Nathan Coulter-Nile emerging from shadows but plays hopes of Test call-up He was on standby in the Ashes, but Nathan Coulter-Nile feels he's a long shot to tour South Africa. Nathan Coulter-Nile celebrates after picking up the wicket of Ravi Bopara during the first ODI. MANY Australian cricket fans did not know a great deal about Nathan Coulter-Nile before Sunday's one-dayer against England at the MCG. Perhaps they knew him as a handy Twenty20 cricketer. Maybe as the explosive lower-order batsman who clubbed a towering six for the Perth Scorchers last summer. Maybe as the opening bowler who went for 0/80 when Indian opener Rohit Sharma went nuts and blasted 209 out of 383 at Bangalore last November. Or, more recently as the perennial 12th man during the Ashes series. The one who caught Kevin Pietersen at fine leg only to stumble over the rope and concede a six. Before a record crowd of 91,092. "It was a lack of judgement," Coulter-Nile lamented. I actually took the catch, which is a start I guess, but I just got a little close to the rope and the rest is history. He said his Australian teammates immediately rallied around him. "I mean 12th man, I was pretty stiff to come on for a couple of overs and stuff up like that," he said. Luckily it didn't have a huge bearing on the game. (Pietersen) obviously got some runs but we still won, which is the main thing. What Australian fans might come to learn during this one-day series is why cricket aficionados rate the 26-year-old highly. His Western Australian coach, Justin Langer, says his bowling "has got that extra little bit of X-factor and he has certainly got that extra speed." Former Test great Mike Hussey said that he "put him in the Mitch Johnson mould with the bat," while Australian chairman of selectors John Inverarity rated him among the best three or four fieldsmen in the country. A former junior volleyballer who goes by the nickname "River," Coulter-Nile has now played three one-dayers and three T20 games for Australia, but Sunday was his first win, "so I'm pretty rapt to get that one out of the way." Recognising his potential as a damaging bowler, the selectors drafted him into the Ashes squad this summer, where he thrived on the elite environment in matches, training and away from the ground. "You don't get the opportunity to be around the Test team very often, I mean there's plenty of blokes out there who never got that opportunity so I just try to enjoy it and learn as much as I can from the bowlers playing at the moment," Coulter-Nile said. There's a reason they're the best in the world so I just try and get as much as I can off them. He said Australian bowling coach Craig McDermott had helped him improve "drastically," but "the more I can learn off the actual bowlers who are there doing it at the time, the more I can be ready to step in and bowl." A big thing is my length, I guess. I did tend to bowl a bit short. They're pitching on that five to six-metre mark encouraging the blokes to drive and I just didn't have the confidence to want the batsmen driving me. As soon as I've started pitching up I've been a bit more dangerous. With a hint of self-deprecation, Coulter-Nile says he was worried about what would have happened had Ryan Harris's injury niggles handed him a Test debut during the Ashes, saying there would have been "a massive drop in ability." He also says he would be "surprised" to make the upcoming tour of South Africa. "But I'm rapt to be thought of even in terms of selection, so if that does happen I'll definitely try to take that opportunity," he said. Right now he's concentrating on racking up his second win in Australian colours and trying to earn broader recognition as a genuine international cricketer - not just the bloke who stumbled over the rope.