Australia’s tour of England enters its closing stages with the first of two Twenty20 matches at Old Trafford today.
And while many in the Australia side lick their wounds after a 2-1 Ashes series loss, for one player the Twenty20 games offer the chance to complete a notable double.
In June, Dirk Nannes was in the Dutch side that dramatically defeated England in the opening match of the World Twenty20.
PHOTO: AFP
But the Victorian, qualified for the Netherlands through his parents, made his Australia one-day international debut on Friday in the side that beat Scotland by 189 runs in Edinburgh.
Nannes, who took one for 20 in his seven overs against Scotland, only made his first-class debut at the age of 29 during the 2005-20006 season.
The Melbourne-born quick enjoyed state success in both first-class and Twenty20 cricket, taking four for 23 as the Bushrangers won last year’s Australian domestic Twenty20 final.
But Australia’s selectors had still to be convinced.
However, that changed earlier this month when he was selected in the Australia squad for the Twenty20 matches against England, the second of which takes place at Old Trafford on Tuesday. Nannes admitted the call from Cricket Australia’s Michael Brown made him think he was in disciplinary trouble.
“I was sitting at home and the phone rang and it was Michael Brown and he normally calls either if you’re selected or you’ve done something wrong and I was scratching my brain to work out what I’d done wrong because I had no idea there were even Twenty20s in England, I hadn’t even looked,” Nannes said.
“Cricket’s been a bit of a whirlwind for me, starting so late and it’s kind of crept along and crept along,” he said.
“One day I’m playing for Victoria, which I thought was amazing, the next day I got the IPL [Indian Premier League] gig and then I’m playing in the World Cup for Holland and then this, it’s all a bit bizarre and it’s probably going to be in 10 years when I sit down and go ‘geez I’ve done some pretty good things,’” Nannes said.
Someone else hoping to make an impact against England is David Hussey.
Nannes’ state colleague hit 111 against Scotland but has only been selected for the two Twenty20s against England and not the seven one-dayers that follow.
The 32-year-old said: “I’ve had a mix of games in Twenty20 and one-dayers in the past year but I haven’t really taken the chance with both hands.”
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