Throwback to Luke Pomersbach's dramatic international debut on his birthday

Going to the ground as a spectator and making your international debut on that same day? Not many cricketers would imagine in their wildest dreams that they would represent their national teams for the first time in this manner. However, Luke Pomersbach, who made his only international appearance for Australia in 2007, had made his debut in rather bizarre circumstances.

Suspended by his state team Western Australia, Pomersbach, who celebrates his 39th birthday today (September 28), turned up at the WACA with his girlfriend to see the Australian team in action against their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in a one off T20I contest.

Brad Hodge was one of Australia's mainstays in the T20 format but was unfortunately deemed unfit just before the toss. The Aussies were left with the undesirable option of playing with Adam Gilchrist, four batters and six bowlers.

It was not the ideal balance for any national team and management was left with very few options than to sent out a clarion call. In a surprising turn of events, Pomershbach, who was in the stands waiting for the match to start, was summoned as a fifth batter and had to immediately report to the dressing room.

Pomersbach initially thought it was a joke, but eventually rushed to the dressing room when he realised it wasn't. He had even forgotten to lock his car which he told Channel 9. The next few minutes were crazy for the hard-hitting southpaw.

This was the only time in his career that Pomersbach was drafted into the Australian national team and it remains his only international match to date. The team management had noticed Pomersbach's progress and given his availability, he was drafted in.

Pomersbach's brother Gavin had to rush for his kit but by the time, he arrived at the WACA, it was obviously too late. He borrowed some gear and wore Mike Hussey's jersey for the game. In a crazy few minutes, Pomersbach had gone from being banned by his state side - to going to watch his nation play a one off T20 - to ending up making his international debut. Incredible, right?

How did Pomersbach perform on his bizarre debut?

Michael Clarke had won the toss and opted to bat. Pomersbach walked out to bat with Australia in a comfortable position at 151/6. "Pomers," who had a reputation of clearing the boundary at will, smashed his first international six on just the third delivery of his career.

An outside edge fetched him a boundary before he went for one shot too many and perished after being caught by Ross Taylor off Mark Gillespie. The late Andrew Symonds played a blinder (85 off 46) and took Australia's score to 186/4 in their allotted 20 overs.

New Zealand were never in the run chase and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They were reduced to 31/5 but Jacob Oram kept them in the hunt with a blistering 66 off 31 deliveries. Eventually, New Zealand could only muster 132, handing Australia a convincing victory.

A career that never took off as far as Pomersbach was concerned

Pomersbach had a striking resemblance with the former New Zealand openers Jesse Ryder. On their days, both batters had the ability to decimate any bowling attack on their day. However, Pomersbach's off-field issues ranging from bans to drunk driving to not abiding by the laws, never made him realise his true potential.

For a relatively longish career, Pomersbach ended up playing only 39 first-class matches. The swashbuckling left-hander was on the selector's radar as he was performing consistently in domestic cricket leading up to his international debut.

He scored 395 runs in five innings in a domestic competition and also slammed a century against a Victorian second XI. Even when the Kiwis toured Down Under for the Chappell Hadlee series, Pomersbach smashed a blistering 88 off 65 deliveries for Cricket Australia Chairman's XI in the annual Lilac Hill game.

He has even played in the IPL for the Royal Challengers Banglore and the Kings XI Punjab between 2008 and 2013 and scored 302 runs in 17 matches at an average of 27.45. He recorded a highest score of 79* against the Mumbai Indians in 2008, a match which Kings XI won by one run.