Jake Fraser-McGurk to make Victorian debut
Jake Fraser-McGurk’s net sessions with his father are folklore at one club in Melbourne’s east. We explore his junior career as he prepares to become the third youngest player to debut for Victoria.
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Jake Fraser-McGurk once trained through Black Saturday’s scorching temperatures as he honed his skills with hours of net practice alongside his father.
The talented teenager developed his craft in the nets near his Mont Albert home and at Boroondara Cobras Cricket Club, graduating to Monash Tigers.
And at 17, it has led him to becoming the third youngest player to make his Victorian First Class debut.
He will step out on the MCG for the Sheffield Shield fixture against Queensland, starting on Tuesday.
But back to his relentless net sessions.
Fraser-McGurk would drag his father, Les, for endless throw downs as a child.
Not even when temperatures rose into the mid-40s during Black Saturday would the batting wunderkind be stopped.
Sometimes the net sessions would last up to six hours.
“Dad was just as committed as I was,” Fraser-McGurk said.
Fraser-McGurk picked up a bat at the same time he started school and was thrown buckets of balls as a child.
He said his earliest memories of the game were from the time spent with his father.
“It would just be a really good time and bonding with dad and I,” he said.
“Half the reason why we did it was because he’d be with me and it would just be great fun.”
Fraser-McGurk will be 17 years and 215 days when he is presented his Victorian cap, making him the youngest debutant since Cameron White 18 years ago.
Boroondara Cobras life member Mark Morris was junior co-ordinator at the Eastern Cricket Association club when Fraser-McGurk got his start.
Morris said Fraser-McGurk’s net sessions were folklore.
“We used to sit and have a chuckle watching them because Jake would hit the balls, Les would go and pick them all up and they’d do it all again,” Morris said.
“It never bothered him. I think he loved it as much as Jake.
“I don’t think he did it to make Jake a fantastic cricketer, I think he did it for him and Jake to spend that time together. They were both very close.”
In the ECA under-12A competition in 2013-14, Fraser-McGurk hit five 50s and made 417 runs for the season at an average of 139.
And in his under-12s debut in 2011, he hit a six to win the game as a 10-year-old when his side was nine wickets down.
He has scores of 16, 11, 0 and 5 in Premier Cricket this season but has been picked on the back of state Second XI form, where he has hit 130 and 78.
Morris said Fraser-McGurk had confidence “without being arrogant” and didn’t look out of place in the senior grades when he was still eligible for the under-12s.
“From about 11, he’d been there for about five years, but we knew what a special talent he was then,” he said.
“When he was first in the senior side, he wasn’t overawed at all.”
In an F Synthetic grand final in 2015 – as a 12-year-old – he hit 43 not out to nearly carry his side to victory.
“There were wickets falling around everywhere and he just batted right through,” Morris said.
“He was playing confident cricket shots. If the ball was short, he was prepared to get in and behind it and play a pull shot.”
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Fraser-McGurk credited his father for his rise through the ranks.
“He was very devoted to my cricket and I couldn’t thank him enough,” he said.
“His shoulder would be absolutely buggered by now. He’s glad there’s other coaches throwing me balls instead of him.”