'It's a difficult job' - Gannon prepares for Shield final after a career on the fringe

During his long Sheffield Shield career, Cameron Gannon has been used to being well down the pace pecking order, forced to bide time and wait patiently for opportunities to emerge through injuries or international call-ups.

He's mostly stayed on the fringes, which would frustrate many, but the experienced Gannon, 35, takes a pragmatic view. "It's a difficult job, but you would rather have that than no job at all," he told ESPNcricinfo.

As Gannon prepares to play the Shield final, after being 12th man for the past two, he encapsulates Western Australia's remarkable pace bowling depth and 'next man in' mantra.

WA are on the cusp of their first hat-trick of titles since the late 1980s despite frontline quicks Jhye Richardson, Lance Morris and Matt Kelly playing just five matches between them this season.

None of them will be available for the final against Tasmania starting on Thursday at the WACA. But Gannon, who played just five matches across the previous two seasons, has taken his opportunities and was key in WA's barnstorming finish of the home-and-away season.

Able to swing the new ball menacingly and bowl a nagging line and length consistently, Gannon has effectively slipped into the role of workhorse that was previously held by Kelly, who only managed to bowl seven overs this domestic season due to injuries.

Gannon claimed 14 wickets at 21.79 in WA's last three Shield matches highlighted by a player-of-the-match performance against Victoria with a place in the final at stake.

Using his 6 foot 7 frame to devastating effect, Gannon superbly exploited a spicy Junction Oval surface on a pivotal day two. He generated awkward bounce and targeted the divots to finish with 5 for 42 and ensure WA had a 100-run first innings lead after bowling Victoria out for 144.

"It was awesome. I had a whole lot of fun," Gannon said. "As one of the senior bowlers you want to contribute when given a chance. That's been the most pleasing thing."

Gannon might make it look seamless, but stepping in and making an impact is "incredibly difficult" despite his experience.

"You hear players from previous generations say the game is easier now. I could not disagree more," he said.

"The quality of cricket being played across the country compared to when I started has improved so much. So many young guys come in and are ready to perform.

"To come in and play a game here and there is so hard because you don't have the rhythm of playing consistently and build on performances over a period of time."

Gannon's late-season surge means he will get a chance to win his first Shield title. His only previous appearance in a final was in 2012-13 with Queensland and against, coincidentally, Tasmania in a match that ended in a draw at Bellerive Oval.

Before the competition's bonus point system, home teams in finals had notoriously been producing flat surfaces in a bid to get the draw needed to claim the title.

"The flattest wicket of all time, it was horrific," recalled Gannon with a laugh. He toiled for 1 for 88 in 32 overs as a cautious Tasmania made a painstaking 419 from 173.4 overs in their first innings.

The match also dredges up painful memories for Gannon, who was twice reported for an illegal action and subsequently banned by Cricket Australia.

A biomechanical analysis at the Australian Institute of Sport found Gannon bowled with an average elbow extension of 24 degrees - far above the allowable 15-degree limit.

It halted a rise for Gannon, who collected 31 Shield wickets at 23.51 during a breakout 2012-13 summer having made his first-class debut in October 2010.

"It was tough. I'm glad that period of my life is done," Gannon said. "But it taught me some valuable lessons and it's knowledge I can pass on to younger bowlers.

"If I hadn't done the work back then I wouldn't have these opportunities now."

Gannon painstakingly rebuilt his action during remedial work, but when he returned to the field he had to endure the stigma of throwing and copped barbs from fans.

"From a technical standing there were a lot of cues that got me through that period. But I don't even use them now. They are second nature to me," he said.

Gannon relied on the support of coaches Ashley Noffke and Andy Bichel to help him overcome the physical and mental challenges.

"[Noffke's] a wonderful technical coach," he said. "Bic is unbelievable from a belief perspective. He always instils amazing self-belief. It's almost like he believes in you more than you believe in yourself."

Gannon's confidence gradually returned and he finally became a regular member of Queensland's XI in 2019-20 when he was the Shield's leading wicket-taker with 38 at 20.92.

But with emerging quicks making their way through the ranks, led by Xavier Bartlett who had debuted that season in first-class cricket, the then 31-year-old Gannon was only offered a one-year deal from Queensland after wanting two.

WA sensed an opportunity to pounce. Still early in Adam Voges' tenure as coach, WA were in the midst of a rebuild following Justin Langer's departure having finished fifth in 2019-20. They were on the lookout for a seasoned and durable seamer to help prop up an inexperienced and injury-prone attack.

WA's three-year offer proved too hard to refuse. "I loved the boys and playing for Queensland, but what pushed me over the line was security. WA were there for me when Queensland weren't," Gannon said.

"My wife and I looked at it as a chance to live somewhere different and push ourselves outside our comfort zone. We decided that cricket was going to be a vehicle for experiences for our family.

"So we decided to bite the bullet and shift across the country," added Gannon, whose kids Henry and Nora were aged four and one at the time.

But Gannon struggled to replicate his previous season's form and averaged 39.58 from eight matches in 2020-21. He was soon back on the sidelines, as Richardson and Morris took the reins, and played just five matches across WA's back-to-back Shield triumphs.

Gannon's first-class career appeared in familiar jeopardy after appearing in only two of WA's first seven matches before his late-season burst earned him a one-year extension. It has ensured he will hold off on his move into financial planning post his playing days.

"I'll keep playing until I'm 40 if I can," Gannon quipped. But it might not be a stretch with Gannon also building a playing career in the United States. The holder of an American passport, through his Sacramento-based mother, Gannon starred in last year's much-anticipated inaugural season of Major League Cricket. He won the domestic player of the tournament to help Seattle Orcas reach the final.

Having played four T20Is for the US in 2019, Gannon had hoped to be part of the upcoming T20 World Cup with some of the tournament's matches to be played in New York, Dallas and Lauderhill.

But Gannon is set to be ineligible for selection having missed zonal trials in the US due to his domestic cricket commitments in Australia. "If that's the policy then that's the policy and there is nothing I can do about it. But it's disappointing," he said.

Gannon's focus right now is on the Shield final and playing his part in a WA attack that continues to dominate opponents no matter who is in the lineup.

"It's a very intelligent bowling group with clear plans," he said. "As a group, we communicate really well. If someone is working on a particular thing, they communicate it to the others and we can all feed off that knowledge. It's really a great group to be a part of."

After so much time waiting in the wings, Gannon gets an unexpected late career chance to shine on the most famous stage in Australian domestic cricket and help etch WA into Shield lore.

"Playing in a Shield final is what we aspire to as domestic cricketers," he said. "It's the closest thing a lot of us will get to Test cricket. It will be an amazing thing to be part of, especially in front of our home fans. I'm incredibly excited."