Campbell Kellaway keen to build on his reputation to become Australia’s next batting hope

Australia A’s Campbell Kellaway managed to register scores of just 2 and 0 in the first four day game against India A. | Photo Credit: Cricket Association of Pondicherry

The highlight of Campbell Kellaway’s fledgling career came in November last year, when he was playing for Victoria against New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield.

That’s when Mitchell Starc extended his follow through on a delivery, walked up to Kellaway at the crease and said, “I hope you don’t have aspirations of playing at the higher level, mate.”

It was a fair warning from Australia’s pace phenom given he was in the middle of a feisty spell of short-pitched bowling. NSW was at home at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Starc had already sent Harry Dixon packing. Obviously, Starc’s comment to Kellaway was in jest but he was certainly going after a 22-year-old who was still new at facing a sustained shelling of rib-ticklers.

Starc eventually got him, but Kellaway still managed a half-century (51 off 104) in testing conditions, an innings that earned him a reputation among Australian cricket’s avid followers.

“Yeah, it was an awesome opportunity to play against that NSW team. They had not only Starc, but also had Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Sean Abbott, who’s played white-ball cricket for Australia. I guess as cricketers, we want to challenge our game against the best players in the world. I certainly enjoyed getting stuck in out there. And as much as it was all happening pretty quickly out there with Starcy sending some balls past my ears, I was also trying to enjoy the experience at the same time. And luckily for me, I had Peter Handscomb at the other end with his experience and his wisdom. It was good to speak to him,” Kellaway tells Sportstar.

Praise followed from his captain Handscomb, who said, “I think he’s going to do some fantastic things in his career. It’s serious mental strength there to keep going against the bloke who’s bowling 140, 150 with a hard ball and coming at you. And he welcomed that challenge, which was impressive.”

Chris Rogers, a former international and Victoria coach, had already called him the natural successor to Usman Khawaja at the top of the order for Australia. And there’s merit in doing so. Over the last two seasons, Kellaway has been among the most consistent run-scorers in domestic circuit.

Since 2024-25, Kellaway has 1,247 runs in Shield cricket, including nine fifty-plus scores in 39 innings. He’s been at par with Kurtis Patterson, Jake Weatherald, and Sam Konstas, all of whom have played for the senior side. With his age, natural languor typical of a southpaw and a stream of runs to back those attributes, Kellaway is a lucrative prospect for the Australian selectors. And his runs have come at a time when batting isn’t really a cherished aspect of the game.

“Yeah, I certainly agree that the wickets have probably been more on the bowler-friendly side. So for me as an opening batter, I guess the challenge has been to try and get through tricky conditions when it is tough and set up the rest of the batting order to reap the rewards, hopefully, when the ball stops nipping around as much. I have enjoyed the challenge of working on my craft as a top-order batsman in challenging conditions. And I guess hopefully for me, if the conditions do start to trend back more towards batting, my defence and my decision-making will be in a good place because of some hard work,” Kellaways says.

Kellaway has been earmarked for the upper leagues for some time now, in fact. And finding his feet hasn’t been as straightforward as it should be for someone with his reputation. The 23-year-old admits he’s due a big innings.

His maiden call-up to the A side was in 2023 against New Zealand at home. He was part of the touring corps in Lucknow last year to face India-A as well as the side to face England Lions on the sidelines of the Ashes last year.

Through all these games, Kellaway has registered just two fifty-plus scores. He came closest against England Lions, when he fell on 71 and saw his partner Nathan McSweeney go on to post a massive double century later in the first innings. That was also the closest he got to tasting Ashes cricket, and he’d love to be a part of an actual game.

“I don’t think you can compare an Ashes test to anything really, even speaking to some of my teammates about what it’s like to play on Boxing Day in an Ashes Test. As much as I’d like to think that playing against the England Lions would be somewhat comparable, it certainly isn’t. To play in front of big crowds in an Ashes test is why we love the game.

“As a batter, you’re always hungry for more and I certainly felt like I was batting well and I was on top of my game. That’s certainly been drilled into me as a top-order batter, because there’s going to be a lot of times where we miss out and make low scores. So, when we get the opportunity, we have to really go on and do what Nathan did in that game, which was credit to him, it was an awesome innings,” Kellaway says.

For Kellaway, another new season began with a tour to India, and his initiation in the two-match series against the A side was far from ideal. He fell prey to the late movement of Anshul Kamboj and Tushar Deshpande, and was trapped in front in both innings for scores of 2 and 0.

It wasn’t an easy ride for any of the visiting batters, but Kellaway must have let himself down, having been in better stead and having more exposure to the conditions than he did last year.

“You come over here for the first time and you’re not really sure what to expect. You can get found out pretty quickly on Indian wickets at certain times, and it can happen very quickly.

“Problem solving is a big thing for me and I like to pride myself on being able to adjust my game to different conditions. It’s the same with playing in the sub-continent, I feel like I’m slowly gathering more knowledge about my game and about what works and what doesn’t work,” Kellaway says.

The Melbourne player will have a quick turnaround before the second game, which begins in Puducherry on Tuesday.

Despite low scores in his bag and the urgency to impress, Kellaway would be the last one engulfed under the burden of expectations. Even if there is a Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the horizon.

He’s built a reputation to persist, and its foundation is laid on the very essence of multi-day cricket – not getting ahead of yourself.

“For me, I’ve got my parents to thank in that sense. They’ve always been very good at keeping me level and keeping me grounded. Sometimes you feel like the best player in the world and then it can come crashing down just as fast. So I’m certainly very aware that staying level is important and hopefully, I aim to go on and play for another 10-15 years. So, I know in that time there’s going to be highs and there’s going to be lows.

“From my point of view, all I can do is keep putting my best foot forward and if I can contribute to making runs and winning games for Australia-A or back home in domestic cricket, hopefully the dream of playing for Australia and wearing a baggy green might become a real thing at some point,” Kellaway says.