Join now and get your first month for just $1 ><\/a><\/p>\nKuhnemann claimed career-best figures of 6-53 to help Glamorgan seal a comfortable ten-wicket victory over Middlesex at Sophia Gardens, with the county later earning promotion to Division 1. Albeit brief, he benefited greatly from the one-match Cardiff cameo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s probably the really good thing about playing County cricket and playing all around the world,\u201d Kuhnemann explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou meet these new people and it\u2019s very interesting. And just speaking to Dawes, he was an amazing bowler and (learning) the way he bowled here in Australia (compared) to how he bowled with the Dukes in England was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past three years, Kuhnemann has plied his trade in the UK, India, Sri Lanka, the Caribbean and New Zealand, representing his country across all three formats. During his travels, the 29-year-old has relished the chance to collect intel from local players and coaches, building his knowledge about the delicate craft of spin bowling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more people you go and meet and just the conversations you have, even if it\u2019s over a beer or something, you get to dive into their minds,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has their two cents\u2019 worth and you take what you think goes well, put in a blueprint, and just keep it as basic as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always talking spin to whomever, whenever the chance comes up to meet someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘He ran out of time’ McDonald | 11:29<\/p>\n
Two years ago, Kuhnemann was identified by national selectors as a threat in the subcontinent\u2019s unique conditions and rushed to India at the eleventh hour, joining Australia\u2019s Test squad for the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign. In his second Test appearance, he claimed 5-16 in a nine-wicket triumph at Indore\u2019s Holkar Stadium, Australia\u2019s lone victory of the tour.<\/p>\n
But after returning home, Kuhnemann wasn\u2019t picked for a single Sheffield Shield match during the 2023\/24 summer, sidelined in favour of Bulls teammate Mitchell Swepson. Desperate for more red-ball opportunities, he was forced to move interstate, signing for Tasmania ahead of the 2024\/25 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big move,\u201d Kuhnemann confessed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is something where I\u2019ll definitely look back and be like, \u2018I\u2019m very proud I did that move\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing in a new environment, having new coaches, Tasmania has been absolutely perfect to me. There are some great people running Tasmanian cricket and obviously playing alongside Beau Webster and getting to know the boys a bit better, it has been excellent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been the best decision I have ever made.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a proper season of Sheffield Shield cricket under his belt, Kuhnemann was recalled for this year\u2019s Test tour of Sri Lanka, finishing the two-match series as the leading wicket-taker with 16 scalps at 17.18.<\/p>\n
However, Kuhnemann\u2019s performance was overshadowed by chucking accusations, cited by match officials for a suspect action. After undoing biomechanical testing in Brisbane, he was cleared by the ICC and permitted to resume playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a rollercoaster, the last 24 months really,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough the downs and the highs, you realise how good it is playing for Australia and what it actually means, especially to wear the baggy green,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s cricket, and I\u2019ve been lucky enough to have some really level-headed guys around me to learn from.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Skull who made the Goat! | 00:58<\/p>\n
Since he was offered his maiden national contract in April, Kuhnemann has piled up the Frequent Flyer points, touring with Australia for the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord\u2019s, the Frank-Worrell Trophy campaign against the West Indies in the Caribbean, the white-ball series against South Africa in northern Queensland and the T20 tour against the Black Caps in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Initially excluded from the ODI squad to face India, Kuhnemann was flown to Perth for the series opener and took two wickets in the absence of first-choice spinner Adam Zampa, who is now set to miss the start of the T20 series due to personal reasons. <\/p>\n
This week, Kuhnemann could be tasked with taming the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma, with the reigning T20 World Cup champions fresh off an Asia Cup triumph.<\/p>\n
Should he succeed, it will be a massive boost to his hopes of going to next year\u2019s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. There, Zampa will lead Australia\u2019s spin attack once more, but will likely need specialist support. <\/p>\n
It will be hard to look past Kuhnemann for that role if he delivers over the coming days against some of the best players of spin the world has to offer. <\/p>\n
But of course, much of the discussion still revolves around the Ashes; should Nathan Lyon sustain an injury during the blockbuster series, Kuhnemann would be the leading candidate to replace the veteran tweaker in the Test starting XI. However, Victoria\u2019s Todd Murphy, Western Australia\u2019s Corey Rocchiccioli and Swepson would also come into consideration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember just growing up, watching the Ashes was the absolute pinnacle, and I think everyone would say the same thing,\u201d Kuhnemann said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust speaking to some of the senior players in this team and how much this series means to them, I think they\u2019ve been talking about it for probably a couple of years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt brings the best out of both teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if the last 24 months have taught Kuhnemann anything, it\u2019s to \u201cbe ready for everything\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably something has to happen to Nathan for (an Ashes call-up) to happen, and hopefully it doesn\u2019t,\u201d Kuhnemann explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if something were to happen and I got the opportunity, I\u2019d be comfortable that I was ready to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a childhood dream to play cricket for Australia, but to play in the Ashes, at home in Australia, that would probably be the absolute pinnacle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first T20 between Australia and India gets underway at Canberra\u2019s Manuka Oval on Wednesday at 7.15pm AEDT.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting from Courtney Walsh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the off-season, Australian tweaker Matthew Kuhnemann travelled to the United Kingdom for a one-match stint at Glamorgan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-247236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761200708_112_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n