Brendan Doggett wants to show he is not just a bouncer merchant when he next pulls on the Baggy Green, as the youngest member of Australia’s contracted Test pace group prepares for a major role in their busy upcoming schedule.
Doggett made his international debut during last summer’s Ashes, with all seven of his wickets collected via short balls, before the returns of Pat Cummins, Michael Neser and Jhye Richardson sidelined him through the latter part of the series. A hamstring injury then ruined the back-end of his domestic campaign with South Australia.
The right-armer nonetheless was handed a central contract for the first time in April. At 32, he has fresher legs than the ageing crop of contracted Test quicks in Cummins (33), Neser (36), Mitchell Starc (36), Josh Hazlewood (35) and Scott Boland (37) he could see considerable game time through their 20-Test, 12-month run beginning in August. Richardson (29) lost his national deal this year, while contracted white-ball seamers Nathan Ellis (31) and Xavier Bartlett (27) are not Test-capped.
While Doggett is under no illusions of his spot in the pace pecking order, the former carpenter hopes he can more fully show off his skills with the ball if handed the opportunity to add to his two Tests.
“I sort of got to the point there where every time I got handed the ball during the Ashes, it was probably more for short-ball tactic stuff,” he told cricket.com.au on Monday as Cricket Australia launched its summer tickets sales drive.
“Which is fine – I wasn’t foreign to it – but it just probably wasn’t something I was expecting to be predominantly bowling I guess.
“But I’m not complaining – I’d do it again any day of the week … if I’m playing for Australia, wearing a Baggy Green, I’ll do whatever I’m asked to do.
“But I’d like to get another crack and probably be able to bowl more of my style, like I do for South Australia.
“I reflect upon it and think about the things I did well: I was able to perform a niche role I guess, and do it well enough, then to be part of an Ashes series at home, arguably one of the bigger ones we’ve had in the last decade – it’s a dream come true.”
With Cummins and Hazlewood, along with Sean Abbott and Jhye Richardson, all injured for the opening two Tests against England, Doggett’s raw pace saw him play as an enforcer in Perth and Brisbane, daring the visitors’ aggressive batters to take on those venues’ big square boundaries.
Exactly half of the 290 deliveries Doggett sent down in his two Tests were short or back of a length (per Opta), compared to only about 20 per cent for Starc and Boland in those same matches. Neser (who did not play in Perth) was lower still at 12 per cent.
It’s a role Doggett performed extensively in his early days in Queensland’s Sheffield Shield team, and even on occasion with the South Australia attack he now leads. It had never been as successful as it was against England.
Given he was Australia’s eighth-choice quick to begin the Test summer, Doggett finished the season content with helping his country go 2-0 up in a series they eventually claimed 4-1.
He laughs at the suggestion he is now hunting another ‘first’ Test victim having recorded that milestone in anti-climactic style when danger-man Harry Brook was shown on review to have gloved one behind after a half-hearted appeal.
“I haven’t taken a Test wicket on the off-side yet – they’ve all been leg-side or off short balls,” said Doggett, whose stock outswinger has netted him 51 wickets at 21.86 over his past 10 Shield matches.
“But I think that’s every fast bowler’s dream, either to take someone’s off-stump or nick them off – they’re the glory wickets – so to be able to take one of those, I’ll probably be able to celebrate it a bit better than I celebrated my first Test wicket.”
Doggett strained his left hamstring while fielding during a Shield match at the SCG in February and admitted he pushed hard to return for SA’s Shield final against Victoria, having claimed 11 wickets in the corresponding fixture a year earlier.
With Tests against Bangladesh, South Africa, New Zealand, India and a return Ashes tour coming up in 2026-27, the paceman is glad he did not risk further damage by playing at the Junction Oval, where SA pulled off an unlikely win without him.
The Rockhampton-born quick has one eye on Test cricket’s return to his native far north Queensland, with Mackay (about a four-hour drive south of his hometown) to host the second NRMA Insurance Test against Bangladesh in August.
The renovated Great Barrier Reef Arena holds good memories for Doggett, who points to a six-wicket haul at that ground in October-November 2024 for Australia A against India A as the catalyst for the run of form that eventually propelled him into the Test team.
“Mark Steketee was originally selected, then he got injured, then Liam Hatcher replaced him, then he got injured, then I replaced him,” Doggett recalls of the dominoes that fell and led to him taking 6-15 after coming on to bowl second change.
It marked his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket in five-and-a-half years, and prompted a red-hot run of taking seven five-fors in 13 games. “Since then I’ve been able to get on a bit of a roll and have put together some good seasons,” he said.
“That’s definitely where it all sort of started for me.”
Doggett anticipates plenty of ticket requests from family and friends if he does make the XI for Australia’s return to the region later this year.
“Up in north Queensland, everyone loves their rugby league, so cricket’s got to compete with footy there,” said Doggett, who moved to Adelaide in 2021. “But I think it’s super special playing a Test in Darwin and in Mackay.
“These cities don’t really get much attention from international cricket, so the turnout is going to be good, the atmosphere is going to be brilliant, and they put a lot of effort and into redoing that stadium in Mackay as well.”
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: August 13-17, Marrara Stadium, Darwin, 10am (local)
Second Test: August 22-26, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 10am (local)
