Holt, who learnt the basics of wicketkeeping from Alyssa Healy, hopes to inspire the next generation as he pursues his dream of wearing the Baggy Green one day
Shashank Kishore in Queenstown22-Jan-2018It is common to see an upcoming wicketkeeper being an understudy or a protege of an established stumper. However, for that protégé to be male and the mentor to be a female cricketer is perhaps unprecedented. This makes the story of Baxter Holt, Australia’s Under-19 wicketkeeper, even more interesting.As a 14-year old, Holt learnt the basics of wicketkeeping from Alyssa Healy, Australia women’s first-choice keeper. What started as a one-off session facilitated by Holt’s family friend four years ago turned out to be the start of a fruitful association that he values as he reflects on his journey from Sydney to the Under-19 World Cup to New Zealand.”One of my family friends had her contact and we organised a single session through that one day,” Holt tells ESPNcricinfo. “That sort of grew into two sessions, three sessions, and so on. It was me going through simple basics that you need at 13 or 14. It was a bit on technique. She is one person who won’t tell you to change something if you’re doing it right. If I was wrong, she would step in and say this is what I should be doing.”She has done a great job for the Southern Stars, been there done it and is still doing it. Her high quality is testament to her. The way she was able to get the points across and inform me, a 13-14-year-old kid, was very big, and it’s a testament to her.”This period also coincided with Holt dealing with not being picked for his junior school team and subsequently the age-group sides in Sydney. “Through all the age-group championships for my state back home and then the national championships, I thought I did enough, only to be told I hadn’t made the cut,” he says. “Going back home, I thought if it was still worth it or if there was something I could do to get better. So, to end up where I am today is amazing.”Apart from Healy, Holt also benefited from the mentorship of Rod Hokin, his school coach, whom he became associated with purely by accident because he was obligated to play for the school, and not for the club he had registered with, in local tournaments in Sydney.”I was originally at Northern Districts Cricket Club, playing green shield (the Under-16 competition) and age-group cricket. Because I went to a private school – Kings School – I had to play for them. In hindsight, that was the best thing to happen to me because I met Rob Hokins. Kings having the best facilities for cricket also helped me in those initial years.” Today, Holt plays for the Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club.”I trained a lot smarter [with him], as you hear a lot of people say. I worked on game situations. I no longer went to the nets to just hit balls. I went in with specific focus to every net session and if I did not achieve it, I felt it was a waste of time. So every session I went to, I wanted it to be better than the previous one. That mindset each time allowed me to get better and better.”Like any other teenager, Holt has had to make some sacrifices early in life, like giving up a social life with friends. He doesn’t attend too many parties, and prefers to spend time working on his game. When time management became an issue in school, he chose to study something he was passionate about.”There were a lot of sacrifices I had to make. School was really good to allow me to use their facilities for training. From 7.30am to 3.30pm in the afternoon, I was at school. Then from 3.30 to 7.30 at night, I was invariably at the nets. It’s all worth it when you’re sitting here and playing for the country.”Holt is pursuing a bachelors degree in sports science from the University of Technology and Science in Sydney. “Since I was passionate about sport, I thought I may as well end up getting into Sports Science,” he says. “I got good marks luckily in my Year 12 to make the grade to university. It’s a part-time degree that gives me the flexibility to finish it over a bigger span, at the same time allow me to give time to my cricket.”As he speaks, Holts’ priorities and clarity of thought stand out. He wants to be a reliable keeper, focusing on his technique and work ethic behind the stumps without losing sight of the need to also work on his batting.”I think keeping is a sort of a thing that if you do enough, you can progressively become better over the years,” he says. “Batting is such a complex and complicated skill. I put in more hours on my batting than my keeping, but I put enough in my keeping so that I keep getting better and better. The likes of Kumar Sangakkara, MS Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist have reshaped our roles. But my aim is to keep to the best of my abilities and then later hold an end up or score runs if needed to.”Holt is a key member of Australia’s current Under-19 side, but admits to have taken a while to get comfortable being around two high-profile coaches, Ryan Harris and Chris Rogers. “For the first few days, it was uncomfortable,” he laughs. “You always looked up to them. It felt like ‘wow, am I really in the same room as them?’ As we spent time together, it felt like they’re just another person who have come around this way just like we are now. They’ve shared their cricket journey, their experiences, and how they came up through the ranks. That is absolutely motivating.”Holt also hopes to inspire the next generation, even as he continues to pursue his dream of wearing the Baggy Green one day. “Gilchrist was my idol growing up. I wanted to play top-level cricket like him and inspire a generation like he did, not just to influence young male cricketers but female cricketers as well,” he says. “Then as his career ended, the likes of Brad Haddin too had a big influence. The way he carried himself, particularly towards the end of his career when his daughter was ill, is testament to his character.”