NEW DELHI: Ashton Agar, an Australian left-arm spinner, believes that, like his compatriots who have achieved success in leagues across the world, it is time for him to seek beyond the safety net of representing his country and explore new prospects in the dynamic world of franchise cricket.
Agar, 30, is a player for Australia in the Americas T20 World Cup roster and is a candidate to wear the green and yellow shirt as the competition goes on.
Over the course of his more than ten-year career, Agar has participated in five Test matches and approximately 70 limited-over matches. Of them, his incredible 98 against the No. 11 in the 2013 Ashes series stands out as the most memorable.
However, despite the fact that players in franchise cricket, particularly the Indian Premier League, such as David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Glen Maxewll, Pat Cummins, and others, have become household names, the cricketer has never left the Australian cricket establishment.
“What I’ve learned is that you can’t cling on to safety in your skills and then your contracts,” Agar said in Unplayable Podcast on cricket.com.au.
“I’ve made that mistake before and your cricket skills fall away, if you’re clinging on to safety and security,” Agar, who played the T20 World Cup warm-up game against Namibia earlier this week, added.
Over the past 1.5 years, Agar has only participated in three international matches across all formats-none of which have been T20Is.
For the first time since moving from Melbourne to Perth in 2012, he has turned down negotiations with Western Australia or Australia, indicating that he is searching for better opportunities elsewhere.
“I think a lot of people are going to do what I’ve just done in the coming years. We’ll see it a lot more next year, more the year after — and that’s just going to be the way cricket works.
“Because there’s so much T20 cricket around the world, guys aren’t going to want to take contracts that lock them into certain things,” he added.
Agar, who was part of the Australian squads in the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups held in the UAE and Australia respectively but played just one match in each tournament, hopes to be a part of playing XI in the T20 World Cup and bowl alongside good friend Adam Zampa.
“It had been really positive (messaging from national selectors) the whole time that if we were going to take two spinners I was going to go,” said Agar.
“So I was preparing for most of the summer with this in the back of my mind. That’s nice because you can wrap your head around it mentally a little earlier and prepare,” added Agar.
(With PTI inputs)
Agar, 30, is a player for Australia in the Americas T20 World Cup roster and is a candidate to wear the green and yellow shirt as the competition goes on.
Over the course of his more than ten-year career, Agar has participated in five Test matches and approximately 70 limited-over matches. Of them, his incredible 98 against the No. 11 in the 2013 Ashes series stands out as the most memorable.
However, despite the fact that players in franchise cricket, particularly the Indian Premier League, such as David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Glen Maxewll, Pat Cummins, and others, have become household names, the cricketer has never left the Australian cricket establishment.
“What I’ve learned is that you can’t cling on to safety in your skills and then your contracts,” Agar said in Unplayable Podcast on cricket.com.au.
“I’ve made that mistake before and your cricket skills fall away, if you’re clinging on to safety and security,” Agar, who played the T20 World Cup warm-up game against Namibia earlier this week, added.
Over the past 1.5 years, Agar has only participated in three international matches across all formats-none of which have been T20Is.
For the first time since moving from Melbourne to Perth in 2012, he has turned down negotiations with Western Australia or Australia, indicating that he is searching for better opportunities elsewhere.
“I think a lot of people are going to do what I’ve just done in the coming years. We’ll see it a lot more next year, more the year after — and that’s just going to be the way cricket works.
“Because there’s so much T20 cricket around the world, guys aren’t going to want to take contracts that lock them into certain things,” he added.
Agar, who was part of the Australian squads in the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups held in the UAE and Australia respectively but played just one match in each tournament, hopes to be a part of playing XI in the T20 World Cup and bowl alongside good friend Adam Zampa.
“It had been really positive (messaging from national selectors) the whole time that if we were going to take two spinners I was going to go,” said Agar.
“So I was preparing for most of the summer with this in the back of my mind. That’s nice because you can wrap your head around it mentally a little earlier and prepare,” added Agar.
(With PTI inputs)