Jake Lehmann has scored more Sheffield Shield hundreds than anyone else since the start of last season, helped South Australia end their 29-year title drought, and rediscovered his love for the sport. But his new two-year contract with Hampshire means that he has relinquished his childhood dream of winning his Baggy Green cap.
Lehmann will use his British passport to appear as a local player in county cricket, and will therefore have to register as an overseas player in the Sheffield Shield from next season. His move will also render him ineligible for Australia selection under ICC regulations.
At 33, his chances of breaking into an international squad were slim, but the move officially spells the end of Lehmann's ambitions to emulate his father Darren in playing Test cricket. It means that an Australia A call-up in 2016 was as close as he ever came.
"I feel like the timing is right," Lehmann tells ESPNcricinfo. "That was always the dream and the goal, but only a small number of people get to do it [play for Australia]. Unfortunately, I haven't got to do it, but I'm also grateful to have played first-class cricket for the last 12 years and to give back to Australian cricket in some way.
"Hopefully, I can keep doing that over the next couple of years and help the young guys that are coming through to achieve their potential and keep Australia strong… I've seen the signs of the youth and what's coming through is pretty exciting for Australian cricket: Nathan McSweeney, Cooper Connolly, Sam Konstas and all of those guys."
It was only 14 months ago that Lehmann started the 2024-25 season playing for South Australia's 2nd XI, but he has been a prolific run-scorer ever since. His last 30 Shield innings have brought him 1,176 runs at an average of 43.55, with six centuries - including one off 96 balls against Tasmania this month - and a strike rate of 67.54.
"Confidence is a wonderful thing," Lehmann says, sitting in the cafe at Adelaide Oval during the third Ashes Test. "When I first started playing, you're a bit younger and you're not as scarred… Then we probably went through a bit of a dip as a team. Being a leader in that group, that took a fair bit of toll on me. It's hard to walk out and play the way you want if you're behind the game all the time.
"In the last couple of years, we've been playing much better cricket… I've got the backing of [head coach] Ryan Harris 100 percent to play the game that I want to play, and the support from Nathan McSweeney - a young captain - has just freed my mind to get away from cricket and then just go back to enjoy it, like you were when I was 18, 19 and rocking up with that freedom and that joy.
"That's my advice for any cricketer along the way, if you do feel a bit flat or whatever: remember the reasons why you started playing the game. For me, it's that I love it. I love watching cricket. I'll come here, watch the Test match, then I'll go home and I'll watch the Big Bash tonight. I feel like I lost that for a bit, but in the last couple of years, I've found it again."
The success of Lehmann's long-time team-mates Travis Head and Alex Carey has rubbed off on him. "We've come up the whole way through age-group cricket - Under-17s, Under-19s, second XI - and we've all taken different paths to where we are now… It was so great to see them both get hundreds at home [against England]. The joy that it brings is awesome to see.
"Kez was a massive part of us winning the Shield and the one-dayers last year. What he brought to the team was the confidence in what he was doing, and that really reflected on other people… You don't want to look back on stuff and say, 'I wish I did that.' I feel like those boys have a massive impact on other players at South Australia, and probably across the country."
Hampshire narrowly avoided relegation from Division One of the County Championship last season, and will hope that Lehmann can help fill the significant void that was left by James Vince's decision to quit red-ball cricket. He also hopes to feature across formats, after four seasons without a contract in the Big Bash League.
"I'm going to try and play everything I can," he says. "I loved my time at Yorkshire [in 2016] and then again at Lancashire [2019] and my memories of county cricket are great so far… I'm available for everything, and half the excitement was to try and get back into playing some T20 cricket, and there's one-day cricket in the tournament that they've been doing quite well in."
He expects his role to involve mentoring some of Hampshire's young batters and has aspirations to go into coaching once his playing career has finished: "I love that aspect of sport. I've already been helping here in the pathways with the Under-17s and Under-19s, and I really enjoy that side of it, helping some of our rookies.
"The game is evolving as a whole: some of these young cricketers now that I'm seeing come up here in Australia, their skillset is just so high from 10-15 years ago when we were coming up. I'm just thrilled to be a part of it. Hopefully, I can help out in multiple different ways [at Hampshire] and play as much cricket as possible."