Recently retired Australian Test paceman Ryan Harris says brutal honesty from his then South Australian Coach Wayne Phillips was the catalyst for beginning to take his cricket more seriously.
He eventually reached the Australian ranks, but admits the advice he got from Phillips when he was on the fringes of the Redbacks team he initially disagreed with.
“I was a 21 year old when I first got my contract, just discovering what life was about and probably not putting enough time into cricket, being in and out of the South Australian side,” Harris said on This is Your Sporting life.
“I got to the stage where I probably got an ultimatum from Wayne Phillips at the time, who was coach and he sort of said where do you want to go with your life?
“I said I know I’m going to be a cricketer, and he said no you’re not. I said I disagree with you mate I’m here, he goes if you keep going the way you are, you’re not going to be playing for South Australia, let alone Australia.
“So I guess that was the kick up the bum that I needed, and from that day…that sort of got me going into fifth and sixth gear to get myself to where I needed to be.”
Harris took Phillips’ advice on board and admits now to being grateful for his tough love and seeing something in his talent.
“I was very lucky to have Wayne say that to me,” he said.
“The bottom line was we sort of clashed as player-coach, and I look back at it now and laugh, and I hate saying it because he was right, the way he was trying to treat me and give me opportunities.
“He was harsh at times about certain things, but I look back at it now, he wasn’t doing it because he didn’t like me, he was doing it because he saw some ability in me and thought I could do it.”
Harris eventually made his Test debut as a 30-year old against New Zealand in 2010 and took 113 wickets across his 27 tests, but he admits three were plenty of times he felt consigned to playing in the shorter formats.
“I never thought I would be a Test cricketer, put it that way,” he said.
“If I ever thought I was going to play cricket for Australia it would be in the one-day format and as time went on probably the T20 format.
“A baggy green obviously everyone dreams of it, I definitely dreamed of it, but I never thought I would get it, especially the older I got.
“At the age of 30 it was unusual to debut, but I guess when things clicked and started going well, I was bowling well enough in the one-day game that carried over to the five day game.”