Ashton Agar says Marcus Stoinis chat helped him decide to become white-ball gun for hire

Perth Scorchers spinner Ashton Agar says a discussion with close mate and fellow Australian cricketer Marcus Stoinis helped seal the deal on leaving state cricket behind to become a white-ball free agent.

Agar decided not to take a state contract for the upcoming 2024-25 summer, instead jumping on the ever-growing and highly-paid global T20 circuit.

The 30-year-old had fallen down the pecking order for WA in Shield cricket, with young offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli cementing his spot in the first-choice XI.

“I’d probably been thinking about it for a little while, to be honest. Having been away so much and travelling with the Australian white-ball team. It meant that I hadn’t, you know, really played in red-ball cricket for a long time,” Agar told the Herald Sun.

“I found myself in this position of seeing a lot more white-ball than I did red-ball. But also, over that period, the games have grown apart so quickly.

“I spoke to Stoin (Marcus Stoinis) quite a bit about it. I think he has a really good sort of strategic brain; he sees things quite clearly and projects well, quite healthily, into the future, if that makes sense. So I spoke to him about it.”

Agar also said his passion for the longest format had also diminished after an up-and-down career, saying he was keen to play the cricket that excited him most.

“Bowling with a really old ball feels very different to bowling with a harder white ball,” he said.

“But also just bowling the same ball six balls in a row and having to hit that one spot, to be honest, having to do that all the time isn’t probably as exciting for me. I’ve always been a bowler that tries to mix it up.

“I don’t have a lot of fun bowling six of the same balls. I quite like bowling arm balls or cross-seam or, you know, just playing with different variations. So that was definitely a challenge.

“And I guess that’s what makes Test cricket so hard is that you have to be so good at something for such a long time. And you certainly need to practice that a lot.

“And in white-ball cricket, particularly T20s as a spinner, the key is being unpredictable. So batters can’t line you up.

“They’re worlds apart, those two skills. I think if I was playing red-ball cricket in between those tours, you’d probably be in a better place to step into a Test match like that or just bowl with the red ball, but when you’re not exposed to it for a substantial amount of time, definitely it poses challenges.”

The move already appears justified after Agar was confirmed in Australia’s 15-man squad for next month’s T20 World Cup.

It will be a second chance at World Cup glory, after missing last year’s ODI World Cup triumph due to a calf injury, as Australia look to unify the major ICC trophies in the West Indies and America.

The all-conquering Aussies are the current holders of the World Test Championship mace and the ODI World Cup trophy.

Australia begin their campaign on June 6 against Oman with the tournament officially getting underway on June 1.