Country teenager Josh Vernon will play for Australia Under-19s after honing his craft on Astro cricket wickets
Josh Vernon was 14 when he sank his spikes into a turf goal and ran his fingers along the seam of a four-piece ball.
Now he is 17 and preparing to play for Australia.
The lightning-fast seamer from the small Pilbara town of Dampier, 1535 kilometers north of WACA grounds, is the young star of a competition playing under lights and with a white ball to avoid the scorching summer heat.
It wasn’t until he left wide-eyed as a teenager for his first country week that he played red ball cricket – a tournament that may have changed his life.
Vernon is one of three Western Australians selected to play for Australia’s under-19 team in a multi-format series against England in Queensland, which begins on Sunday, with a view to the UK tour later this year and then the World Cup.
“I started playing when I was about 10 years old and from then until now, all country cricket has been on Astro with a two-piece white ball under lights,” he said.
“I play all my cricket up here, train up here.
“I attended my first country week when I was 14 and heard about it for the first time there.
“As a fast bowler, I could have confidence that I could dig my foot in and bowl as fast as I could instead of worrying about slipping on Astro or the ball slipping out.
“If you looked back two or three years and said that a country boy playing Astro would play for Australia, I probably would have laughed.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, I think if I’m at the top of my brand over in Brisbane it might just sunk in.”
A baptism with a swinging white ball is far from usual, but it has its advantages. Vernon is one of the best exponents of new ball in the country for his age, a craft he honed on hot, floodlit nights in his hometown.
“The number one thing I’ve been picked for leading up to this Australian carnival is my ability to swing the new ball quickly,” he said.
“As we look at where cricket is going, we want to develop our white ball skills.
“Growing up playing with a white ball and learning what lengths to throw, how to hit the outside of the racquet and move it both ways to set up a batsman… trying to develop that and make a swinging ball control was very important to my development.”
The 17-year-old travels to Perth to train with the State Program and with Midland-Guildford, where he made his first grade debut this summer.
And a chance encounter with Washington fast bowling legend Jo Angel, who flies to the Pilbara for work, landed Vernon a bowling coach. The pair train together while the towering former bowler, who conceded 485 first-class wickets, is in town on business.
“He’s probably the main reason I went to Midland, he’s actually FIFO from a town up here, he’s been my bowling coach for two or three years now,” Vernon said.
“I can definitely say I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t have him available.
“He was incredible. The biggest part of my development that I’ve been missing is the powerful coaching and training that the other guys across the country and especially in Perth are getting.
“Having him, a high-performance coach and player that I can call anytime, has been absolutely amazing.”
Willeton spinner Luke Holt will also travel to Queensland for the two four-day games, three one-day games and T20 against England, but the heartbreaking story is Vernon’s great pal and Melville pace ace Mahli Beardman missing the tour with a miss becomes soft tissue injury.
Remarkably, the pair lived just two doors down from each other in Dampier, a town of just over 1,000, and the two Quicks are already dreaming of appearing together in a return series in England later this year.
“He didn’t let me bowl at him (in the backyard), he just came in from afar with the taped ball, which bowled at me quickly,” Vernon said.
“But if it weren’t for the fact that we’ve always fished, dived and camped together – just real country boys roaming the bush.
“He’s obviously my age but I’m good at observing him and looking up to him a bit.
“He’s still looking to England. If he is fit for England then at full fitness they have something to worry about.
“As a kid you grew up hating the Poms… I don’t think there could be a better team for us to play for this series going into the World Cup. I can’t wait to go out with the guys and try to confuse them.”
