Edwards eases into the elite level

Ryan Harris had watched Jack Edwards for a few years, but even he found himself deceived by his easy-going approach in the lead-in to Australia's Under-19 World Cup semi-final earlier this year.

As their campaign neared its crescendo in New Zealand, the Harris-coached side braced themselves for a high-quality spin barrage from Afghanistan.

The knockout clash with the tournament upstarts, led by mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who has since gone on to feature heavily in this year's Indian Premier League despite not yet having had his 18th birthday, represented the highest-stakes game the young Australians had played in.

Harris had watched Edwards progress from raw teenager to one of the country's brightest all-round talents, but the former Test quick was eager to see how the towering opener would respond to the pressure in Christchurch.

"You look at him and the way he comes across and you wonder, 'has he done enough to prepare?'" Harris told cricket.com.au.

"(But) a great example of his cricket brain and the way he applies himself was in the semi-final – all the talk was about the spinners from Afghanistan dominating.

"The amount of work he did, the amount of research he did on them, the way he trained (before the match) and then the way he went out and popped them over the top for fun – he got about 70 off 60-odd balls (72 off 65) and did it quite easily.

"It was just a testament to how he actually looks at the game. He does everything he can to prepare and that was a great example.

"He showed how he can just come out and take a game away, a bit like David Warner does in the Australian team … it just takes the pressure off the rest of your team."

While he's primarily been a batsman throughout his junior career, Edwards has developed his bowling to the point he was included in a pace group who travelled to Brisbane early for the National Performance Squad (NPS) program at the National Cricket Centre.

That's despite the fact he's had to work extensively on removing an odd quirk from his bowling action.

"Three or four years ago, he was bowling off the wrong foot," Harris recounted. "He was coming in a bit like Max Walker.

"He did a lot of work with (youth bowling coach) Grant Lambert in NSW and did a really good job with him. When I first saw him, his action was a bit more traditional but the timing still wasn't quite right.

"It's just amazing how far he's come in the short amount of time that he had to change it. It was totally different. He just applied himself to get the results."

Beneath Edwards' surfer curls and relaxed tone is a thoughtful cricketer.

Standing at an imposing 195cm, the right-hander has wasted no time in hitting up Test opener Chris Rogers, a recent appointment as a full-time NPS coach alongside Harris, for how he can use his superior reach to his advantage.

"It's definitely handy being an opening batsman and being nearly two metres tall," said Edwards, the younger brother of one-time cult hero and current Blues quick Mickey Edwards. "I try to use that to my advantage. I try to have a presence at the crease.

"It's something I've talked about with Chris Rogers, about using my height to hit balls that other batsman couldn't drive and try to dominate bowlers (that way). That's something I can keep working on.

"'Buck' (Rogers) is fantastic, he's a fantastic technician and thinker of the game. You love chatting with him about the technical side of the game.

"We're really using these first couple of weeks to break down our techniques and being prepared to take one step backwards to go one step forwards."

The events of the last few months have left Edwards with little time for contemplation.

Within weeks of his 18th birthday he earnt his maiden NSW Blues contract, then he found out he was among just 10 cricketers to earn full-time scholarships with the NPS in Brisbane over the winter, which necessitated him to (albeit temporarily) move out of home for the first time.

And this week he found himself among five youngsters invited along by new national coach Justin Langer to shadow the Australian team (who were also in Brisbane) as they prepared for their first series since the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

Including sitting in on Langer's initial address to the one-day squad.

"We just sat up the back, nice and quietly," Edwards said with a laugh.

"He definitely made us feel a part of it. The biggest thing I took out of it was how they want to move forward as a team, as one.

"It was really exciting talking about how we're going to do it and how we're going to play in the future … and also figuring what I need to do to get to that level in the future."

Only captain Jason Sangha scored more runs than Edwards among the Australian contingent at the U19 World Cup, where their promising run was halted by a sound defeat to India in the final.

That 72 against Afghanistan is the innings that Harris remembers most vividly, but Edwards' standout individual effort had come two weeks earlier in a group match against the Indians, taking 4-65 and cracking 73 in a losing cause.

While Harris had initially offered the Warner comparison for Edwards, he settles on a player who more resembles his physical build.

"You'd probably look at him in that Tom Moody mould," said Harris. "He's an absolute giant.

"I think his bowling has (gotten to the level) where he could be a genuine allrounder that could bat anywhere at the top to the middle order. Because he's so tall, if he gets his timing right, he'll have enough pace, he swings it.

"He's a pretty laid-back character. He's got a bit to learn but he's on the right track."

Edwards has kept an eye on the ensuing achievements of some of the standout U19 World Cup players. India young guns Shivam Mavi (Kolkata Knight Riders), Prithvi Shaw (Delhi Daredevils) and Afghanistan's Mujeeb (Kings XI Punjab) all went on to star in this year's IPL while England U19 captain Harry Brook last month notched a century for Yorkshire in the UK's County Championship.

While Edwards recognises neither he nor any of his other Australian U19 teammates are yet to match the feats of their foreign contemporaries, he's confident they're not far off.

"That World Cup was a fantastic experience, it just showed what the playing field is like and the standard we have to be at to compete," Edwards explained.

"There were some fantastic players in that competition, some have gone to play in the IPL, some are playing county cricket. Facing that India team – their opening bowler now is opening the bowling for Kolkata in the IPL.

"It makes you realise you're not as far away as you think and shows you can face any bowler going forward.

"Especially the Indian guys, they just understood their games so well. In that final against India, as heartbreaking as it was, you just kind of sat back and thought, 'this is what I've got to get to'."