Tara Murray
Footscray bowler Max Birthisel is hoping to make the most of what he learned as part of the Melbourne Stars Academy squad for the Top End T20 Series.
Birthisel was one of two Bulldogs players included in the squad which forms a key part of Cricket Victoria’s new T20 high performance program.
The series included four Big Bash sides, along with three state sides and teams from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Birthisel said it was a pretty cool opportunity.
“It was pretty good,” he said. “I absolutely loved it, it was great.
“Clint McKay [Stars T20 high performance manager] rang me up maybe a month out. I was already up in Darwin at the time.
“I think the Big Bash clubs are pretty exciting and I think it’s probably a step up from the pathway sort of stuff now, especially being out of the pathways.”
Birthisel said the Stars set up was the most professional set up that had been involved in
He said you could tell straight away it was that it was an elite sort of set up.
Among those in the Stars squad was Australian bowler Scott Boland, who also acted as a bowling assistant coach.
“I definitely had a few chats to Scotty around a few plans and what I was trying to do in a few games and he was great,” Birthisel said.
“He’s such a down to earth bloke and such a great person to talk to and obviously he has such a wealth of knowledge as well, he was absolutely awesome.”
Birthisel played in four games for the Stars, bowling in three and taking two wickets.
While he wasn’t 100 per cent happy with his performance, Birthisel said there were some good signs.
“It wasn’t too bad,” he said. “I’m still pretty happy about things, but definitely I was hoping to go a little bit better.
“I definitely have a few things to work on and I think if I do a few things right, I’m not too far away.”
Footscray opener Dylan Brasher was also part of the team, having played in the competition the past couple of years.
Birthisel will now start focusing on the Victorian Premier Cricket pre-season with the Bulldogs.
He said it would be slightly different having already got some games under his belt.
“I’m kind of already in season,” he said. “Nothing too different, I have to keep bowling.
“Footscray are only just getting into their pre-season and starting their skills and I’m well ahead of that now.”
Birthisel said he would look to work on his red ball bowling a little bit but said he felt white ball cricket was probably his strength.
“It was such a good experience [the top end series] to put all the things I’ve learnt into action, it’s good fun. I definitely think my skills are better suited to the white ball… I think to give myself the best chance to keep playing is probably in the white ball game.
“To be honest, I just want to play cricket no matter what.”
