Western Australia Under 19s captain Simon Budge ready to push towards cricket, Big Bash dream

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Western Australia Under 19s captain Simon Budge ready to push towards cricket, Big Bash dream

State Under 19s captain Simon Budge says now that he’s had a taste of WA’s success and the “fear” it instils in the rest of the nation’s cricket programs, he’s all in on pushing for his cricket dreams.

Budge and his national championship teammates were given a lap of honour at Optus Stadium on January 3, ahead of Perth Scorchers’ wild clash with Sydney Thunder.

And the youngster said it capped off a remarkable start to his summer that reaffirmed his desire to represent his state at senior level and pull on the famed Scorchers orange with the “big dogs”.

“I wish (the lap) was a bit longer, it was really nice and a bit nerve-wracking,” he told The West ***********.

“It sort of throws it back to when I was 13th man with the Test team and to walk out on the field again and realise how big it is.

“It puts it into perspective. If I play for these high-level teams, all these people are here to see you play, and it’s a token of how far you’ve come.

“Walking past a few of the guys like Bryce Jackson, AJ Tye, Cooper Connolly, while walking around the boundary – and I play with Bryce at Melville – and to see people I play with and am quite good friends with playing for the Scorchers, I know I’m not there yet, but the close relationships with players who have moved up shows if I can put in the work, I can be that next person stepping up.

“It’s quite jarring but also quite inspiring and gives me that motivation.

“It bridges the gap. You think that your heroes are these big dogs playing BBL in front of thousands of people, but in reality, I’m good friends with a few of them.”

However, Budge’s sights are not getting ahead of themselves, the wicketkeeper-batter focusing on a strong finish to the Premier Cricket season with Melville and then earning selection for next year’s Under 19 World Cup title defence.

And he knows it will be a stiff selection battle, even if he just focuses on his state rivals who lost just one game at the national championships.

“The talent is definitely deeper than the team we won the champs with; we have a bit of a fast-bowling factory at the minute,” he said.

“(The state’s success) put in other teams’ minds we’re a successful senior team, so what’s the junior team like?”

“Like, if that’s their senior team, then jeez, this team’s going to be good, and we sort of rode off that fear in a way. But we also didn’t let it get a hold of us.

“We seem to be churning out the talented players that every state has into developed cricketers and then pushing them into those pathways.

“And the way (WA Cricket) do it is very selfless. A lot of people put countless hours in.

“Their early mornings and late nights go into us, and I can see that cascading up into the ranks. Even as you go from pathways to BBL to Australia, you can see the amount of effort WA Cricket put into those players and the pathway.

“So, it’s just great to see that, and being on that pathway, I’m grateful.”

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