Persistence pays off for teenage debutant

It’s been a tough road for Tayla Vlaeminck, but the teenage fast bowler’s patience, persistence and resilience was rewarded on Monday when she was handed Australia ODI cap No.140.

Fittingly, Vlaeminck received her cap from star allrounder and childhood hero Ellyse Perry – who made her own debut as a teenage tearaway in 2007 and who is playing her 100th one-dayer for Australia – ahead of the third and final ODI against Pakistan in Kuala Lumpur.

The Bendigo quick is only 19 years old, but she’s taken the tough road to reach international level, fighting her way through three devastating injuries.

Her time in the recovery ward - Vlaeminck suffered two knee reconstructions and a dislocated shoulder in the space of less than three years - means the teenager from country Victoria hasn't even made her Rebel WBBL debut for the Melbourne Renegades yet.

But her standout performances on Australia's Under-19 tour of South Africa in April helped her catch the eye of selectors, while eight weeks training with the National Performance Squad in Brisbane through the winter convinced them she was ready to step up to the next level.

She was included in Australia’s T20I squad which played New Zealand last month, but a quad niggle prevented a 20-over debut.

But it was merely delaying the inevitable, with Vlaeminck’s raw pace the x-factor that has the Australian coaches and selectors so excited.

“Tayla’s had her share of injuries but she’s a player we’ve kept a good eye on for a couple of years," Mott told cricket.com.au in September.

"We wanted someone who had a point of difference, she rips in and bowls fast and she looks to hit the wicket.

"She bowls a good bouncer and has a lot of the skills we’ve been craving for a while.

"She's young, but we kept saying if she's good enough, she's old enough.

"She’ll come in with a lot of confidence."

While she didn’t make a debut against the White Ferns, the right-armer was showing some ominoussigns in the nets – including snapping Alyssa Healy’s bat clean in half.

With star pace bowler Megan Schutt sitting out the third and final ODI with a series win already in the bag, Vlaeminck’s opportunity finally came.

"Tayla's just got that raw pace and excitement with the ball, she's a wicket-taking bowler who runs in and gives it all she's got," Australia captain Meg Lanning said earlier this month.

"She's fitted into the group really nicely.”

Vlaeminck is the third debutant for Australia this series, alongside two fellow Victorians and Renegades in left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux and leg-spinner Georgia Wareham.

The trio, aged 19, 20 and 19 respectively, all hail from country Victoria and now live together in Melbourne’s suburbs.

All three are graduates of the National Performance Squad, and Lanning hailed the influence of the program on Australia’s next generation.

"I think the NPS program has played a massive role (in their performances)," Lanning said. "They spent two or three months up at the NCC being athletes 24-7 and learning what it's like to be on tour.

"I think that's really prepared them and (high performance coach) Leah Poulton's done a great job there.

"Their personalities really fit into this squad, they're really cool to have around and they're really relaxed as well."

A talented young sportswoman who combined cricket with soccer, Vlaeminck had barely played an official match when she was selected for the Victorian Under-14 cricket team and was soon selected in the Under-18s.

But in early 2015, disaster struck when she ruptured her ACL – the first of two ACL ruptures she would have to endure. After going through the full recovery and rehabilitation for the initial injury, it took just two matches for the same knee to fail her, this time while bowling.

But her talent and resilience has not gone unnoticed, at any level, with Vlaeminck signed by the Renegades even while on the comeback trail.

Her first season in red was largely spent carrying drinks and soaking up as much as she could while recovering, before she finally made her triumphant return during Victoria’s opening WNCL match against the ACT Meteors last October – a moment more than 700 days of recovery and rehabilitation in the making.

But just when it looked like the teenager was finally back on track, her 2017-18 summer was cast in doubt when she dislocated her shoulder playing for Victoria in late November.

It means Vlaeminck is still waiting to play her first Rebel WBBL match, but now, with an international cap in hand, it seems fortune is finally starting to favour the teenage quick.

CommBank Tour of Malaysia

Australia ODI squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

Australia T20 & World T20 squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen (subject to fitness), Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

Pakistan ODI/T20 squad: Javeria Khan (c), Bibi Nahida, Ayesha Zafar, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui, Sidra Amin, Omaima Sohail, Nida Rashid, Sidra Nawaz, Sana Mir, Nashra Sundhu, Anum Amin, Natalia Parvaiz, Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Aiman Anwar

October 18: Australia won the first ODI by five wickets

October 20: Australia won the second ODI by 150 runs

October 22: Third ODI v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval

October 25: First T20I v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval

October 27: Second T20I v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval

October 29: Third T20I v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval

2018 ICC Women's World T20  

November 9: Australia v Pakistan, Province Stadium, Guyana

November 11: Australia v Ireland, Province Stadium

November 13: Australia v New Zealand, Province Stadium

November 17: Australia v India, Province Stadium

November 22: Semi-finals, Sir Vivian Richards Ground, Antigua

November 24: Final, Sir Vivian Richards Ground