WA speedster Mahli Beardman believes he has still not quite yet returned the peak of his powers, despite a star turn for Australia A in one of his first competitive matches since returning from a stress fracture in his back.
After an off-season spent focusing on rehabilitating a recurrence of the injury, Beardman completed his comeback with a pair of One-Day Cup appearances last month before heading to the subcontinent with the development side.
The Perth Scorchers star gave another glimpse into his considerable talents in the first of three 50-over games against India A in Puducherry yesterday, claiming figures of 4-23 from his six overs to lead his side to a 125-run victory.
Given the unfamiliar responsibility of taking the new ball, the 21-year-old produced a vicious bumper to have three-format international opener Sai Sudharsan caught behind with his fourth legal delivery and went on to pick up three wickets inside his first two overs.
Speaking after the game, Beardman paid credit to both Cricket Australia and WA Cricket’s high-performance staff for ensuring he was primed to perform while still feeling not quite at his best.
“Unfortunately, I’ve had a few (back injuries) now, so I’ve done this before, but there’s always that unknown about what’s going to happen with your body, if you’re going to be able to withstand the workloads and get back to how you were bowling before,” Beardman said.
“I was lucky enough to feel like I was in some decent rhythm in the Big Bash leading into Pakistan before my injury.
“It’s only my third game back now, so I’m still feeling a little bit underdone, but it was great to just get out there and compete.
“Any time you get to represent your country, regardless of what it’s in, it’s an absolute honour. It was awesome to get out there and get a win.”
First called up into a senior international squad after only a sole State appearance midway through 2024, Beardman has spent plenty of time around Australian squads since and made his Twenty20 International debut in Pakistan earlier this year.
He said he had applied plenty of lessons learnt from legendary fast bowlers Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood into his own game.
“Just from a technical standpoint, there’s been some little things that Starcy’s thrown me that have been awesome, and then from there, it’s just been trying to pick their brains as much as possible on game-play,” Beardman said.
“They’ve had so much experience and so much success across a long period of time now. They have a way of keeping the game super simple, which I’ve been lucky enough to be able to tap into.”
In the first innings of the game, out-of-favour batsman Nathan McSweeney sent a message to Australia’s selectors after being overlooked for a call-up to the Test tour of South Africa, top-scoring with 123 in Australia A’s total of 274.
