Faulconbridge cricketer Ryan Hackney is steadily making his mark as one of the brightest young stars of the sport.
At the Under 19 National Championships in Hobart in December, he broke cricket star Matthew Wade's record of 1091 runs at domestic Under 19 level.
Breaking the record by 13 runs, the 18-year-old said: “It didn’t come across my mind when I was down there.
“It was even better to win the carnival and contribute to that.”
The left-handed opener played for NSW Metro, defeating Cricket Australia XI by 120 runs in the grand final on December 15, the same day HSC results were released.
Despite thinking about it all day, Hackney didn’t look at his phone to discover his ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) of 79 until the game was over. A better result than he’d expected, Hackney said: “I was stoked”. He’ll decide shortly which university he’ll attend this year.
With 382 runs, Hackney ended the tournament as the second leading run scorer behind Tasmania’s Tom Rogers. His highest score of 133 not out was during the first match against Tasmania.
Hackney’s performance during the championships saw him selected for the under 19 squad which faced Pakistan in the three Youth One Day Internationals in late December in Melbourne.
Pakistan were too good for the Aussies, winning by 49 runs. Scoring 109 off 110 balls, Hackney said it was a good experience competing against an international team, and trying new things had paid off for him.
“I was trying to take the game on a bit earlier,” he said.
“I took a few more risks earlier and I was lucky enough that I took them at the right time.”
Hackney again got to show what he was made of on January 5, when he played in a Big Bash League pathways match at The Gabba, featuring the best under 19s cricketers. He was part of the Gilchrist XI, which won the match against the Ponting XI by three wickets.
