“People ask, ‘How do you do it?’ or, ‘Is it a natural thing or something you can learn?’ I think you just have to have it from the start. It’s one of those things, either you have fast-twitch fibres and throw the ball quick, or you don’t. When I’m bowling my best too, I’m not even thinking about bowling quick. That’s just a lucky genetic thing.”

Lillee has worked as much on mentality as technique, instilling the fact that bowling fast is an unrelenting pastime, requiring strength of will and hardness of mind as well as body. The chess game with the batter has also been part of Beardman’s training.

“From ‘DK’ I learnt a lot of mental stuff and tried to implement that as much as I can [at this year’s World Cup],” Beardman said. “He got me thinking about my bowling instead of just bowling, thinking about my field setting and then from there working on mental things – little cues like going head, and then going toes next ball.”

Already, Beardman’s speed has been clocked in the 145km/h range. With more time in the gym and greater durability after a series of back issues during his teens, he has predicted it will be possible to go beyond 150km/h.

Either way, Beardman’s speed and steep trajectory has already earned comparisons with Cummins, another Lillee pupil who was first picked for Australia in his teens. During the under-19 World Cup, Beardman was designated first change bowler for the team that went on to win the trophy by beating India in the final. His response was to model his overs and spells on those delivered by Cummins from the same position.

“That’s an honour in itself being compared to Pat. But I’d love to try to emulate him when I bowl,” Beardman said. “Especially when I bowled a lot at first change in the World Cup, which was different for me, I’d always normally taken the new rock.

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“I look back on a lot of Pat’s spells at first change … and tried to plan and structure my overs how he did. He was a big inspiration for the World Cup and I think moving forward … I’m going to bowl first or second change a lot too. So I’m going to try to emulate how Pat bowls.”

Beardman, his mentors in Western Australia and talent spotters around the country were stunned by the call to fly him to England so soon. Earlier in the year, he had predicted a fairly ordered progression – provided he performed – from state and Big Bash duty to the national team one day.

At the World Cup, the head coach Anthony Clark dubbed Beardman an Alfa Romeo, because “I’m quick and I look good, but I’m in the workshop a lot”. Cummins was once referred to as a “Ferrari engine in a Corolla chassis”. Building up Beardman’s body will take time and is far from guaranteed to succeed – just ask his WA seniors Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson.

But Australia’s selectors find themselves at a similar juncture to the time when, about 15 years ago, the next great generation of players seemed hard to locate. In the space of a couple of years, they called up David Warner, Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon and Cummins – still the core of the team, but now an ageing one.

For Beardman and others like fellow West Australian Cooper Connolly, the door is now tantalisingly open. But the bin and the laneway helped.

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