Confident 17-year-old Jake Fraser-McGurk, the competition’s first player born this century, struck a sparkling fifty on his Marsh Sheffield Shield debut
Shield's first 21st-century baby makes grand entrance
After Australia’s batting hopefuls fluffed their lines in their Test audition on the other side of the continent, the Sheffield Shield's first ever 21st century-born player handled bumpers and barbs with poise to give a glimpse of the future on Wednesday.
Jake Fraser-McGurk, born in April 2002 and handed his Victorian cap by former Test batter Rob Quiney at the MCG this week to become the third youngest debutant in the state’s history, made a dream start to his career with a 91-ball 51 full of eye-catching strokes.
Peppered with short balls by Queensland’s fast bowlers, the diminutive 17-year-old smashed a pull shot through mid-wicket for his first boundary and used his feet to smash leg-spinner Mitch Swepson over long-on for six.
All while copping a decent serving of verbals.
"There was a fair bit," the smiling teenager said when asked if he'd been sledged. "I expected it a bit because I did a fair bit of media stuff, so they would have seen some of that.
"They actually gave me a bit less until the later part of my innings where it started getting ramped up. It was just about me being young, and small, and balls coming through at my head.
"I like it when they give me a bit of lip, it gets me in the contest a bit more.
"I was actually pretty happy they started bowling shorter at me, I don't mind the short ball."
But not even the confident Fraser-McGurk thought he'd be here.
By rights, he should have been at school. Still not old enough to drive a car on his own, he arrived at the MCG with his 'L' plates hanging up and his Mum Charlotte riding shotgun.
"But I think Mum will be driving home tonight," added Fraser-McGurk, who fittingly hit his very first Shield run to the fine leg boundary right in front of where she and a host of his friends and club teammates from Monash Tigers were sitting.
He admitted he was frustrated to be dismissed poking an edge to slip off Mark Steketee, having narrowly survived playing a similar shot that looped over gully not long before.
But the knock was a sure sign Fraser-McGurk's selection was far from premature, having put on 104 runs for the fourth wicket with captain Peter Handscomb after Aaron Finch's exit for 30 had left Victoria 3-88.
"Seventeen is young – I hadn't played district cricket by then. I was still a kid," Handscomb said at stumps on day two with Queensland 1-3 in their second innings trailing by 114 runs.
"I haven't seen anyone with that kind of confidence at that age. He's got a serious amount of confidence for a 17-year-old, which is awesome to see.
"You can see that in his batting. He was taking the ball on straightaway, they went short at him and he was up to the contest. He's an exciting young talent."
Fraser-McGurk's baptism of fire is typical of what new batters encounter in the Shield, according to Handscomb, and it certainly didn't deter the youngster.
"It was probably better than I expected," Fraser-McGurk said of his knock. "Kids dream about playing on the MCG and doing that is pretty amazing but I just had to put that aside and get down to business.
"I was pretty nervous when Finchy got out, but it was good to bat with Pete out there, he calmed me down quite nicely. I was just happy to get a decent score in my first dig.
"(Handscomb) just kept saying, 'you're all good, mate, you deserve to be out here.' It really helped settle my nerves."