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IT'S your classic Boy's Own story, but with an even sweeter parental twist.
James Muirhead was about to drive to dinner on Sunday night with his father, Matt, when his phone rang with an "unknown number".
Muirhead, 20, moved to reject the call until his father urged him to answer what became the voice of Cricket Australia's selection chairman, John Inverarity.
Small talk aside, Muirhead put his phone on speaker so Matt could hear the words that "freaked me out" - 'you're in the Australian Twenty20 squad'.
It capped an extraordinary rise for the Altona leg-spinner who has played just two first-class matches and four Big Bash League matches, but has three impressive - and feisty - tour game showings against England to his credit this summer.
Spinner James Muirhead impressed for the PM's XI against England this month. Source: Getty Images
But with Inverarity restating his desire to find a future Test wrist spinner, Muirhead's ability to impart a lot of spin won the day.
"He's impressed this season when he's played against England … he puts a lot on the ball, and his leg break turns," Inverarity said.
Muirhead said "not in his wildest dreams" had he contemplated the call-up for the three-match series after only recently getting a call-up to the Melbourne Stars' list.
Before that, he'd spent a gameless BBL season with the Renegades last summer and managed just two matches for the Adelaide Strikers in 2011-12.
But when he landed a perfect leg-break in his first Stars over to bewilder Michael Neser and have him stumped on January 9, his world literally turned.
"To play international cricket at age 20, I wasn't expecting it. But I feel like I'm up for it and I can't wait to hopefully get a crack," he said.
James Muirhead at Stars training. Source: News Limited
That spirit has been a key in Muirhead's rise. He takes a backward step for nobody, as evidenced by the venom the English players directed at him in Alice Springs in December after he rankled a few of the tourists during their tour match in Sydney a month earlier.
But he's also a student of the game, even under fire.
"Alice Springs was a good experience. I got to meet a few of the (England) boys like Matty Prior and have a bit of a chat with him. He was just saying keep calm and you're doing really good. He was just saying you had to find a way to deal with these pressures.
"I'm still learning my game and learning how to bowl leg spin, so every challenge I get put forward to me, I'm just taking it with both hands."
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Muirhead, whose previous attack-at-all-costs attitude has been tempered by a few sessions with leg-spin maestro Shane Warne, said his father had been lost for words after Inverarity hung up.
"We were shocked. It was just me and my dad in the car and we've gone through a lot together," said Muirhead, who played 12 years of juniors and two in the seniors with Altona before switching to Premier Cricket team St Kilda.
"We've gone through junior cricket - he coached me when I was five years old and he's been along this journey with me the whole time and it was good he was in the car with me and got to hear it - he's really proud of me.
"He just shook my hand and said, 'We knew this was coming'. I didn't believe it was coming so soon, but I always had faith in myself that I'm going to get there one day - it's just the type of attitude I have."
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