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This is being written at lunch on Day 2 of the first Test of the Ashes series, a story about a loose-limbed 19-year-old Ashton Agar playing, unexpectedly, his first Test and only his 11th first class match.
A story of a new star of Australian cricket.
Showing no nerves, a high back-lift and great timing, the kid made the best debut for a number 11 in the history of Test cricket.
The previous best was Warwick Armstrong’s debut in 1905. Armstrong later went on to captain Australia in 10 Tests, winning eight of them and drawing two.
In 1920-21 Armstrong, no longer a slim youngster but now the bulky ‘Big Ship’ of Australian cricket, captained the Baggy Greens to a 5-0 Ashes triumph.
And as the runs continued to flow, Agar went on to make the highest-ever score for an Australian number 11, passing Glenn McGrath’s 61. McGrath had handed Agar his cap in a ceremony before the Test started.
I had the good fortune to see Sir Garfield Sobers bat in a Test at Wellington when he was a youngster.
Even then Sobers had a high back-lift and a forceful style on both the front and back foot. Agar will never be a Sobers, who was arguably one of the top five batsmen in the history of the game.
But he is going to score lots of runs for Australia batting as high as number five or six, at some stage in his career.
What struck me about his batting was his temperament. He doesn’t fidget before deliveries or at the crease when he is facing up. He stands tall and hits through the ball.
He plays straight. He has a great eye and is a clean hitter of the ball. The shots he plays are valid cricket shots. He doesn’t slog.
His method is sound. And this made it difficult for the England bowlers to deal with him.
Every ball was treated on its merits. When he was peppered with short ball early on in his inning, he pulled them hard to the boundary.
Later on, when the England bowlers pitched up to him, he stroked the ball elegantly through the off-side. Without taking a risk, he scored at a run a ball. His 50 came up in 50 balls.
Nassar Hussein was critical of Phillip Hughes for not farming the strike at the beginning of this historic partnership.
But Hughes played exactly the right game in the situation.
He played out maiden overs from Graeme Swann when the off-spinner was fizzing the ball off the wicket.
He played calmly and showed confidence in Agar, in the same manner as Steve Waugh in his many rear-guard actions with tailenders.
Hughes struggled with his timing early on with his innings. But as Agar started to dominate the England bowling, Hughes relaxed and in the last couple of overs before lunch he played some vintage smashing drives and cuts to the boundary.
I saw Hughes play his first first class inning at the SCG a number of years ago. I wrote a piece for The Roar predicting a great future for him in Test cricket for Australia.
He has had his ups and downs since then. But batting down the order seems to be the right place for him. He could be the Steve Waugh/Michael Hussey type of lower order batsman that Australia could do with right now.
Getting back to Agar, I was also relatively impressed with his bowling. He is tall and gives the ball plenty of loop, starting the ball above the eye-line of the batsman. He gets bounce and plenty of spin.
There is one other aspect to the Agar story that deserves a comment. For a couple of seasons now the Australian selectors have been criticised (and rightly so) for some inexplicable selections.
But in this Test they made the right choices with Steve Smith, Hughes and Agar.
The point here is that these are all young players. Traditionally, Australia has looked to youngsters to take up the battle with the old enemy.
And the youngsters fought back in the Australian way by playing attacking cricket, even when conditions favoured the bowlers.
It is now midnight and Agar has just been dismissed for 98 off a terrific hook expertly caught by Swann.
The statistics of the Agar-Hughes partnership are remarkable.
It was a record Australian 10th-wicket partnership.
It was the highest-ever 10th-wicket partnership in Test cricket against England.
It was the best 10th-wicket partnership in any Test match.
And finally, Agar’s 98 was the highest score ever by a number 11 batsman in the history of Test cricket.
The only thing that can top this is if Agar can take a bag full of wickets in England’s second inning. But do Boy’s Own Stories run to these extravagant delights?