mmg.com.au

A morning phone call yesterday could be about to change Tallygaroopna-raised tearaway Ryan Sidebottom’s life in a huge way.

Victorian chairman of selectors Andrew Lynch was on the other end of the line, delivering the news Sidebottom was in the Bushrangers’ 13-man squad for tomorrow’s Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania.

‘‘I was very surprised, a bit shocked,’’ Sidebottom said.

‘‘I went in and had a bowl last Wednesday and had a chat with (head coach) Greg Shipperd, Andrew Lynch and (official) Shaun Graf and they never really hinted at me being selected.

‘‘It’s a bit of a blur.’’

Sidebottom, 23, made a successful Futures League debut for Victoria’s second XI in late January — taking team-best match figures of 6-76 against Western Australia — and has quickly climbed the pecking order.

He flew to Tasmania with the rest of the Victorian squad at 7am today and said he would find out whether he made the final XI this afternoon.

Sidebottom said his phone was ‘‘running hot’’ with congratulatory calls and text, Twitter and Facebook messages.

‘‘If someone said at the start of the cricket season I would play a couple of Futures games, a game against the England Lions, then get picked in a squad to play a (Sheffield) Shield game, I would have told them to get out of town,’’ Sidebottom said.

‘‘But it’s all happened in a hurry, which is kind of a good thing. I’ll just keep playing it as it comes.’’

Shipperd said Sidebottom had impressed him in his Futures League appearances and at training.

‘‘He presents a beautiful seam and is very consistent,’’ Shipperd said of Sidebottom.

‘‘I don’t know the answer to that (whether he is a big-game player), but if he’s given the opportunity, we’ll give him all the encouragement to come out and perform as a first-class player should.’’

Sidebottom said his decision, made in conjunction with Carlton Cricket Club officials, to stop playing football midway through last season was the start of the process ‘‘to get on the right track’’.

He kicked 58 goals in 12 games for Congupna to that point after playing in Shepparton United’s Goulburn Valley Football League premiership three years ago.

Sidebottom, who lives in Kew with brother Steele — a Collingwood premiership footballer — and ex-United teammate Sam Muggleton, said former Congupna teammates even jokingly told him last week they forgave him for leaving now.

‘‘I’ve got to just wait and see if I get picked. It would be a dream come true,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s something I have been wanting to do for a little bit now ... getting to play with guys like David Hussey and Rob Quiney, who have played for Australia, would be amazing.’’