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Australian left-arm spinner Ashton Agar believes it’s time to venture beyond the familiar territory of representing his nation and explore fresh opportunities in the dynamic realm of franchise cricket, akin to his compatriots who have found success in various leagues worldwide.
At 30 years old, Agar is part of the Australian squad competing in the T20 World Cup in the Americas, with prospects of featuring prominently in the green and gold attire as the tournament unfolds.
Throughout his career spanning over a decade, Agar has featured in five Tests and nearly 70 limited-overs matches, with his standout performance being an extraordinary 98 runs scored as a No. 11 batsman during the 2013 Ashes series.
However, unlike his compatriots such as David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Glenn Maxwell, who have earned widespread recognition in franchise cricket, particularly in the IPL, Agar has remained steadfast within the confines of the Australian cricketing framework.
“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.
Agar’s international appearances have been sparse in the last eighteen months, totaling only three games across various formats, with none in the T20I format.
For the first time since relocating from Melbourne to Perth in 2012, he has turned down offers from Western Australia and Australia, indicating his desire to explore new opportunities beyond his current affiliations.
“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.
