‘He’s at a different level’: Saints prodigy Harry Dixon earns Under 19 Ashes call-up amid brilliant rise

Mostly, he likes cricket.

And he likes making runs.

The 18-year-old from St Kilda Cricket Club makes them in profusion.

A product of the strong Toorak-Prahran juniors, Dixon and fellow Victorian Liam Blackford will represent Australia against England in a seven-game Under 19 Ashes series starting in the UK on August 26.

It will be his second youth tournament against England.

In January and February, he played five matches against the tourists in Queensland, in the second of them cracking 148 off 125 balls.

The century came at Allan Border Field; “AB’’ himself would not have sniffed at the sight of the left-hander blitzing 12 fours and 9 sixes.

Dixon finished the series with 300 runs at an average of 60, in the last game putting on an unbroken opening partnership of 162 with Blackford in a T20.

It was part of a busy and bountiful summer for the former Melbourne Grammar student.

Dixon represented Vic Metro in the national Under 19 championships, where he grabbed attention with a blazing 197 not out in a 50-over fixture against Queensland Country.

He also played a match for the Victorian Second XI and 10 first XI games for St Kilda, hitting a maiden century against Footscray in the final round.

Dixon is an opener of the adventurous variety.

His idea of taking the shine off the new ball is to give it a whack with his bat.

“I don’t know. My attacking mindset maybe,’’ he says when asked about the strengths of his batting.

“I don’t know too much about my own game, to be honest. You’d have to ask someone else about that one! I just like to go out there relaxed and have a free mind.’’

“He’s got great hands,’’ is the first thing St Kilda coach Glenn Lalor says of Dixon’s batting.

“His hands are very fast. They get through the ball.’’

He calls his young charge a “cheeky, shy, funny kid, one of those kids you enjoy helping, because he’s very appreciative and respectful’’.

Dixon had made his first XI debut for the Saints in the 2021-22 season, when he was 16.

But he was only 12 when he played his first game for the club, in a fourth XI fixture in October 2017.

The scorecard shows he was not required to bat but in his second match, he scored 46 against Dandenong.

He was caught off the bowling of Paul Boraston, who more than a decade earlier had taken six wickets against the Saints firsts to win the John Scholes Medal as player of the grand final.

Boraston, now coaching Frankston Peninsula, remembers that fourth XI game; not for dismissing Dixon, but for Dandenong clattering more than 300 in a run-chase win.

He saw Dixon bat last year and was most impressed, thinking he played a bit like Dandy great Tom Donnell, caning anything short.

Lalor was in his first season of coaching the Saints when lower-grades captain Steve Zayler, who was coaching Dixon at Toorak-Prahran, brought the youngster to the Saints.

He remembers the first net session.

“I said to ‘Vu’ (Zayler), ‘You’re not serious are you?’’’ Lalor recalls.

“He said, ‘Trust me, trust me’. I watched him come out, this little kid in Under 14 pads and little gloves and a little bat and helmet.

“And then you could see him. He could do everything. He had all the shots, just no strength.’’

They grow up fast. Last season, Lalor watched the same kid crack a century against a Footscray attack spearheaded by former first-class quickie Jake Reed.

“He (Reed) had the new ball and he was getting them through and he (Dixon) was hitting him over wide mid-wicket towards mid-on, that’s how early he gets it,’’ Lalor says.

“He’s at a different level. Some blokes battle through and finally get a game at 25, 26, 27. He’s different.’’

Lalor had gone out at the first drinks break intending to tell Dixon to take his time.

But a smiling Dixon got in first, saying he was only hitting balls that were there to be hit.

He went on to score 111 off 144 deliveries, with 16 fours and 2 sixes.

From his position in the field, Footscray stalwart and former Victorian player Dean Russ saw a “very exciting player’’.

“He batted with a lot of maturity,’’ he says.

“The point of impact, he hit the ball really ‘tall’, turning good-length balls into half-volleys, very strong off-side of the wicket.’’

The Bulldogs got their revenge two weeks later when they dismissed Dixon for a duck in the semi-finals.

It was the first time he had shown any hint of nerves.

“I think he felt that expectation because of that earlier hundred,’’ Lalor says. “A good learning for him. It’s not going to happen every week or every game.’’

Dixon says he appreciates the guidance he’s received at St Kilda from Lalor, captain Adam Crosthwaite and the senior players – “It’s awesome to have their experience around and to bounce ideas off them and learn from them’’ - as well as the coaching of Zayler at Toorak-Prahran, and Peter Di Venuto and John Shannon at Melbourne Grammar.

Cricket Victoria talent development manager Tom Evans gave him the news that he had been selected to make the trip to England.

More Coverage

T20 blasts back into Victorian Premier Cricket

Paul Amy

Don’t think, just do: Dixon’s method to century chaos

Tyler Lewis

“It was nice,’’ he says. “Very nice.’’

Dixon, who studies construction management and property valuation at RMIT, does not bowl.

But he bats exceptionally well.