SELECTION in the New South Wales under-15 team for February's national titles in Ballarat hasn't come easily for Hastings fast bowler Bryce Cook.
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The teenager only returned to full capacity at the bowling crease this summer after suffering from stress fractures in his back which floored him for most of the 2018-2019 season.
But he has returned as a better bowler than 18 months ago and reaped the rewards that resulted in his first selection for a state representative team.
"I'm pretty honoured; I've worked really hard in the off-season to come back from injury so I was pretty stoked when I got picked," he said.
The injury wasn't too dissimilar to those suffered by Australian quicks Pat Cummins, James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile over the last five years.
It resulted in a painful road to recovery, but Cook has come out the other side.
"You've really got to work on your core strength and your leg strength and I changed my action over the winter break so I was a lot stronger," he said.
Cook is now looking forward to terrorising top order batsmen from around the country between February 20-27 in the hope of being selected for an Australian squad.
"They pick a squad after the championships so that's my goal after going to Ballarat; they pick 20 players and then cut it down," he said.
"I need to bowl consistently and hopefully take a few wickets here and there and put my best foot forward."
The 15-year-old's selection comes following older brother Connor's selection for both NSW and Australia.
He said there had been some heated battles over the years where not a lot of balls were bowled in the front half of the pitch.
You wouldn't expect anything less from any set of brothers.
We play cricket on the back deck and try and bowl as fast as we can to each other to scare each other; it gets pretty heated sometimes.
- Bryce Cook
"We play cricket on the back deck and try and bowl as fast as we can to each other to scare each other; it gets pretty heated sometimes," Cook said.
"There's a couple of arguments here and there; all friendly stuff but I can bowl quicker than him so I usually come out on top."
And did his older brother provide any knowledge or feedback about what it's like to make a representative side?
"Not really," Cook said.
"We're different players so we have different mindsets when we're playing and have different roles.
"He's an off-spinner and I'm a pace bowler so there's a bit of a difference there."
The Port Pirates paceman still has ambitions of one day pulling on the Baggy Green and knows a strong performance in Ballarat will provide another step in the right direction.
Should his development take a similar trajectory to his older brother, the Cook's could follow in the footsteps of only a handful of brothers that have previously represented their country.
Trevor, Ian and Greg Chappell, Steve and Mark Waugh, David and Michael Hussey and the Lee brothers (Brett and Shane) have achieved the feat.
Shaun and Mitchell Marsh were the most recent set of brothers to do it.
"Absolutely, I'd love to play for Australia one day," Cook said.
"I've learned to really start to back myself a bit more and have felt more confident in my bowling.
"You've got to keep working hard, have a positive attitude and keep impressing the right people; this is a good starting point."
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