After 18 months shackled by injury cricketer Alex Keath is finally set to have an opportunity to prove he is worthy of his lofty reputation.
The Victorian was trumpeted as an all-rounder when he was signed in mid-2010 by the Bushrangers, who persuaded him to ignore the lure of a position with AFL club Gold Coast.
But since then he has had to prove himself almost exclusively as a batsman due to a knee injury that has prevented him from bowling.
The injury Keath developed in his last year of school, patella tendinopathy or ''jumper's knee'', flared whenever he exerted himself too much. And because surgery was not a realistic option, the teenager's only option was to not bowl at all and gradually try and strengthen his knee.
Keath, 20, reached a milestone just before Christmas when Bushrangers fitness staff allowed him to resume bowling in the nets and in club matches for Melbourne, with strict limitations.
Victoria is resuming competition after the seven-week Big Bash League hiatus, and Keath is finally in a position, at least for Ryobi Cup matches, to be able to use his medium-pace as an extra argument for him to earn selection.
''He's a very diligent, professional athlete - probably one of the best I've seen as a young bloke - so he's followed every progression we've given him and hasn't missed a session.
''Because of that he's got to this point... problems like this usually take a lot longer to get to this point [of recovery] so he's actually done really well,'' Bushrangers physio Thihan Chandramohan said.
''Because of the amount of restrictions we can have on his bowling it's not like he can turn up and bowl 20 overs in a day and expect to be feeling fine... but he's now at the point where he can bowl 10 overs without feeling discomfort, so he can endure a one-day game pretty comfortably these days.
''Obviously the goal is to keep building him up and trying to get to the point where he can bowl at the first-class level as an all-rounder, which is what [the Bushrangers] are looking for him to do.''
Two Sheffield Shield appearances have offered little evidence of why Keath, a member of the victorious Australian under-19 World Cup team two years ago, has been rated a genuine international prospect.
The biggest tick to his talent came last season, when he made 46 against an England team with Test bowlers Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan.
Chandramohan said he was unable to give clarity on the likelihood Keath can rid himself of the knee condition, but said the young all-rounder was doing everything possible to prevent another 1-seasons - or longer - in which he is unable to bowl.
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