Sibley passes MCG test, sets sights on Boxing Day return

England's rising Test star Dom Sibley was wide-eyed with wonder as he arrived at the MCG for the first time this week, but underlined his growing reputation as a long-term solution as an opening batsman with a classy century against Australia A.

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The 24-year-old from Warwickshire has played six Tests for England against New Zealand and South Africa since making his debut at Mount Maunganui in November, notching his maiden Test ton at Newlands in early January.

But before he'd done all that, he had February 22 circled on his calendar – the England Lions' first-class day-night match with Australia A at the MCG, and an opportunity for him to make a statement, even with the next Ashes series another 20 months away.

"This was the game I really wanted to do well in," Sibley told cricket.com.au after his 116 from 277 balls in the first innings.

"It's against Australia A, at the MCG, and to get a hundred on day one is a lovely feeling.

"It's my first time to Melbourne, (this ground) is amazing – it feels like an airport in here – it's a helluva spot.

"It's a proper coliseum, isn't it. I was talking to Trotty (former England player Jonathan Trott) what it's like to get a hundred out here in a Boxing Day Test match.

"Hopefully that could be me in the future."

Trott scored an unbeaten 160 in the 2010 MCG Test as England won an Ashes on Australian soil for the first time in 24 years.

Sibley, and his England Test opening colleague Zak Crawley, 22, have been chewing the ears off former Test players Trott and Marcus Trescothick, both working with the Lions squad as assistant coaches.

"I've definitely dreamt about it, scoring a Boxing Day hundred," Sibley says candidly. "I'm very young in my Test career but I want to play 100 Tests for England.

"That's my ambition, I want to keep improving. That (Ashes series in 2021-22) is on my radar, I've just got to keep scoring runs."

This latest hundred is further proof that Sibley is fulfilling the potential he displayed from an early age. He holds the County Championship record as the youngest every double centurion, having hit 242 in just his third first-class match not long after his 18th birthday.

Last UK summer he scored 1,324 runs in 13 matches for Warwickshire at 69.68, with five centuries, and earned his first call-up to the Lions squad against Australia A in July (scoring 74) in the first innings.

That county form made him a natural choice to bolster England's opening batting stocks for the New Zealand series, slotted in to open in a reshuffled order with Joe Denly moved down to No.3 and Jonny Bairstow squeezed out.

His latest century – the 14th of his first-class career – was scored with England chief selector Ed Smith watching on and against an attack led by regular Test reserves in Michael Neser and Jackson Bird.

"When you're batting you want to get into a habit of scoring big runs. That's something I've done well over the past 18 months.

"It's about finding my groove, batting my way and at my tempo.

"That's what I did today. It was slow at the start, and it was tough work. But slowly it got a bit easier and I managed to go through the gears a little bit."

It also brought him invaluable experience against the pink Kookaburra ball and batting under floodlights and a dark sky – two things he had never previously encountered.

"I'd never batted in conditions like that. It stays light so long in England – you get a bit of twilight but never darkness," Sibley said. "It was just a case of getting used to it.

"The ball went soft after the first 10 overs – that was accentuated by the pace of the pitch.

"Then at the end (with the new ball) it zipped off again. It felt more threatening but at the same time you got more value for your shots."