncapped seamer Connor Sully with fellow quicks Billy Stanlake and Xavier Bartlett unavailable due to injury.

Tasmania, who were due to play Queensland in Brisbane last week but returned to Hobart on the morning of the Shield match due to COVID-19 concerns, have a raft of players unavailable including Test skipper Tim Paine, Jackson Bird, Jake Doran and Riley Meredith (all injured).

Paine's replacement as captain, Matthew Wade, is also absent while preparing for the T20 World Cup which means Beau Webster will lead the Tigers for the first time, while fast bowler Nathan Ellis will miss due to his involvement in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Queensland squad: from Usman Khawaja (c), James Bazley, Joe Burns, Blake Edwards, Sam Heazlett, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Lachlan Pfeffer, Matthew Renshaw, Gurinder Sandhu, Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Connor Sully, Jack Wildermuth.

Tasmania squad: Beau Webster (c), Gabe Bell, Jarrod Freeman, Brad Hope, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Sam Rainbird, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Macalister Wright.