Mature head on young shoulders

There was just enough turn, flight and guile to whet all those Aussie appetites still pining for the country’s next quality leg-spinner.

James Muirhead’s appearance in the first T20 international against England last night came as a surprise to plenty – picked as he was from relative BBL obscurity – including the man himself.

“I was with my dad, about to leave home to go out for dinner, I got the call from John (Inverarity) at about 7.30,” Muirhead said of receiving news of his selection.

“I was shocked as anything.”

Yet beyond the predictable reactions, there were also a couple of telling little indicators that – while accelerated – this was all part of the grand Muirhead plan.

“To play international cricket at the age of 20, I was not expecting it, but I feel that I’m up for it. I think it’s all to do with developing myself, hopefully playing Test cricket one day – giving me another challenge, and I’m just here to relish the situation,” said the leg-spinner, before explaining his father’s immediate reaction to the news.

“He’s a real level-headed guy, so we’re not getting really, really excited. He just shook my hand and said, ‘We knew this was coming’.”

It’s a bold declaration from the man who probably knows Muirhead’s bowling as well as anyone, having coached him in his junior years at Altona Cricket Club in Melbourne’s west.

“I always had faith that I was going to get there one day,” he said matter-of-factly. “It’s just the type of attitude I have.”

In some ways though, the confidence is understandable.

Throughout the summer, despite limited opportunities in the KFC Big Bash League (three matches with Melbourne Stars) and having not featured for Victoria in this season’s Bupa Sheffield Shield, Muirhead has been singled out for selection for three representative matches against England.

First, he played for a Cricket Australia Invitational XI at the SCG, where that confidence was immediately and fiercely tested.

“Kevin Pietersen definitely got into me straight away, from ball one,” Muirhead said. “The first ball I bowled to him he tried to reverse sweep me, so I was just like, ‘Well, what have we got on our hands here?’

“It was a good experience. That’s going to happen in international cricket, you have to deal with those pressures.”

It was an altogether different experience in Alice Springs, where he turned out for a Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI. In the country’s red centre, Muirhead found an unlikely ally in then England keeper-batsman Matt Prior.

“I had a bit of a chat with him, he was just saying, ‘Just keep calm, you’re doing really good – you just have to find a way to deal with these pressures’,” he recalled.

“I’m still learning my game, still learning how to bowl leg-spin.”

Muirhead also played in the Prime Minister’s XI side in Canberra earlier this month, where he took 3-52.

“I’ve bowled a couple of really good balls to international players,” he said. “I know I can get them out and do well at this level.”

Muirhead won the support of Victoria, Stars and Australia team-mate Cameron White, who acknowledged the leg-spinner’s raw potential after he returned figures of 1-34 from his four overs in his international debut last night.

“It was very good I thought, especially for a leg-spinner to debut in this format under a fair bit of pressure with batsmen coming hard at him, so I thought he did a really good job,” White said.

“It was a very promising debut from a very talented young leg-spinner.”

“It was actually the second International match that he’s ever been to in his whole life today. The first one was the other day in Adelaide and this was the second game – which he played in – so that’s not a bad effort.”