Sheffield Shield: Perth run machine Joel Curtis on turning starts into hundreds and his ‘extra motivation’

There is one thing standing between Perth batting machine Joel Curtis and a historic first-grade runs record this season. That’s a dream run in Western Australia’s Sheffield Shield side. Curtis, who has played five first-class matches for WA, will play against South Australia at the WACA Ground in a four-day match from Saturday. It’s the same ground where, on Sunday, he scored a century to lead the Demons to a one-day premiership. It is their fourth title in three summers and it’s Curtis’ eighth hundred across formats this season. One of those was his maiden first-class ton, against Victoria at Junction Oval in November. In Premier Cricket, he has scored 925 across one and two-day cricket. Former England Test batter Robin Smith holds the record for the best-ever season by a batter in Perth, scoring 1188 for South Perth in 1987-88. Curtis has been on a heater like this before, during a stint in the United Kingdom in 2022 where he went from playing club cricket to landing in Middlesex’s second team. This time he started the summer without a State contract because WA brought over former New South Wales gloveman Baxter Holt, but he is now a wicketkeeping deputy to three-format international player Josh Inglis. Curtis said the disappointment of missing out on a contract gave him “extra motivation to do better this season”. And he also believes he has unlocked a part of his game that means he can score runs without feeling like everything is coming out of the middle. “It’s good to know you have your process and you are still able to get runs even when you’re not feeling as good as you want to, that’s quite important to me because you are never going to be hitting the ball or feeling a million dollars each time you go out to bat,” he told The West Australian. “It was good to get a few runs even though I’m not hitting the ball as well as I usually would or want to. “It hasn’t always been like this, there have been a lot of years where I haven’t done well and I have scored a lot of 30s and had the same problem as every other batter where they get out on 30 or 40, but I guess from playing a lot of cricket I have figured out a blueprint that can help me turn those 30s and 40s into hundreds.” Curtis still works as a personal trainer between cricket commitments, which are increasing as he cements himself in WA’s shield side. “It does get quite hard at times juggling work and cricket, it can be quite stressful, especially because I was running my own PT business,” he said. “You want to work that around cricket and I had done that the last three or four years, so it felt pretty normal for me, but since getting into the shield team again and playing more it has been very rewarding or relieving for myself personally and financially, not having to work as much. “The guys are just amazing and the environment and the culture the guys have created here makes you feel like you can come into the team and be yourself and everyone is very supportive.” With Sam Whiteman, Cam Bancroft, Cam Green and Mitch Marsh injured and Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis and Cooper Connolly on international duty, Curtis is one of the West Aussies set for an extended run in the shield side. “Injuries are never ideal, but I guess it does create opportunities for other guys to come in and have a crack,” Curtis said. “Hopefully we can put some wins together for WA and put us in a good position.”