JACKSON Bird has made an instant impression in his Australia Test debut at the MCG, grabbing two impressive top-order scalps against Sri Lanka.
The 26-year-old struck in the fourth over of the Boxing Day Test when Dimuth Karunaratne lunged forward and was caught behind for five.
He took his second wicket just after lunch when Thilan Samaraweera played a dreadful shot and spooned a catch to David Warner at mid wicket.
Former Australian swing bowler Damien Fleming likened the impressive Bird to Australian bowling legend Glenn McGrath.
With a habit of uprooting top-order batsmen and a wicket-taking stock delivery, Fleming said Bird showed more than enough today to prove he will be a long-term Test bowler.
Fleming coached Bird in his time at the Australian Cricket Academy and said the subsequent improvements to his technique were the building blocks of a promising international career.
Bird, 26, showed few nerves in picking up 2-32 in 13 overs, maintaining his outstanding first-class strike rate at the MCG.
More importantly though, five maidens highlighted control that not only claimed two key early breakthroughs, but that Fleming says will be critical in English conditions in next year's Ashes series.
"I think it's important for all bowlers to know that your best ball can get out the best batsman," Fleming said.
"And from what we've seen, he already knows that if he bowls enough of his good balls, he'll get enough wickets at Test level.
"He doesn't look like one of these guys who goes on an emotional rollercoaster, he's pretty laid back.
"It's very early days for him, but he's not unlike (Glenn) McGrath and Stuart Clark in that they've got a nice, bouncy, accurate stock ball.
"And it's shown over the history of Test cricket that those types of bowlers get wickets ... and he's probably got a more natural outswinger than those two."
Bird hit the spot early, beating opener Dimuth Karunaratne with the first ball of his second over and having a big LBW shout turned down the next ball.
Again using his stock delivery that swings into the left-hander, Bird almost forged a path between bat and pad with the third ball of the over, then showed nous beyond his experience to slant one across with his fourth ball to find the edge and shove Sri Lanka on the path to its meek demise.
The lithe Tasmanian then rushed on to the dangerous Thilan Samaraweera with a shorter ball that he could only spoon to David Warner at mid-wicket.
"What we're seeing here from Birdy is that there are now enough attributes to be a good international bowler," Fleming said.
"Back (at the Academy) he was very inconsistent with his wrist releases, so I reckon a majority of times he pushed the ball in.
"He was working on trying to get that outswinger and that's what you've seen from him not only today, but for the last two years -- consistent outswing.
"What we like is that he's got a nice run-up that goes towards off stump, his action is aligned and he has a high release.
"I don't think any action is bulletproof, but it doesn't look like it puts any strain through him.
"And talking to domestic players, they reckon his big strength is he hits high on the bat and that he makes you play.
"They're qualities you love in an into-the-wind bowler, you can take that anywhere in the world -- particularly England -- and you should have a good success rate."
Fleming said the only knock on Bird in English conditions was that he bowled marginally short during the mid-year Australia A tour.
"You should be about a metre fuller in England anyway, but with his fundamentals, you'll hope he's able to adjust his length just a little bit.
"If your line is good and the action of your run-up is good, you should be able to adjust your length, whether you're looking at the pitch, the stumps, or the keeper's feet, there's got to be something there to focus on and he's been impressive enough that he should be able to do that without a problem."
