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In the early 2010s, there was a whisper of a notoriously eccentric action in the Australian domestic circuit. Rumor has it, that his backyard hard an awkwardly placed tree, which he had to run around to complete his run-up. For the purists, however, a swing bowler with a curved run-up was a nostalgic sight; a throwback to the yesteryears when instinct, rather than biomechanics, dictated the action of a fast bowler. Like most aspiring cricketers in Australia, Daniel Worrall started off with backyard cricket; a backyard with an inconveniently placed tree. He clawed his way through the ranks and made it to the Victorian Premier League, but made a decision to move to Adelaide after being offered a rookie contract for South Australia in 2012/13. He was handed a Sheffield Shield debut, but due to inconsistent performances, lost his place in the side over the next 3 years. He slowly started to work on his consistency and started to deliver some commendable performances in List A cricket in 2014. That he had worked on his bowling showed in the wicket charts in the 2015/16 Sheffield Shield season, as he snaffled 44 scalps at 26.18. He exhibited his composure for the big match as well, as he picked up a 6/96 in the final against his home side Victoria. Despite failing to take his team to victory, he had come in as an injury-replacement fringe bowler and managed to turn the spotlight for national reckoning towards himself. He also earned himself the “Most improved player” award from the South Australian Cricket Association, on the basis of which, he was awarded with his selection into the Australia A squad for the Quadrangular series. He was one of the best bowlers in this tournament, his breakthrough performance coming against India where he claimed 4 wickets for 26 runs. He continued his meteoric rise to the top and consequently earned himself a call-up into the Australian ODI side to play against Ireland, where he was asked to open the bowling and performed admirably to take a wicket for 43 runs. The selectors showed faith in him and picked him for the series in ODIs in South Africa. However, he failed to repay the faith and went wicket-less in the two ODIs that followed, and was dropped after conceding 78 runs in 9 overs as Australia failed to defend a mammoth total of 371.
