Young gun to skip school for World T20

Left-arm quick Lauren Cheatle was sitting for her Year 12 school photo when she received the call to say she'd been selected in the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars World T20 squad.

Needless to say, it was a call Cheatle’s teachers were only too happy for her to take.

Later this month, the 17-year-old will be packing her school books into her kit bag and touring New Zealand with the Australian squad, before jetting off to India for next month's World T20.

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While many of Australia's female players juggle work commitments around their international duties, Cheatle's experience is unique, with the talented young quick in the process of completing her final year at Bowral's Chevalier College.

"I am excited, I did not expect it at all," Cheatle told cricket.com.au. "We were in the middle of getting our photos done when my phone started ringing and I had to ask if I could take the call because it was the Australian selector.

"I got to tell my best friends straight away, which was cool."

Watch: Cheatle provides extra dimension: Lanning 

Cheatle said while the finer details were still being worked out, she would be finding the time to keep up her schoolwork while spending five weeks on the road with the Australian squad.

"We're still trying to work it out with my teachers, but there'll be some online stuff I'll be doing.

"When my schoolwork comes second sometimes it's not too pleasing for Mum, but my school and Cricket Australia are really understanding about it.

"Cricket is a good break from school and school can also be a good break from cricket."

Cheatle made her international debut in the Southern Stars' clash against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground late last month.

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She had forced her way into the squad after a very impressive summer for the Lend Lease NSW Breakers, in which she took seven wickets from five matches, while she also finished fourth on the wicket-taking table in the Rebel Women's Big Bash League with 18 scalps at 19.72 for the Sydney Thunder.

"I didn't think it would happen this quickly at all,” she said. "I was still so excited just to get into the Breakers squad and to travel around the country for the WBBL.

"I was going to play for NSW for a couple of years and then hopefully make it into the Australian team when I was older, but to make it in so young is so exciting."

The teenager, who lives down the road from the Bradman Museum in Bowral, was the youngest player ever included in a NSW Breakers squad.

She has been regularly compared to another fast bowler who made an impact on the international stage at a very young age – Ellyse Perry, who debuted for the Southern Stars at 16 – and, like Perry, also boasts dual athletic abilities, having also played representative netball.

Most recently, however, Cheatle has been attracting attention for the uncanny likeness her bowling action bears to that of Mitchell Starc.

Watch: Cheatle's action similar to Starc's 

"I'd never seen it before, then Cricket Australia had a video of us bowling in sync,” she said.

"I was really shocked to see how similar they were."

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Cheatle is estimated to bowl at around 110kph, putting her within reach of Southern Stars spearheads Perry and Holly Ferling – and she hopes to get faster.

"I still haven’t finished developing so I'll be looking to get faster in the future.”

Cheatle bowled four overs and took 0-16 and 0-19 across her two T20 appearances for the Southern Stars, with coach Matthew Mott saying it was valuable experience for the teenager, and predicting big things to come.

"It was about giving her an opportunity early," Mott told cricket.com.au. "For her to go out there and execute pretty well was good.

"It's exciting for us to have that left-arm pace and she'll be very exciting over the next couple of years."