That was the question most people must have been asking as we seen the pictures of Glenn McGrath handing him debut cap.
Well, after today’s world record breaking knock, the whole cricketing world certainly knows who he is now. Not content with one world record, Ashton Agar already holds two.
Not only is he the holder of the world record score for a No.11, he also now holds the world record for the highest last wicket partnership, 163 with Phil Hughes.
He looks that young he could be delivering my newspapers. If he walked down the road outside Trent Bridge before the start of play on Day 3, I reckon 90% of the passing crowd on their way to the Test match would probably not even recognise him – I certainly wouldn’t, and here he is the talk of cricket.
I’ve only seen brief highlights of the innings, but from what I seen and heard, he looked a decent batsman. I’m not jumping on the bandwagon that he is already a number 7 or number 8 though, as I’ve heard some esteemed cricket pundits already claiming today. There is a lot of water to go under the bridge there, not least proof that he is worth his place in the side as a bowler.
It remains to be seen if he is a flash in the pan, and after all he was picked to bowl, not bat. There have been plenty of tail enders who looked good with the bat early in their careers, and great things were predicted of them, only for them to prove they were out and out tail enders after all.
I am an England fan, a Test cricket fan, and an out and out cricket fan, and from all three of those perspectives I wanted Ashton Agar to get his hundred today. I was also delighted that the watching cricket public at Trent Bridge gave him a good respectful hand after his innings was over.
It is a great story which will add to the already rich history of The Ashes, and it has already further helped to set this Ashes series alight.
