Gentlemen, start your engines

PL: A Konstas century in India and a Patterson hundred at home keep things interesting while Kuhnemann and Hope combine for a record partnership

Cracking open the laptop for the first official game of 2025-26 cricket season

Josh Hazlewood, stooping down to field an approaching toddler who appeared on familiar terms with the Australian quick, agreed that it was indeed a rare thing to find Adam Zampa at Cricket Central, and then claimed to have given the leggie a tour of NSW’s headquarters the day before.

It was, he said, the first time the slow bowler had made it from his home up on the north coast to the facility by the Silverwater Jail.

Zampa, who has a curious non-relationship with his adopted state, had played a Shield game for his state side last summer, but that was at the SCG.

The guy on security, familiar from seasons past, said that there were already 100 patrons in the ground by the time I’d found an improvised space in the oversubscribed car park. It’s good to know that I’m not the only one simple enough to be lured out along the M4 to the first official male game of the season.

Hazlewood, who had made the trip out with his mother and 18-month-old son, Zac, was not playing, but there were at least 10 Australian players turning out for the match between NSW and Tasmania.

Zampa’s come all the way down from his 66ha property in Binna Burra, a 7 hours and 41 minutes drive from Cricket Central. His son, Eugene, fell asleep in the new viewing stands in the first innings.

By lunch, almost 200 had made their way out for what, if you squinted enough, could be framed as one of the early episodes of the Great Australian Bat Off: The Return.

Had Sam Konstas not been conscripted for the Australia A game against India A in Lucknow, there might have been 2000 on hand, but 200 (it got to 206 last time I checked) is a comfortable and respectable turnout for a domestic 50-over game.

George Bailey was there as part of a talent scouting tour that will see him at the Queensland Victoria clash on Tuesday.

The Tassie top order is as formidable as is its bowling attack. Jake Weatherald, the 30-year-old who many are tipping as a chance to open for Australia this summer, opened with Owen, 24, who has already played seven T20 internationals and should play plenty more. Webster, the captain, has himself at first drop, and veteran Matthew Wade brings a world of experience to the middle order.

Nathan Ellis, who was raised in nearby Mennai, tells me he is a little nervous as his first child (there’s a theme developing here) is due any minute and he’s not sure he’s done the right thing in coming up. He’s going to skip the New Zealand T20 games next month but will be back for the limited-overs series against India. If the kid has a smile like its dad it is going to bring a lot of joy to the world.

I’m confused by the appearance of the former Australian Test player Wade. The Tasmanian retired from international cricket in October last year with the intent of transitioning into a coaching role with the Australian T20 team. He’d turned up as an assistant during the Test series in the Caribbean, where his wayward arm had provided some painful moments for Andrew McDonald. When asked about one throw that had hit him fair in the ribs during slips practice, McDonald suggested that Wade still had some grievances about being dropped and was intent on squaring up for past wrongs.

Tasmanians tell me they’re anticipating another chapter in the great local rivalry between Wade and Tim Paine, who were raised at either end of the same suburb and who both went on to keep wickets for their country. When Paine established himself as the great white hope of his state, Wade moved to Victoria, and when Paine then established himself behind the stumps for Australia, Wade recreated himself as a batter.

Both now have eyes on a coaching career, and down in Hobart, they’re wondering if the pair of rivals will meet each other on the seats outside the interview room when the position eventually comes up.

Paine is in India with the A side and was put on the spot about Konstas’s immediate future by the Lucknow press earlier in the week.

"I think at times you'll see some of that [the more aggressive side], but I think people forget that Sam's still only 19 years of age," Paine said. "So he's a long way from being the finished product.

"Clearly in Australia we know he's got a lot of talent. We think he's going to be a star at international cricket at some stage. He's obviously in the team, or was in the team, at the moment. But he's still finding his way [and] what's the best way for him to play.

"At times he's going to be super aggressive. Other times he'll trust his defence. He's working that out and figuring out when and why he needs to do it both. We'll encourage him this series to play it as he sees it.

"There's going to be times where it's hard and he'll have to soak up pressure, but when he's feeling good and he's on top we'll back him in to go hard and put the opposition under pressure. He's exciting. [You] don't know what you're going to get sometimes but that's a great part of watching him."

News coming in from India (there is no live stream) suggests Konstas, who scooped one of his two boundaries in the first over, had soaked up the pressure of a delayed start and was feeling on top of his game from the get-go.

Konstas went on to get a century in a 200-run opening partnership with Campbell Kellaway, a player who people suggest could be a Test candidate in the near future.