Lucy Hamilton is not yet 20 but has already built quite the cricket CV. She made her domestic debut aged 15, holds figures of 5 for 8 in the WBBL, has captained Australia Under-19s, recently had her first taste of the Women's Premier League (WPL) and made her ODI debut on Sunday. In a few days, she may be able to add a baggy green to the list.
The left-arm quick from Queensland was initially only part of the Test squad but injuries to Kim Garth and Ellyse Perry saw her drafted into the group early. She was handed her cap by Alyssa Healy who was playing her last ODI and, though she finished wicketless in her nine overs, had beaten Pratika Rawal with her first delivery then in her second spell struck Deepti Sharma on the badge with a bouncer to indicate the threat she could bring. "She's got a really bright future ahead of her," Healy said.
Left-arm pace is not that common in the women's game, particularly in Australia. Lauren Cheatle has played 12 internationals, most recently a Test against India in 2023, and Hamilton knows she can bring something different.
"I pride myself on trying to close down games and change momentum, especially in a small T20 contest, but similar in ODIs and four-dayers, I would suspect, in the sense of you want to build pressure and it's how you can keep your team in the game." Lucy Hamilton
"Obviously a different angle, I'm a bit taller as well, so different height compared to others and lots of batters aren't used to facing left-handers so, yeah, it is a point of difference," she told ESPNcricinfo prior to the India series. "But at the end of the day, you've still got to execute the ball to the batter. It gives you a bit of a variation, which is always nice to have natural variation, but taking that and using that as much as I can against world-class batters will be really important."
Hamilton has previously trained a little with the red ball, but multi-day cricket - and this Test is with the pink ball - will be a new experience. "It's a different format and different strategies and I'm really excited to learn how that all shapes up," she said. "Lots of women haven't really experienced four-day cricket, so I'm just excited to be a part of it."
From Bundaberg in Queensland, Hamilton grew up with cricket in her family. Her father played, and she came through the age groups with her brother, Will, who is 18 months older. "I grew up in a regional area in Queensland, so not many girls played the sport back then but my family have always enjoyed playing cricket or any sport in general," she said.
Hamilton admitted it had been a bit of a "pinch me" moment when she arrived at the Australia team hotel in Sydney ahead of the India series and her time at the WPL, where she played two games for Delhi Capitals, was eye-opening.
"You can't really compare it to any other league in the world, to be honest," she said. "It's so big, like there's 35,000 people at most games. It's just a crazy experience to be a part of. It took a bit to get used to at the start when everyone wanted selfies and you to sign things, but it was a great experience, great to meet new people, train alongside some greats of the game and also get to be coached by them as well
"I tried to be as much of a sponge as I could. I knew Jemi [Rodrigues] going over there, but otherwise I didn't really know many people, so it was cool to step out of my comfort zone and meet some new people."
Hamilton, whose 5 for 8 against Melbourne Stars in 2024 made her the youngest player to take a five-wicket haul in WBBL, coming while her friends were on post-exam schoolies trips, wants to be a bowler that her captain can throw the ball to in pressure moments, something she has already had a taste of.
"I want to be known for the captain to be able to tell me to bowl in difficult points of the game," she said. "It was really cool to see that JJ [Jess Jonassen] could rely on me for those types of things [for Brisbane Heat].
"I love the challenge in any aspect. I know that when the field is up it's a little bit harder, but even towards the end when the batters are going, or you want to try and keep them under a number of runs... any situation I love a good challenge and I'm really competitive, so it's nice to be put into those situations."
"I pride myself on trying to close down games and change momentum, especially in a small T20 contest, but similar in ODIs and four-dayers, I would suspect, in the sense of you want to build pressure and it's how you can keep your team in the game."
While it's Hamilton's bowling which is getting most people talking, there is talent with the bat as well. She made 36 off 19 balls on WPL debut against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and batted at No. 3 during last year's Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia.
"I think in this day and age everyone's got to be a bit of an allrounder, knowing how deep you can bat in teams is really important," she said. "Especially in sticky situations where you can come in pretty low and then needing lots of runs off not many balls.
"WPL was really good for me to bat lots of training, I'd bat three times a week. Through underage I always batted three or four, and I was always an allrounder. Hopefully leading into the future I can keep doing that, keep training hard and hopefully become more of an allrounder."