This time last year Peter Nevill couldn't even get a start for his hometown Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League.
But now he is preparing for first Boxing Day Test at the famed Melbourne Cricket Ground.
"I grew up and played for the Melbourne Cricket Club for six years before I moved to Sydney, so I went as a young kid a lot of the time to the Boxing Day Test and it was a very special occasion," he said.
Every year he went with his dad Jeff, and while the tradition is set to continue for next week's second Test against the West Indies, it'll be under vastly different circumstances.
"My dad and I are going to be there again, (but) I'll actually be on the field," he said.
Not bad for someone who was overlooked in the Renegades' Big Bash League opener last season in favour of Australia's current Twenty20 gloveman Matthew Wade.
A move to Sydney in 2008 allowed Nevill a shot at Sheffield Shield, which led to a breakthrough campaign where he amassed 764 runs for New South Wales last season.
By July he equalled the most catches taken by a keeper on a Test debut when he dramatically stepped in for Brad Haddin.
Next week's Test will not just be his ninth cap, but also one of his most memorable.
"It's certainly something you dream of as a kid, but you never think that you're definitely going to get there," he said.
"It's only been a possibility and now a reality in the last few years. It's certainly a dream come true."
Despite a below-average crowd expected to welcome an underperforming West Indies team, Nevill was confident of a strong showing from the locals.
"Usually you get 100,000 people at the opening of a letter in Melbourne. I'm hoping they'll all turn up on day one," he said.
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