Despite growing up idolising Kevin Pietersen thanks to his 2005 Ashes heroics, Australian Test hopeful Josh Inglis has assured fans that there are no split allegiances in his heart.
The 26-year-old, who was born in Leeds and migrated to Australia as a teenager, fondly recalls getting up in the middle of the night to watch Ashes series as a kid, but said any love of the three lions quickly dissolved when he made the move.
“I think it was the 2001 Ashes – I remember getting up early in the morning to watch with my dad,” he said.
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“It might have been the first game at the Gabba, and watching JL and Haydos batting. I think Haydos got a big hundred, I remember that quite vividly.”
Inglis described the Ashes as the pinnacle of the sport, and talked about how his development through the West Australia system helped swing his allegiances.
“Once you start building your way up to professional cricket it’s quite tough to be trying to play for a country and not supporting them – so that changed pretty quickly,” he laughed.
“Obviously growing up in England I supported England, but that’s all changed now.”
He said he gets a bit of stick from his teammates for the slight English accent that you can hear on certain words.
Inglis is one of a couple of contenders to be Australia’s new keeper for the first Test, following an excellent last 18 months. In the 2020-21 Sheffield Shield he made 585 runs including three centuries, either side of solid Big Bash campaigns for the Perth Scorchers.
His recent stint in England also came with rave reviews, and he has recieved ringing endorsements from legends such as Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, and Shane Warne to be the man to succeed Tim Paine.
“It’s really nice to hear from those blokes, who are obviously greats of the game,” he said.
“It’s tough, you don’t want to read too much into it because at the end of the day, they’re not the guys making the decisions, but for them to say some really nice things about me, it’s nice to hear.”
He said that communication with Cricket Australia had been very fluid, but was none the wiser as to who out of he or Alex Carey will get the nod next week.
“The communication’s been really good – I just don’t know when they’re going to make their decision.
“It’s probably going to be in the next couple of days – I’ll find out and then I’ll get my head around the game coming up, and where I’ll be.”
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