Players reared in Australia forging successful careers in English county cricket are a familiar sight. Steven Crook reminded Australia of as much by scoring 142 not out for Northamptonshire against them this month. Crook was unable to get a professional contract down under, but has enjoyed a fine career in England. Few players travel in the reverse direction: the odds on someone not deemed good enough by 18 first-class teams in England being embraced by one of the six in Australia are not good.

For years Charlie Hemphrey attempted to secure a contract in county cricket. Twice he was released by Kent; he returned, for a third time, to play second team cricket but the club did not reverse their judgement. A simple conclusion was that, like dozens of peripheral players released by counties each year, Hemphrey was a good cricketer but not good enough for the professional game. When he played second team cricket for Derbyshire and Essex, they shared Kent’s view. In 2013, Hemphrey was a 24-year-old working as a construction site management in Folkestone, playing club cricket and no longer interesting county second elevens.

It was easy to see why he was a man “fed up with England”. Out of this frustration Hemphrey quit his job and moved to Brisbane, where he had earlier spent three fulfilling winters playing grade cricket, in September 2013. The weather was better, but Hemphrey’s existence was still none too glamorous: his job was working for Virgin at Brisbane Airport.

“I was in charge of the plane turnaround - when planes came in and went back out. It’s quite physical so it kept me in good shape. It wasn’t a very good job.”

But it had one perk: Saturdays off to play grade cricket. “I just thought I’d play grade cricket and see what happened. I knew deep down that if I did well there might be opportunities. I always said there was a five per cent chance that I’d play (first-class cricket).”

English counties had viewed Hemphrey as an offspinning all-rounder. In Australia he proved his batting was rather better than that. He was the third highest scorer in Queensland grade cricket in 2013/14.

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These performances didn’t go unnoticed. In October 2014, Hemphrey was selected for Queensland’s second team (officially called the Under-23s). In his next game for them Hemphrey scored 140 out of 297 against New South Wales, an innings of such proficiency that it alerted the state selectors.

On February 3 this year Hemphrey received a phone call that would change his life. In the shake-up that followed Stuart Law’s dismissal as coach, Hemphrey was told he had been selected to play for Queensland against Victoria. He had three days to get himself ready, and immediately told work he needed time off.

“I was a bit surprised and didn’t expect it. I was over the moon.”

The euphoria did not last long. Two balls into Queensland’s innings Hemphrey, opening the batting, edged James Pattinson behind. But 58 against Tasmania the following week proved that Hemphrey was not overawed by first-class cricket. He passed 30 three times in his next four innings without making another half-century, and was under pressure going into Queensland’s final game of the season.

“I knew I’d done OK in my first few games but I hadn’t secured anything for the following year, so I knew that I really had to get a hundred,” Hemphrey reflects. After South Australia were bowled out for 230, Hemphrey, now at number three, came into bat in the 21st ball of the innings. He crawled to 17 by the close, scoring at under a run an over, and envisaged making something substantial on the second day.

“We had loads of time left in the game so I just tried to bat into the second half of the day when the wickets gets a bit flatter and easier. The Gabba’s quite tough to start with and then it quickens up and gets quite flat towards the game. I was just trying to bat for that.”

When he had reached 97, Hemphrey hit three off the medium pace of Mark Cosgrove. “The biggest thing was just relief. It was something I didn’t know I’d get the chance to do and wasn’t sure that would happen. I’d probably missed out on hundreds in the first few games – I was in and got to 40 and got out. I was pretty proud and I had a lot of messages over from family and friends in the UK.”

He had become the first English-born player to score a Sheffield Shield hundred since John Hampshire in 1978.

But in a sense Hemphrey’s most significant achievement had already come. After playing his third first-class game, Hemphrey was guaranteed a minimum 12-month contract, worth around $60,950 a year before match fees. After his second match, he left Virgin for good. At the age of 25, he was finally a professional cricketer.

Perhaps Hemphrey’s emergence contains a wider lesson for English domestic cricket, which seems less tolerant towards late-blooming talent than the Australian system. “They don’t look at club cricket. They pick their young academy guys - 17-18-19-year-olds and try and go with them. The 23, 24-year-olds in club cricket who might take a bit longer to develop get left behind. There’s probably a few games sticking around playing club cricket who could feel unfortunate not to play first-class cricket. Grade cricket over here gets valued a lot more than club cricket in the UK.”

Hemphrey returned to England this summer, playing for Hartley in the Kent League this season, and hopes to play county cricket in the future. “Ideally I’d like to do both – a summer here and then a summer in England.”But under ECB rules Hemphrey cannot play as a non-overseas player in both Australia and England, and Australian domestic cricket has become his priority. “All the time I’m playing Sheffield Shield cricket, which I hope is for a long time, I’ll see this as my number one.”

In a sign of his commitment, he returned to Queensland in June for a full preseason. He has used it to work on his offspin, which a torn shoulder prevented him from bowling last season, with assistant coach John Davidson. “Its been really good working with him and it’s coming on quite nicely. It’s another string to my bow that I could be a second spinner.”

Allied to his classical top order batting, it amounts to a package that might, in time, be attractive to Australia. Hemphrey is eligible to play for Australia tomorrow, though he laughs at the suggestion.

“I haven’t really thought that far ahead. My plan is to have a good solid season and try and cement my future over here for the next few years. I want to try and nail down a spot in the top order,” he says. “Success over here will lead to anything else.”

Thoughts of higher honours can wait: for now Hemphrey is relishing his unlikely late-blooming career, an antidote to an era when cricketers are increasingly marked out for greatness in their teens. “There are a lot worse jobs I could be doing.” The shifts at Brisbane Airport will have to wait for now.