WA’s under-19 World Cup record-breaker Will Malajczuk credits experience training with State’s senior side

WA’s under-19 World Cup record-breaker Will Malajczuk has credited his pre-season training stint in the State’s senior set-up as the driving force behind the rapid recent development in his game. Malajczuk has long been viewed as one of the State’s best emerging batting talents, twice being named in WA’s squad for One-Day Cup games earlier this season without breaking through for a debut. And the destructive left-hander burst onto the international stage by smashing the fastest century in the history of the underage tournament against Japan on Tuesday, needing only 51 balls to reach three figures. The batters he passed on his way to breaking the record included fellow WA southpaw Shaun Marsh and the legendary Virat Kohli. Speaking from Namibia, the 18-year-old said he had taken many important lessons from a winter spent working alongside the State’s best. “I think the only way you’re going to get better at facing faster bowling is facing it in practice,” he said. “Getting used to that sort of pace and that intensity at training has really helped me with my development. “Going back down to underage level, bringing that intensity . . . is really important. It helps other people in that underage set-up get better and better as well and make sure they’re ready for that step up as well.” Malajczuk has done much of his work for Subiaco-Floreat in Premier Cricket and WA and Australia’s underage sides in the middle order, but has earned a promotion to the top of the order for the World Cup. He revealed discussions over the shift came about at the end of Australia’s disappointing under-19 series against India in Queensland last year, which saw the hosts beaten 3-0 in the 50-over matches and lose both youth Tests. “I put my hand up . . . I’ve opened in the past and I was really happy to take that role,” Malajczuk said. “The coaching staff and the players give me the freedom to play the way I want to. If that’s to go out hard and hit the ball, I’m going to go for it. “I wouldn’t say it’s my role to be the aggressor. I think it’s just playing the way I want to play and if I get the ball, I’m going to go for it.” Malajczuk also packs some threatening right-arm off-spin into an enticing all-round package, having sent down 14 overs across his side’s two World Cup games so far. When asked if he would now look to focus his attention on batting after his breakout performance, he decisively replied: “Absolutely not”. “I’m really enjoying my bowling at the moment,” Malajczuk said. “I’m always going to continue working on it at training. “We’ve got some really good spinners, so if I’m not needed, I’m happy to take a back seat, but if I’m needed, I’m there.” Whether with his hometown Perth Scorchers or elsewhere in the competition, a Big Bash League berth — as well as a long-awaited State contract with WA — looms as a near-certainty for Malajczuk next season. But he said he remained just as focused on working on preparing himself for the longer format of the game. “Red-ball integrates into white-ball and white-ball integrates into red-ball,” Malajczuk said. “I’m just working on all facts of my game.”