12 June,2023 08:51 AM IST | Mumbai | A Correspondent
Brad Hogg (left) and Steve Waugh at the recent launch of The Hunt in Brisbane
Is there a boundary limit to talent hunting in sport? Or in this case, specifically cricket? Not really. Let's talk about Australia, where some of their greatest names came to the fore with someone spotting them before they were nurtured and mentored to earn that baggy green cap.
Glenn McGrath, Mitchell Johnson and even WTC final hero Nathan Lyon, the country's most successful off-spinner by a mile, are products of talent-spotting.
Meanwhile, reality TV show - The Hunt - was launched recently in Brisbane with cricket legend Steve Waugh involved as chief mentor.
"Move over MasterChef," said a Channel 10 report.
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Waugh's team which has ex-spinner Brad Hogg, will go around the country picking talent from the most unlikely of places to form a group which will be housed at Brisbane's Marist College Ashgrove and trained at Valley Cricket Club, whose colours greats like Allan Border and Matthew Hayden wore on the club circuit.
The initial group of 60 will be pruned to a squad of 16.
Wrist spinner Hogg, who made his Test debut in the inaugural Border-Gavaskar Trophy game at New Delhi in 1996, could be in India soon, travelling in a rickshaw, looking out for raw yet talented young cricketers across urban and rural India. The squad of Indian players will take on their Australian counterparts. Similar activities are planned for kids in the UK, USA and the UAE.
On the anvil are series in India, England, Australia, USA and the UAE with the five squads from each of those series coming together in a tournament at the end of the first year called, Home Grown Heroes, in the UAE.
The Indian series will be the first, with filming to start in October-November this year. It is learnt that three cricket icons (one each from India, England and the West Indies) will join Waugh in the show to select and mentor the kids. Other former and current cricket stars could be involved too.
A source told mid-day.com on Sunday that it has taken eight years to bring this project to fruition, the most challenging phase being working through COVID-19 restrictions.
The aspect which makes this initiative unique is television - a cricket reality show put together by a global production house.
Veteran cricket journalist Jim Tucker writes in In Queensland: "Scouts will scour India for the best emerging cricket talent. Across 18 episodes, the backgrounds and motivations of these eager teenagers will be explored with an Indian cricket great as mentor."
Meanwhile, Waugh, who has a special affection for India, is quoted as saying, "This show has got exciting potential. For sure, there's a chance for someone to come out of nowhere who hasn't been identified before. I've been in the Northern Territory at different times and seen the natural skills of Indigenous kids with the pick-up and throwing of a ball and they don't even play the game regularly.
"My dream, personally, is for someone from the outskirts of Kolkata, perhaps, who hasn't had an opportunity, all of a sudden wins an IPL contract. Or, in Australia, gets into the Big Bash."
Ratish Kumar, the founder and MD of promoters USC Worldwide said in a press release that The Hunt, "will be groundbreaking television with unique stories and heroes to captivate a global audience."
Also Read: Steve Waugh questions India's squad selection for WTC final: 'Picked the wrong side'
