15-year-old takes field in Australia's intrasquad matches

Every emerging youngster dreams of rubbing shoulders with their favourite players. Australia’s Adi Dave, the 15-year-old kid from Darwin, has had that privilege to field with the likes of Australian skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner. Dave was called upon the field as the local substitute during the intrasquad showdown between Warner XI and Smith XI.

He was recruited by the Australian squad as a substitute fielder for a three-day match at Darwin’s Marrara Oval. If lining up with the best players of the country wasn’t exciting enough for the youngster, he found himself placed in one the most challenging fielding positions – short leg right under the blade of the batter.

“I was pretty excited,” Dave told cricket.com.au when asked about his reaction after Smith threw the helmet at him. “I was happy to go anywhere. I was thinking to myself the night before ‘what if I go under there?’, but I was happy to,” he added.

Dave’s experience at short leg

The teenager must have felt intimidated when Smith placed him at short leg. But he insisted that the experience was worth a couple of bruises. His time under the helmet did not result in any catches but he suffered a nasty blow off the sweep shot played by Travis Head.

“Heady swept it into my calf, and it hurt a bit but I kept going. It wasn’t too bad, I just put some ice on it and I was good to go,” Dave said.

“It was awesome,” the left-arm spinner said of his time with the Test squad.  “I learnt a lot and it was a great opportunity for someone as young as me. “It was great getting out with the boys, it was what you dream of,” he signed off saying.

Promising talent from Darwin

Adi Dave is a left-arm orthodox spinner and is one of the most promising aspects in Northern territory. Last year, he represented the Northern Territory in Cricket Australia’s Under-17 National Championships and he’s also been a part of the territory’s Emerging Players and School Sport squads