With Australia batting first in the third Test at Headingley, the Moama cricketing export might have thought day one of his Ashes debut would be spent in the rooms watching the Aussies compile a total in front of a raucous England crowd still not entirely forgiving of the events of Lords.
Instead, the wicket of Pat Cummins brought Australia’s number nine batsman, Murphy, out to the middle with the England faithful at full voice, facing up to Mark Wood in a spell where the speed gun had registered past the 150kph mark on several occasions.
It was that pace Murphy utilised on his first delivery, an edge through the cordon sailing away to the boundary and getting the 22-year-old under way with the bat.
Murphy would add two more boundaries in his valuable 13-run cameo before Wood broke through, bringing a close to the Australian innings with 263 runs on the board.
“It’s been good fun, obviously there are challenges that come with it,” Murphy said to cricket.com.au after the game.
“It’s high stakes cricket but to be out there and be a part of it is great.”
The young off-spinner, bowling in place of the injured Nathan Lyon, would have to wait until day two to contribute with the ball, at which point Murphy was throwing down deliveries to English skipper Ben Stokes.
And Stokes, once again in a destructive mood after a near game-saving ton at Lords, had Murphy in his sights, having his measure early in his spell.
But Murphy kept his cool, with a probing wider delivery drawing a skied shot from Stokes and ending his innings on 80 runs, caught by Steve Smith.
Murphy’s first spell in Ashes cricket ended with figures of 1-36 off 7.3 overs.
“It’s always good to get in the contest against a guy of that calibre,” he said.
“It’s obviously not a massive ground and you know what his plan’s going to be, which is to hit every ball for six.
“At times there were limited options, but I suppose it’s just about being brave, and Pat (Cummins) reiterated that.”
Murphy added 11 runs off 10 deliveries to Australia’s second-innings total of 224 before he was trapped LBW by Stuart Broad, with Travis Head’s 77 meaning England will need 251 runs to win the Test on day four.
At the time of writing, England was 0-27 in the run chase, with the result still well and truly up in the air.
But whatever the result may be, Murphy’s introduction to the Ashes arena was memorable and hopefully, there was still a pivotal role to play for the boy from the border.
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