And in Sydney, Crane, 20, made his debut as leg-spinner by facing the hottest batsman in the world on his home ground in an Ashes Test.

There were no wickets but several near misses as Crane got used to bowling at prolific Australia captain Steve Smith, David Warner (56) and Usman Khawaja – who finished unbeaten on 91 out of the hosts’ 193 for two in reply to 346 all out.

At stumps on day two in this final Ashes Test, Australia, who reached 193-2 – just 153 behind – were therefore unquestionably better placed.

So far, though, Crane’s figures of 17-0-58-0 are more promising than the one for 150 Warne recorded on debut against India at the same venue 26 years ago almost to the day.

Warne went on to take a remarkable 708 wickets in a record-breaking career. Crane, asked whether he knew about the Australian’s tricky debut, said: “I did – and I’m hoping for slightly better figures. He turned into a great bowler and I’m sure it was character-building for him.”

Warne, who was rushed on to commentary duties on Channel Nine when Crane was first brought on seemed relatively impressed, saying his action was “nicely balanced” before adding that his character was “aggressive and feisty”. “He looks to get into the batsman’s space and won’t back down from a challenge,” he said.

Warne did feel Crane was gripping the ball a little too tightly to his palm, demonstrating that he should be letting his fingers impart the spin a little more freely. But other than that all good.

“I was naturally a little bit nervous but I was also really excited and I had great fun out there,” he said afterwards, his face reddened by sun but not by his performance.

“I would have liked a couple of wickets but I’m pretty happy. It’s Test cricket and I was expecting it to be tough and there is not much margin for error bowling at two great players. Every ball has to be good then every ball has to have a lot of revs on it. But overall it came out nicely and it is something to build on.”

To be able to say that after his first day was a minor triumph when you consider the fates of the last three leg-spinners to be picked for England.

In 2013 in the final Ashes Test of that series at The Oval, Simon Kerrigan was badly handled by both Shane Watson and his captain Alastair Cook who entrusted him with just eight overs which went for 48 runs.

He never played Test cricket again and has not much wanted to talk about his experience either.

Then here at the SCG in the final match of the last Ashes tour in 2013-14, Scott Borthwick took four wickets but was part of a defeat inside three days, he too sinking without further trace at this level.

Even the latest to be given a go, Adil Rashid, who went to play 10 Tests for England, endured a horror show on his debut against Pakistan in 2015, his 34 overs yielding 0-163.

Crane performed better than all of those on day two here after England rebuilt their failing first innings total.

Crane bowled a bold and courageous line and length to the pair, had a couple of inside edges fall short of short leg, and can claim to have foxed Smith with a googly at one stage.

“There were a couple of inside edges and a couple of edges which didn’t get to slip. But that is the game and we will keep plugging away,” he said.

Crane was guilty of holding the ball too tight to the point where he did not let go on at least 10 occasions, pulling out of the delivery mid-stride, much to the annoyance of the crowd who booed him, ex-NSW or not.

“If something doesn’t feel quite right when I’m running in or one of the steps I take doesn’t feel quite right I try and stop myself from bowling anything other than the best ball I can give so yes I stop myself,” he said.

The tactic could be an off-shoot of working with Stuart MacGill this week – a leg spinner who was not afraid to abort if not everything felt right during his own career.

Aside from the odd twitch everything else felt right for Crane. Now all he needs is to get Smith out.