Dirk Nannes thought he was in trouble when he received a call to say he had been named in Australia's Twenty20 squad.
Paceman thought he was in trouble when he got the telephone call
Dirk Nannes has admitted he never expected to be called up by Australia - mainly because he didn't even know the team were due to play Twenty20 matches against England.
The left-arm paceman played for the Netherlands in the ICC World Twenty20 earlier this year after being overlooked by the country of his birth.
However, he has now been included in Australia's 13-man party for two matches against England - much to his surprise.
Nannes - who has previously enjoyed a stint with Middlesex - thought he had done something wrong when he received a telephone call from Cricket Australia's general manager of operations Michael Brown.
No idea
"I was sitting at home and the phone rang and it was Michael Brown and he normally calls either if you're selected or you've done something wrong and I was scratching my brain to work out what I'd done wrong because I had no idea there were even Twenty20s in England, I hadn't even looked. Complete surprise!" Nannes said.
"It hasn't sunk in for me but my wife was jumping up and down."
Nannes believed his chance of representing Australia had gone despite impressing for Victoria in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash tournaments.
A former World Cup skier, the 33-year-old only made his first-class debut in 2006. The son of Dutch migrant parents, he helped the Netherlands record a stunning win over England in the opening match of the World Twenty20.
However, he will not be allowed to play again for the associate nation, who do not have full membership rights, if he turns out for Australia in the future.
Bizarre
"Bizarre the way the world turns isn't it? At the time I certainly didn't think I'd get a go," he said.
"But at the time I didn't really know there was another Twenty20 World Cup coming up next year again.
"It's just bizarre, certainly when you're growing up as a kid you think about it but cricket's been a bit of a whirlwind for me, starting so late and it's kind of crept along and crept along and one day I'm playing for Victoria which I thought was amazing the next day I got the IPL gig and then I'm playing in the World Cup for Holland and then this, it's all a bit bizarre and it's probably going to be in 10 years when I sit down and go 'geez I've done some pretty good things'."
