Aaron Hardie

Aaron Hardie is a tall seam bowling allrounder from Western Australia who has had a slower development than his state teammate Cameron Green but is emerging as an international player and a future leader. He is a technically correct but powerful batter with the ability to bat in the top order in T20 cricket and middle order in first-class cricket. He can also bowl with the new ball in first-class cricket and swing it prodigiously.

Hardie is the same age as Green and played with him at underage level for WA, having grown up in Perth and attended Aquinas College after being born in England. He first garnered attention at domestic level when he starred in a tour game for a Cricket Australia XI against India in Sydney in November 2018. He dismissed Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and claimed figures of 4 for 50 before making 86 with the bat against a Test-quality attack. He made his BBL debut with Perth Scorchers and his Sheffield Shield debut for WA later that summer before making his List A debut 12 months later.

He made his first Shield century in March 2020 but remained on the fringes of WA's side having been plagued by back and elbow injuries before his breakout performance came in the 2021-22 Shield final where he made 174 not out and took five wickets in the match bowling with the new ball. That propelled him to Australia A honours where he starred on a tour of Sri Lanka in both 50-over and four-day matches in June 2022 before getting his first taste of T20 Blast and County cricket with Surrey.

He continued his progression in 2022-23 in all forms and led Australia A in a first-class match during a tour of New Zealand late in the summer where he made a century as captain. Later in 2023, he made his T20I and ODI debuts in South Africa before captaining Perth Scorchers in the absence of Ashton Turner. He earned his first Cricket Australia contract in 2024.

ESPNCricinfo staff