After claiming the best-ever figures by an Australian debutant in ODI cricket, Mahli Beardman admits it will take time for his "surreal" performance to sink in having lit up Perth Stadium in Australia's seven-wicket victory over England.
In his home debut in international cricket, Beardman did not disappoint in the ODI series-opener after shaking up England's batting-order with hostile and skillful bowling to finish with 6 for 24 off 7.4 overs.
His spectacular spell started with the wickets of skipper Harry Brook and Joe Root before running through England's middle-order. Beardman, 21, finished off England's measly innings of 131 by dismissing Jofra Archer before leading off his side to thunderous applause from the 27,313 crowd.
"Laying in bed last night, that's not what I had planned," Beardman told reporters after the match. "Obviously, such an amazing game, and I think it's still very raw and quite surreal.
"I think it'll just be sitting back tonight with my family at home and go through what happened. I think it'll just take time for it to set in."
Beardman has been on the radar of the national hierarchy ever since his dominant effort in Australia's triumph at the 2024 Under-19 World Cup. He's been around Australia's squads over the past two years, with his sole international being a T20I in Pakistan earlier this year.
With Australia's pace triumvirate resting this series, Beardman grabbed his opportunity having had a trial run against England's batters just six days earlier for Western Australia at the WACA.
His dynamic performance showcased characteristics of his heroes - Dale Steyn and Mitchell Johnson. Like Steyn, he produced dangerous late swing to dismiss Brook and Root with superb deliveries that will live long in the memory. Much like Johnson often did in Perth, Beardman hurried the batters with rapid short bowling as he ramped up to speeds in the mid-140s kph.
"I think Dale Steyn was a massive one for me. Absolutely loved watching him bowl growing up," Beardman said when asked who his cricket heroes were.
"Mitchell Johnson for that 2013-14 Ashes series was sort of the reason I picked a cricket ball up in the first place. And I've been lucky enough and fortunate enough to be able to have some chats with Mitch, and he's a great man. What he did for cricket inspired me the most, I think."
When he got on a roll midway through his burst, Beardman had the parochial WA crowd in a state of delirium in echoes of scenes that Dennis Lillee, his mentor, used to conjure at the WACA.
Lillee has taken Beardman under his wing since they were introduced by a mutual family friend when the young quick was just 14 years. "DK has been amazing for me. I was down south, where I grew up originally in a little town called Cowaramup, and I was bowling to a bin down the side of a house," he said
"A family friend saw me and thought there was a little bit of airspeed there. So he knew DK and got in contact with him.
"DK sort of said no at the start, and then I think just through my persistence after a couple of months, he gave in, I've been fortunate enough to have DK in my corner and it's been incredible for me."
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Beardman's day had started when he was presented with his ODI cap by Mike Hussey, the West Australian cricket legend. "To have Mike there was amazing. I went to school with Mike's son. Played a lot of cricket with him growing up," Beardman said.
"Mike and I have obviously had some good chats along the way. He's been incredible for me and his speech was beautiful."
Beardman's incredible performance will no doubt turn heads and perhaps even deflect just a little bit of attention away from the sandpaper scandal. His name has already started to be floated as a Test prospect, but Beardman is still not sure when he'll make his first-class debut. A cautious approach is likely after he suffered a recurrence of a stress fracture in his lower back after debuting in Pakistan.
"I'm not 100% sure on when that is or what that will look like," Beardman said of his short-term red-ball prospects. "To be honest, just loving that I'm back playing cricket and being able to bowl again, trying to soak that up and enjoy it as much as possible."
While making next year's Ashes tour appears perhaps premature, Beardman's breakout is likely the sign of things to come as he made a successful start in a career that should feature many more matches against England.
"It's probably a dream debut for him," Brook said. "He bowled exceptionally well. Putting the ball in the right areas for long periods of time. He was bowling quick, hostile and asked a lot of questions. Unfortunately we didn't execute well enough."