The emerging talent team is piece together with state team rookies, like Ballarat all-round product Matt Short, and National Performance Squad members – all guys pegged as future talent. They are served up against this nation’s best in Matador Cup action, the domestic one-day series.

The squad is in the first of a two-year trial to offer promising talent more exposure to the pressures and skill of elite cricket ranks, rather than limited time in the field or at the crease for their state teams (Short played only a couple of one-day matches for the Victorian Bushrangers last summer). This is a great chance for young guns to really test their game, see what it takes to step up and, importantly, continue learning to fine-tune their games at the highest level possible.

If you want players to play to their best and really sharpen, they need a chance to learn against the best.

So far, the CA XI has been resoundingly beaten by powerful New South Wales and Victorian outfits which, admittedly, sported players that would have been playing Test cricket in Bangladesh had the series not been postponed for safety concerns.

Time at the crease was short. Fielding was ripped apart. Confidence and determination levels are individual athletes’ characteristics. No matter what sport, complete obliteration each week make learning tough.

It is still early in the season  but where these players could benefit greatly is from on-field mentors. Try one well-versed batsman, to hold the top-order together, and one tried-and-tested bowler so each could lend wisdom and guidance where it counts most – in the action. 

Yes, such an experienced batsman could be dismissed quick, or the bowler belted about the field in a tough outing. But they are still voices to talk emerging stars through the pressure.

Retired Australian quick Shane Harwood’s return to Ballarat cricket the past two summers has terrorised rivals. His bowling has been a whole new level of challenge for this region’s emerging batsmen. When Harwood is really firing, really ripping through a developing opposing team, you can almost see young batsmen shaking in their pads as their call up to the crease looms. These batsmen rarely last long, but when sharing a partnership with an experienced leader, on hand to divulge how to best play Harwood in the conditions – at the least to offer encouragement – that is far better than raw fear.

A tough test and unease in sport can be a good thing. It can keep an athlete on their toes, offer a taste of the best, and set a benchmark for levels they need to reach to mix with competition powers.

CA XI insist the Matador Cup is a steep learning curve for his young players. They will make mistakes and are expected to step up and learn from mistakes. Captain Will Bosisto insisted, after a nine-wicket loss to the Bushrangers mid-week, that his team had the ability and talent to be competitive in the Matador Cup.

There is no doubting these players belong in the Matador Cup. They just need a little reinforcement to really help get their games firing.