The sky is the limit – physically and figuratively – for ACT Comets fast bowler Lain Beckett after his selection in the Australian under-19 squad to tour Sri Lanka.
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The 18-year-old is the region's first representative in the national under-19 team since Queensland Bulls all-rounder Jason Floros achieved the honour in 2009.
The Australian under-19 team will play five one-day matches against Sri Lanka from September 25 to October 3 and a three-day game from October 7-9.
Beckett is also a part of the national Indigenous squad and will tour Darwin for a top-end carnival next month for 50-over and Twenty20 games against East Asia Pacific, Papua New Guinea and the Northern Territory.
Originally from Nowra on the NSW south coast, Beckett came to the attention of Cricket Australia National Talent Manager Greg Chappell at last year's under-19 national championships when he played for the ACT.
The 1.93m quick relocated to Canberra three weeks ago so he could work closely with Comets coach Mark Higgs and Cricket ACT high performance director Andrew Dawson.
"He's improved a lot, he's really keen to learn what it takes to be a professional cricketer and he's gone from strength to strength," Higgs said.
"He was very raw, but he's tall and he's got a lot of good attributes.
"He hasn't done a lot of work in the gym, so it shows he's got this far on raw ability."
Beckett made an impressive debut in the Futures League for the Comets last season, capturing 2-7 against Victoria.
He was invited to the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane last year to give him a taste of what it takes to make it to the next level.
"There were probably 25 people who got selected from the 17s and the 19s from the national carnival to get to experience what they offer up there," Beckett said.
"That showed me how hard I'm willing to work and if I keep putting in the hard work, that's where I could end up.
"It was probably 18 months ago I wanted to have a good, hard serious crack at it, there were a few things I needed to step up with.
"We're working on a lot of strength and conditioning and a few little tweaks on my action as well."
Getting the chance to represent the people of his culture is particularly special, with both of his parents being indigenous.
Beckett will play for Eastlake this season in the Cricket ACT first-grade competition and has ambitions to follow in the footsteps of Canberra product, and Western Australian left-arm fast bowler, Jason Behrendorff into the first-class arena.
