Sporting Declaration: Jason Sangha will bounce back from lean run

So it would seem safe to assume that when it comes to the subject of batting, Greg Chappell, Mike Hussey and the late Dean Jones have, or in Jones's case had, some idea what they're talking about. And while all three played in different eras and were never teammates, one opinion they publicly shared was that Newcastle's Jason Sangha appeared destined for special things.

Chappell once labelled the then Australian under-19 captain "an elegant stroke-maker with a touch of class that is the hallmark of the very best players".

Jones declared: "There is a boy from Newcastle named Jason Sangha ... the kid can play, I can assure you."

Mike Hussey predicted Sangha would become "a really good player across all three formats of the game".

With high praise come high expectations. But when Sangha, aged 18 years and 71 days, then plundered 133 against an England attack featuring Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton and Moeen Ali - becoming the youngest player besides the great Sachin Tendulkar to score a first-class century against the Poms - it seemed only a matter of time before he was doing so on a regular basis as a full international.

Fast-forward six years and the former Toronto and Wallsend product finds himself in a position that I doubt Chappell, Jones and Hussey could ever have envisaged - on the outside of the NSW team, looking in, wondering when his next opportunity will arise.

Now 24 and with four first-class centuries to his name, the right-hander was this week overlooked for both the Blues' Marsh Cup (50-over) and Sheffield Shield sides, having recently spent the vast majority of Sydney Thunder's BBL campaign watching from the other side of the boundary rope.

His omissions were perhaps not unexpected, given that in 13 trips to the crease for NSW and the Thunder this season, he has scored only 232 runs, of which 78 came in one Sheffield Shield innings.

Hoping that a return to his Sydney first-grade side, Randwick-Petersham, would help him regain touch, he was dismissed for two and one in their game against Manly over the past two weekends.

All of which leaves Sangha facing an unfortunate chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. Which comes first, the runs or the confidence? It is certainly not the first time in his career that he's encountered a reality check.

After his first couple of seasons, NSW selectors sent him back to club cricket to put some numbers on the board, which he did. He bounced back two summers ago to be the leading runscorer for NSW in the Shield and for Thunder in the BBL, captaining both teams.

A broken collarbone last season was an untimely setback, then his hopes of starting the recent BBL campaign with a bang were derailed by a hand injury.

Now it seems he is back to square one, and no doubt he has suffered some sleepless nights in recent weeks.

Anyone who has played any reasonable level of cricket will realise what a tough game it is when things aren't going your way.

A fielder will take a blinding catch. An umpire will give you out lbw when you've slogged it. Soon you start wondering where the next run is coming from.

It's bad enough if you're just a weekend warrior. But when it's actually your job, your livelihood, that's pressure most of us can scarcely imagine.

The bottom line is that Sangha is still only young and time is on his side. These days it is nothing unusual for a player to make his Test debut at the age of 30-plus, as Hussey did in 2005, before proceeding to establish himself as one of the modern greats.

Nobody enjoys getting dropped from any sporting team. But it even happened to Sir Donald Bradman, after an underwhelming Test debut.

History tells us The Don took that in his stride. I'm sure Jason Sangha will too.