Cricket: Young stands out as mature newby

Reece Young. Photo / Getty Images

He might have made his test debut for the Black Caps at the unusually late age of 31, but Reece Young's first-class experience seems to have given him an advantage over younger players in similar positions.

His tidy wicketkeeping and willingness to occupy the crease showed maturity, something he has stored up in his 12th first class season, after 101 first-class games for Auckland, Canterbury and New Zealand.

Young is a rarity.

Only Brent Arnel in the starting XI in Wellington debuted at older than 25. He was 31, too. Six of the team were 22 years or younger when they earned their first test cap.

Young has shown grit with the bat. He has not spent less than 33 minutes at the crease on his way to an average of 25.75 in four test innings.

That includes the 221-minute, 162-ball 57 sticking around in the crucial 138-run seventh wicket partnership with Daniel Vettori that brought the Black Caps back into the second test against Pakistan.

They had been teetering on the verge of another collapse at 180 for six.

His strike rate is 36 in tests. Compare that to 111 in domestic Twenty20 - that is how much he has adapted his game.

Young has given away five byes in three test innings, four of which were from a bizarre leg break-type Arnel delivery into the footmarks on the third day in Hamilton. He has also dropped a couple of sharp chances but his performances as a gloveman generally reflect his first-class efforts for Canterbury.

Young has not conceded a bye in five of his six innings since arrival. He is a sound technician - fleet of foot with minimal tension in his arms.

His unusual first taste of test wicketkeeping as a substitute for Brendon McCullum during 2009 in Sri Lanka paid dividends.

Young can still look to some inspirational older characters if he wants longevity in the role.

England's Bob Taylor provides the most striking parallel. He debuted aged 29 in 1971, deputising for Alan Knott. His second test opportunity came almost seven years later when Knott signed with Kerry Packer's World Series. Taylor went on to play 57 tests, his last in 1984, aged 42.

Perhaps Young can take heed of England's best example of heroism in later years, David Steele. The 33-year-old who, with his grey hair and spectacles, was referred to by the Sun as "the bank clerk who went to war" did the cricketing equivalent over eight tests in 1975 and 1976.

He took on the likes of Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Michael Holding and Andy Roberts fearlessly to maintain a career average of 42.

Legend has it he was so nervous before his first test innings at Lord's that he galloped down one too many flights of stairs. Rather than exiting into the Long Room, he emerged fully-armoured into the catering department. Steele was voted BBC sports personality of the year in 1975.

Young could also look to the best modern day example, Michael Hussey. Hussey got his test break aged 30 against the West Indies in 2005. It was his 11th first-class season, having made an extraordinary 15,313 runs for Western Australia before the call-up. Young is a pup by comparison. He made just 3303 runs before his opening test.

The other later debutant, Arnel, might struggle to hold his place with a number of young bowlers such as Neil Wagner, Hamish Bennett, Adam Milne, Trent Boult and Ben Wheeler on the rise.

Arnel has taken nine wickets at 55.77 but had his best figures - four for 95 from 28 overs - in the first test against Pakistan.