Towering pace ace to let rip at Kiwis
SOME things in cricket are as unchangeable as the alphabet.
Here’s one. If a towering young fast bowler can scrape the sky, hit a length, find some bounce and swing the ball, he won’t have to worry about knocking on doors.
They will open in front of him.
So it has proved for young Queensland fast bowler Billy Stanlake, who this weekend will play his first senior international match for a Cricket Australia XI against New Zealand in Canberra despite never having bowled a red ball for the Queensland Bulls.
The 204cm giant, who could stand eye to eye with West Indian great Joel Garner, impressed the national selectors with eight wickets in four games for the Bulls in the Matador Cup, including a tournament-ending 4-37 against Western Australia.
“It is a great opportunity for me – it will be a good test against the Kiwis,’’ he said.
The Matador Cup was his first appearance for the Bulls and could be followed by a Sheffield Shield debut with a pink ball under lights against Victoria next week.
Though he has not grown much since a major spurt as a 16-year-old, teammates joke Stanlake is growing at such a pace his first pair of Queensland pants already look too short in the way that a young Glenn McGrath’s did during an early visit to the Gabba.
The 20-year-old Gold Coaster, born in the summer of 1994 a few months before the Bulls won their first Sheffield Shield title, looked and felt comfortable during his Queensland debut, which followed a distinguished junior career.
“I was pretty calm, which was a bit of a surprise,” he said.
“I was really excited to come up against some of the best batsmen going around.’’
The brick wall he could not crack in his first tournament was Australian captain Steve Smith, who scored an unconquered 136 to showcase the type of challenge that could await Stanlake if he advances to the top level.