Meet Alana King: The new queen of Australian leg spin

Her name was Alana King, and on Thursday night in Adelaide that dream became a reality.

As an Australian leg spinner, her story is not unique - Warne has inspired countless of cricketers to release the ball from the back of their hand.

But the 26-year-old Victorian-turned West Australian is one of the few who have made it to the top.

Selectors simply couldn't ignore the prospect of injecting King into the Women's Ashes, following her breakthrough Women's Big Bash campaign earlier this summer where her 16 wickets helped the Perth Scorchers to a maiden title.

Of the top 10 wicket takers in this season's WBBL, King was the only one brandishing an economy rate of less than six runs per over.

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Her remarkable journey takes its next step to Canberra next week, where Australia hosts England in a four-day Ashes Test match at Manuka Oval.

It's unlikely King will play that match, but her maiden international scalp of Tammy Beaumont in Thursday night's massive series opening win has certainly validated the selectors' decision to draft her into the Ashes squad - some 15 years after Warne's milestone wicket.

"I used to go down to the MCG, the Boxing Day Test was the first thing pinned into your calendar every year," King told The Canberra Times.

"I was just a stock-standard kid who just tried to bowl fast in the backyard. Then I just took up a bit of spin - my brother was a massive influence on me as a youngster, he bowled a few leggies

"Watching the great Shane Warne on our screens every summer, and him taking poles for fun, I thought I'd love to be like Warney.

"His 700th wicket at the MCG, that was pretty phenomenal - it was a pretty spectacular moment. I stuck with it [leg spin bowling], and I'm happy I have."

King's parents moved to Melbourne from India in the late 1980s. Her father Leroy, a chef by trade, was always a cricket tragic but that passion wasn't shared on both sides of the family in the early days of life in Australia.

"Mum hated it for a long period of time but has started to love it because she has to watch me a fair bit now," King laughs.

She had little choice.

At 16, King was drafted into the Cricket Victoria rookie program, but was ultimately cut adrift and sent back to club cricket.

One-time Australian leg spinner saw her potential, and introduced her to the Prahran Cricket Club.

Soon after the Women's Big Bash formed and she was called out of the blue to play for the Melbourne Stars where she began working closely with ex-Australian leg spinner Kristen Beams.

"Beamsy definitely was a massive mentor for me when I first came into the set up in the Vic program, and at the Melbourne Stars," King said.

"I learned a lot from her and she gave me a lot of advice and probably some really hard conversations that we had trying to reach the next level."

That next level was almost unattainable in Melbourne, so King made the difficult decision a tick over 18 months ago to leave her tight-knit family in Melbourne, and move to Perth for a shot with Western Australia and this season, the Scorchers.

"It was just a competition for overs and me wanting to bowl more and at Victoria, it was quite hard when they had six Australian bowlers in front of me," King said.

"I just knew if I wanted to go to the next level, I needed to be bowling a bit more and work on other aspects of my game.

"I had plenty of conversations with my family about it but I knew I needed to take this chance for my cricketing career, and they knew that and always supported any decision I've made in regards to my cricket.

"It's been tough during Covid, and there's a hard border in WA. Having strict protocols, it's unfortunately becoming the norm which players are just trying to adapt to.

"We're just trying to get through as best we can and make sure that we get a full Ashes series sorted.

"It's been tough but they [family] know it's paid off in the end, that I've been able to don the green and gold. My debut was the first time I'd seen them in about a year."