The last time Australia played a Test without Nathan Lyon, his replacement Todd Murphy was 12 years old.

Yet, 22-year-old off-spinner Murphy is being touted as a more-than-adequate replacement.

Murphy, who bowls wearing steel-rimmed glasses, made his Test debut earlier this year in India, taking 7-124 in the hosts’ first innings. In doing so, he became the youngest Australian spinner to take a five-wicket haul on his debut.

His feat is even more remarkable when you consider he didn’t take up spin bowling until his mid-teens. As recently as November, he was playing for St Kilda, a mostly amateur club on the coastal suburbs of Melbourne – though this is a club synonymous with the greatest of all Australian spin bowlers.

Shane Warne played for them in the late 1980s and early 90s before enjoying his own breakthrough moment in Ashes history, delivering the “ball of the century” to a befuddled Mike Gatting at Old Trafford during the 1993 series.

Murphy too could make an impact St Kilda president Paul Ryan believes, stating the player who was representing their fourth eleven just six years ago is confident in his abilities.

“Todd’s comfortable doing what works for him,” says Ryan.

“Nothing seems to fluster him on the field. He could be thrown the ball in a tight situation and he is so composed under pressure. There were a couple of games we really needed a wicket in and he delivered.”

For any spin bowlers at St Kilda, Warne’s presence is inescapable – his photograph hangs in the home team dressing room. But if Murphy shares anything with Warne, it is his work ethic.

“It really annoys me when people say Shane Warne was a natural,” says Ryan. “He worked very hard to become a master craftsman. You only had to talk to him, and you knew his cricket brain – he’d analysed the game his whole life.

“He was looking for control on where he wanted to deliver and he worked at it for hours and into the nights, too. Todd is the same – he takes his craft very seriously and he’s good at it.”

But what of the sudden improvement? Could Ryan see what lay ahead?

“We knew what we had with Todd,” he says. “Victoria had identified him for the future (in the Sheffield Shield), but it was the Big Bash which helped change things – he hit the spot and bowled well.”

That ability to hit the spot is a key aspect of Murphy’s bowling, Ryan says, adding that he has “very good control”.

“What enables him to go to the next level is he has very good variation and speed, and being fairly tall he’s able to get some bounce,” Ryan adds.

“Like all good spin bowlers, there’s guile, too. He is able to read a game and the batsman – he can mix it up as well and do so in a way that’s not obvious to the opposition.”

And the biggest knack of all might be Murphy’s apparent ability to get out the best in the world. In India, he took Virat Kohli’s wicket four times and that of Cheteshwar Pujara twice.

Joe Root, you have been warned…