Towering Strikers star is the big threat to England

The Adelaide Strikers star is already in the history books as Australia’s tallest cricketer of all-time but he is now letting his bowling do the talking, rather than his lofty measurements.

After an unremarkable foray in early 2017, Stanlake made a major impact when handed his international comeback on Saturday, blowing away New Zealand’s top order in the opening game of the Trans-Tasman tri-series.

With Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins all absent from the Trans-Tasman Series, he assumed strike bowling duties and removed Colin Munro, Martin Guptill and Tom Bruce in his first eight deliveries.

He has England in his sights at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval tomorrow and Malan admitted the 23-year-old’s impact has not gone unnoticed.

“You can’t really miss him, he’s a tall bloke,” said Malan. “He looks a fantastic bowler, swings it when he pitches it up and bowls at good pace. I think he is going to be a challenge, but that’s the excitement of playing international cricket: you get to come up against guys like that.

“For us, it’s about trying to put him off his game and finding ways to score off him. He might bowl exceptionally but eventually someone might get hold of him and people might work things out.”

Stanlake is just one among a handful of relative rookies in the Australian ranks, the hosts having withdrawn all but David Warner from their Test squad ahead the trip to South Africa.

Among the other call-ups are Chris Lynn and D’Arcy Short, two rollicking batsmen who have excelled in the Big Bash.

Jason Roy (back), Liam Plunkett and Chris Jordan (both hamstring) all took part in nets.