A first class debut, dismissing the England captain and taking a maiden first class five-wicket haul – it has been a whirlwind month for Daniel Fallins.
The Sutherland leg-spinner was chosen in the Cricket Australia XI for a pair of four-day tour matches against England as they prepared for the Ashes series against Australia starting in Brisbane on Thursday.
The young CA XI side, led by recalled Test wicketkeeper Tim Paine, gave an excellent account of themselves. They lost the first match by 192 runs at the Adelaide Oval in a day-night match, with most of CA’s young stars not having played with a pink ball under lights before.
They then secured a fighting draw in the second game in Townsville thanks to Matt Short and Jason Sangha centuries in the second innings.
And it was some introduction for Fallins, who knocked over England’s No.3 batsman James Vince in his first over in Adelaide. The 21-year-old took five wickets in that first innings to help bowl England out for 293, including the scalps of Vince, opener Mark Stoneman, Jonny Bairstow, James Anderson – and skipper Joe Root – to finish with 5-73.
“It was a bit surreal, to be honest,” Fallins told the Leader.
“I was picking up batsmen, blokes that I will be watching on TV playing in the Ashes. To get wickets against international, Test-quality players… it’s sort of sunk in now. I was just trying to make the most of it and the time I had. I tried not to get too overawed by the occasion and take it as an opportunity.
“The best part was the wicket in my first over. That’s always good to settle the nerves because I was quite nervous. That helps with your confidence. That and my fifth wicket on the second day in Adelaide was pretty special.
“It was my first time playing on [Adelaide] Oval. It was amazing. There was quite a good crowd there getting behind us. The pitch was great and the surface was awesome.”
As for his own cricket, his nine wickets in three innings at an average of just under 28 against Test opposition have given Fallins the confidence to keep chasing his goals.
“For me personally the biggest thing I took away was knowing my best ball was good enough to get good batsmen out,” he said.
“Also the patience you’ve got to have to consistently bowl a lot of good balls in good areas to batsmen of that quality. To debut in my first class career against an international team and have some small success gives me confidence that I’m capable at that level. I want to keep progressing to reach that level myself and I’ve seen the level you have to get to.
“I feel like I’ve been progressing with my cricket every year and being exposed to higher levels of cricket and good players has helped. I’m not rushed or anything like that, I’m happy to take my time and build those skills so that I’m ready if I ever get to that level again.”
The next time he watches England in person will be during the Boxing Day Test when Fallins will travel to Melbourne with his family. He also plans to take in some of the Sydney Test. But his experience of playing against them has changed his outlook on the series.
“I reckon they’re a class team. Even Alastair Cook who is a bit out of form, the amount of balls he faced shows what a quality cricketer he is and he’s made thousands of Test runs,” he said.
“The new guys were gritty and tough, you never thought they were going to give their wicket away cheaply. [James Anderson and Stuart Broad] had a bit of an aura around them which could be quite intimidating facing them with a pink ball especially.”