MURPHY IN A REAL SPIN AFTER DREAM TEST DEBUT
TWELVE months ago he wasn’t in the Victorian side and he has only played five Sheffield Shield games in his life, but Australia’s latest spinning star Todd Murphy says a trip to Sri Lanka with the Australian A side gave him the confidence to mix it with the best.
Former Tracy Village bowler Murphy became the youngest Australian spinner to get five wickets in their first Test, dispatching star batsman Virat Kohli for just 12 and leading the side off after what was a tough day in Nagpur on Friday.
He followed that up on Saturday with another two wickets to finish with figures of 7-124 as India was bowled out for 400 on day three.
The 22-year-old from Echuca said the memories of his debut would stay with him forever.
Murphy first joined Tracy for the 2019 Darwin Premier Grade season as an 18-year-old, taking 19 wickets in just five matches and with the best figures of 7-38 against Waratah.
He would return three years later to take 12 wickets from five games with a best haul of 4-15. But, his 2022 season was interrupted in late May when he was drafted into the Australia A squad for a tour of Sri Lanka
“It’s been a pretty special couple of days and to top it off with a five-wicket haul on debut is more than I ever hoped for and it is going to be something that I’ll look back on for the rest of my life and be proud of,” Murphy said. “I think this time last year I was still not in the state side so it sort of has been quite quick progress but one of the biggest things for me was getting to go to Sri Lanka and being on that A tour and having a little bit of success over that probably gave me the confidence I needed going back to Australia that I could mix it with firstclass cricketers.
“Being around some of the guys who had played Test cricket, observing everything and competing in the nets and bowling to the Sri Lankans. I took a lot of confidence out of that and reflected and went back, trusted myself a bit more and thought ‘what I’ve got can be good enough’ and believe in that.”
Scott Boland, Matthew Renshaw, Travis Head, Marcus Harris, Cam Green, Jon Holland and Nic Maddinson were in the squad which toured Sri Lanka for an unofficial Test and ODI series in the middle of 2022.
Murphy was a medium pacer who converted to spin five years ago.
Murphy claimed some big scalps on Friday, including Kohli, and then was given the second new ball ahead of his senior bowling partner Nathan Lyon. “I knew there would be a time when if I was to play there would be a chance to bowl with the new ball,” Murphy said.
“It’s always nice to stay in the game when the new ball comes.”
His father, brother, uncle, cousin and girlfriend all made the dash from country Victoria to Nagpur for his debut.