Sam Harper eyes Australia recall after Big Bash League heroics

“I think wrote it under Dad’s pillow as a five year old – I want to play cricket for Australia,” the Melbourne Stars’ wicketkeeper said on Monday.

“While I am lucky enough to be playing for Victoria or the Stars in these competitions, yeah I absolutely want to play for Australia (and) make no bones about it.

“But yeah, I think there’s probably a fair few scores and a bit more consistency before a door like that would open.”

Harper missed out on fulfilling that dream when Australia selected just one wicketkeeper for the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup, taking the risk of no insurance should Josh Inglis fall out of form or be injured.

He has played a pivotal role in the Stars’ finals push with a competition-topping 356 runs at an average of 89.

Harper understands each run will only improve his chances of a belated recall – but he won’t stop stressing the need for greatest consistency anytime soon.

But in the meantime, Harper says he’s “thrilled to contribute for the Stars”.

“That’s what I set my sights on when training at the Junction through June and July,” he said.

Harper has played a stack of Big Bash – more than 100 games in fact – but he’s never hit the ball and accumulated the runs as easily as he has this season.

He admits a tendency as a youngster to fear the reputation of his teammates down the order and somewhat intentionally hit big or get out to bring them to the crease.

The novelty of seeing Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh or Glenn Maxwell decide matches faded, and Harper is now playing to do it on his own terms.

“As a younger player when you’re playing with an Aaron Finch or a Shaun Marsh behind you, you think you’re doing the best thing for the team is to go hard in the PowerPlay,,” he said.

“And then you think you’ve got these superstars behind you then you sort of think, ‘It could be better if I sort of get out here’.”

“Maybe the same a few years ago at the Stars, you’ve got ‘Stoin’ and ‘Maxi’, guys like that, in behind you but as you learn and get older, you want to win games for the team yourself.

“I think it’s going to help the team, me batting for longer, I feel like I’ve got the game to go deep in the innings anyway.

“With the way our middle order is structured and the way we’re playing our cricket, I think it’s the best for everyone. It comes down to a bit of experience and a bit of learning.”

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