The remarkable run spree of Victoria’s resurgent batting prodigy, Mackenzie Harvey

He will end it this weekend playing for Carlton in the Victorian Premier Cricket grand final at Windy Hill.

From his first match in late August, when he hit 103, to last weekend’s preliminary final, when he cracked 140, the former Australian Under 19 captain has scored almost 1,100 runs in club cricket in 2023-24.

His performances prompt his Carlton captain, Evan Gulbis, to suggest that Victoria should again be looking at a 23-year-old player it discarded 12 months ago.

Former first-class player Gulbis is adamant that Harvey is a better player now than when he was in the state squad. As he sees it, the left-hand opener’s season is representative of not what he lost at contract time last year, but what he has gained as a cricketer.

“I think he’s as good as anyone in the comp,’’ Gulbis says. “His maturity and his understanding of his game are starting to come through.

“When he first started, he was a highly skilled and talented cricketer but without the base of Premier Cricket, and now he’s starting to gather that. There’s something about understanding your game, and understanding how to turn skill into runs, that you need to learn. I think he’s been able to do that in the past couple of seasons. His finals performances have been second to none, and hopefully he has one more big knock in him and hopefully greater things next season.’’

As his Carlton teammates underwent their pre-season, Harvey was involved in a season-proper, spending a few weeks in the Queensland grade competition.

In his debut for Sunshine Coast on August 23, he cracked 103 not out off 64 balls against Ipswich. He took 103 off Gold Coast in another T20 and then 102 in a one-dayer against South Brisbane.

Returning to the Blues, Harvey started his Premier season with an innings of 68 against Footscray. Three rounds later, he toughed out 83 off 157 balls against Richmond on a Central Reserve wicket that gave up runs reluctantly.

Harvey has saved his best for Carlton’s March matches, hitting 93 against Ringwood in the qualifying final and then 140 against Prahran in last weekend’s preliminary final. He had only three boundaries by tea; a player known for finding the fence had to do his share of running.

His run chart is similar to last season: he hit 97 in the qualifier and a thrilling second-innings 106 in the grand final as the Blues tried to conjure a reverse outright against Melbourne.

Harvey had been one of the most talked-about teenage cricketers in the country.

Early in 2018, he blitzed 59 off 48 balls for a Cricket Australia XI in a one-day match against England, putting away 4 sixes and 8 fours. The previous month, he hit 136 against the Pakistan Under 19 team and 118 not out for the Vic Under 19s against Queensland as a bottom-age player.

Victoria gave him a full contract in 2018 – Will Sutherland was also promoted to the state squad that year – and he retained it until May last year, having appeared in one-day matches but not the Sheffield Shield.

Harvey remains on the Melbourne Renegades’ books but was selected for only a handful of BBL matches this season.

Gulbis believes his player is far from done with big cricket.

“I’d like to think you don’t get your papers graded when you’re 23 years old,’’ he says.

“He got chucked in at the deep end as a young cricketer and in the last 18 months he’s really worked hard on his game. I think he’s turned the corner and turned into a very good player.

“The growth in his game has been fantastic. It’s not necessarily about skill. He’s got the same skill-sets. He’s just worked out how to apply those skill-sets.’’

Was Harvey promoted before his time?

He had yet to make a Premier Cricket century for Carlton when he was given a state contract (his first ton for the Blues came in February 2022).

Gulbis says Harvey’s performances in pathways cricket had him elevated to the Victorian squad, “but he probably didn’t get the nurturing he required at that stage’’.

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“Now that he’s grown into his game, understands his game a lot more, understands what makes him play well, knows where his strengths are, he’s making less critical errors.

“To have your formative years played out on the big stage, on TV, it’s very hard to learn that way. A lot of guys get their first opportunity when they’re 24-plus and know their game and their failures haven’t been put in everyone’s face. They’ve learnt their cricket before they get judged. ‘Macca’ obviously came through the other way.

“He didn’t have the start he would have wanted. But he’s young, he’s a bloody good player and he’s in some serious nick. Victoria have put a lot of resources into him. They backed him when he was 18, when he was a confused, talented kid. Why wouldn’t they back him when he’s 23 and smacking them and a confident, run-hungry adult?’’