By PATRICK FAHY
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BOMADERRY teenager Lain Beckett will head to Sri Lanka later this month after being selected in the Australian under 19s cricket team.
Beckett was named in a 15-man squad of Australia’s top emerging players, who will take on the Sri Lankan under 19s in five one day matches, and one three-day match in Colombo.
The selection is another feather in Beckett’s cap after he was named ACT under 19s player of the year for the 2013/14 season.
After starring for the ACT under 19s at the national championships in Hobart, he later made his debut in the Toyota Futures League, where he took 2-7 against Western Australia.
While he is no stranger to representative sides, the rise to national honours is a big step up for the young all-rounder.
“I’m expecting it to be another step up from anything I’ve ever played and it should be another great experience,” Beckett said.
“It was a massive surprise when I got the call, I wasn’t really expecting it,” he added.
This will be Beckett’s first overseas tour and he is looking forward to the challenge of playing on the sub-continent.
“Personally I haven’t had much experience playing on those sorts of pitches, but my coach Mark Higgs has played over there a fair bit, so he was able to give me a bit on insight,” Beckett said.
Beckett will get a good warm up for the Sri Lankan tour, having also been named in the 2014-15 National Indigenous squad, which will tour Darwin for a top end cricket carnival.
The National Indigenous team will play a combination of 50-over and Twenty20 matches against sides representing ICC East Asia Pacific, Papua New Guinea and the Northern Territory from September 13-19.
“It’s a big honour to have the opportunity to represent Australia and my culture,” he said.
“They picked the team from the Imparja Cup, where I don’t think I played my best, but I’m very happy to get the call up.
“Hopefully the heat in Darwin might get me ready for Sri Lanka and I’ll be able to settle in pretty quickly.”
Beckett will head to Brisbane after the tour in Darwin, where he will only have a couple of days before heading overseas.
“It’s another opportunity to play cricket at a higher level and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.
“I think it’s about a month of cricket all up, so I’ll have a good amount up my sleeve by the time the season starts,” he added.
Beckett was a welcome addition to the Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemen squad for the second half of last season, but will now ply his trade for the Eastlake Cricket Club in the Canberra competition this summer.
Beckett spent the first part of last season playing Sydney Grade Cricket for Sutherland, but is not sure what to expect in Canberra.
“Sydney is the highest level of club cricket in Australia, if not the world, but I’m not sure how Canberra stacks up against it.
“It should be interesting to see the comparison.”