He has been billed as a potential successor to Usman Khawaja and on Saturday afternoon, Campbell Kellaway proved why he is viewed with such high regard after an impressive 82 for Australia in the Prime Minister’s XI against England Lions.
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England generated headlines before Saturday’s game after only releasing three players unused in the first Test — Jacob Bethell, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue — for the day/night pink ball fixture.
As it turns out, Tongue looks set to be recalled to England’s squad after news on Saturday night that fast bowler Mark Wood was expected to miss the Brisbane Test with a knee issue.
Either way, former England captain Michael Vaughan called it an “amateurish” decision, although the nation’s biggest Test stars weren’t the only ones absent with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also missing in action.
He had a good reason too, with it later revealed that he was marrying partner Jodie Haydon at the time.
But he missed out on quite the knock from Kellaway and while England may have opted against playing some of its more notable names in the fixture, the 23-year-old was still made to work for all of his 82 runs on Saturday.
A poised Kellaway was decisive when he needed to be, smacking 10 boundaries including eight fours and two sixes.
Two of his boundaries came against the Lions’ best bowler in Tongue before Kellaway eventually fell to a stunning one-handed catch from Tom Haines.
It didn’t take away from what was an impressive hit-out from Kellaway, who Victorian coach Chris Rogers called a “ready-made Test player” earlier in the month.
Those comments came after Kellaway put up scores of 51 and 23 in a Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales on a SCG tricky pitch and against a bowling attack headlined by Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Sean Abbott.
“I spoke to Campbell about it after and he wouldn’t have faced that challenge throughout his career. But if he’s going to go on and play international cricket then he will have to face things like that, where tall, fast bowlers are kind of aiming at his front shoulder,” Rogers siad at the time.
“So that’s something that he’s going to have to work on, the positions he gets into.
“But to come out and get 50 and line the ball up so well against Starc and Hazlewood, I thought that was a real tick.
“And for me, it’s proven once again that he could be the successor to Khawaja. I think he’s going to do some fantastic things in his career.”
Elsewhere, Sam Konstas was the first wicket to fall for Australia but the 20-year-old showed plenty of good signs early before an impatient shot was skied to reserve quick Matthew Potts.
Konstas caught after promising start | 00:45
Fellow Australian Test opener Nathan McSweeney, meanwhile, put up an impressive 63 runs off 108 balls before a diving catch from Ben Kellaway secured a breakthrough wicket after the dinner break.
McSweeney was looking to increase the intensity after slowing down a touch and his dismissal brought Peter Handscomb to the crease alongside Oliver Peake, who swiftly brought up a half-century.
But Peake didn’t last long as he gave up a cheap wicket soon after with a mis-hit leading to a simple catch to leave Australia at 4-233 shortly after 64 overs at Manuka Oval.
The wickets started to fall at a much quicker pace at that point with Joel Curtis (33* off 50) helping add some extra insurance runs before Australia declared at 8-308.
The PM’s XI almost took a wicket immediately but England captain Tom Haines was dropped and given a reprieve.
Haines (12) and Emilio Gay (17) were left at the crease by the end of night’s play with England 0-29 after five overs.
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