Guided by 'uncle' Lillee, freed by Warner: how Thomas Draca became Italy's X-factor

Thomas Draca is a world unto himself. The 25-year-old Italy fast bowler was born to an Italian mother and a Yugoslavian father. He grew up in Sydney. Moved to the UK. Broke through in Canada. And is now in India.

His Italian heritage stems from Bellosguardo, a small village near Naples, where his mother was born. He hasn't been there too often but its influence is strong. Draca fell in love with football. One of the all-time greats then drew his attention to cricket.

"My dad is a bit of a wine connoisseur and Dennis [Lillee] cared about wine and that's how they met," Draca says. "And he asked, 'oh, does your young boy play cricket?' And my dad goes, 'yeah, he's okay and he bowls a bit'. And DK [Lillee] said if there's a case, he will have a look at me. We would do sessions together and we developed this unbelievable bond."

"Uncle" Lillee was the one who suggested Draca try playing the game professionally. And that's not all.

"You know what, he's actually given me his World Series chain, which has got his Test cap [number] and his signature on it. I'm not wearing it at the moment but I will certainly be wearing it at the World Cup. He gave his chain for my 21st birthday and he's the reason why I continue to play cricket and want to bowl fast. That's the reason I want to wear his chain and do him proud."

Everybody remembers Lillee running in and the gold around his neck catching the sun. Maybe it's his protégé's turn now.

After growing up in Sydney, Draca moved to the UK in 2022 and got a scholarship at Exeter University. Little did he know that a spell for his University would take him to several other places.

In an unofficial three-day game, Draca dismissed Tom Banton twice in the same innings and castled James Rew while playing against Somerset's first-XI team in 2024 and suddenly popped up on the radar of T20 scouts. Since then, he has featured in the Canada T20 league and Nepal Premier League, been a reserve player at MI Emirates in the ILT20, trained with Barbados Royals in the CPL and even made the longlist of the IPL auction ahead of the 2025 season.

Now Draca is gearing up for Italy's maiden appearance at a cricket World Cup in India. His stint in the UK under the supervision of Shahbaz Choudhary, a fast-bowling coach, has set him up to be a bit of an X-factor player.

"With Shahbaz and Dennis' involvement, I rebuilt my action," Draca recalls. "Where I started at the early 80 [mph], I've now been bowling up around 88 [mph] on the speed gun. With the adrenaline here, my goal over the last four-five months was to prepare for this tournament."

"Speed is a big factor for my role in the team. I think we have a lot of options to go to with medium pace. Speed is my attribute but I also have to adapt to the game situation and see what works for my team."

In 2024, an opportunity to play in the Canada league and rub shoulders with David Warner happened by chance. Draca seized it and came away as the highest wicket-taker for Brampton with 11 strikes in six games at an economy rate of 6.88.

"Dougie [Brown, former England and Scotland seamer] saw the live stream of my game against Somerset and said I'm pretty good," Draca says. "So, I flew across to Dubai and had a trial with Dougie, but didn't hear back from him. But a month later, I flew back to Australia and I got a T10 contract in the Cayman Islands through Dougie's team. At the time, my dad suggested playing club cricket in London to get my body up. Next morning after flying to London, my agent calls and asks me if I can fly to Canada to play for Dougie's team!

"I was there in my car when the call came and I pulled over to the other side of the road. I called my parents to say I'm flying to Canada. The first ball I bowled, I think it rolled to the batter (laughs). I couldn't feel my arms and legs. Davey came up to me and said: 'Just let it effing rip'."

Those words from Warner freed him up and gave him the confidence that he could cut it against the top batters. Draca's stint in Canada then landed him an ILT20 gig in the UAE, where he picked the brains of T20 legends such as Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran.

There was a nice little bonus as well from his time with MI Emirates. "I was actually in the supermarket in the UK [when I got an alert that I was part of the IPL auction. Ollie Cox, one of my best mates said 'Drax, you're in the IPL list'. Think signing for MI in the ILT20 put me there. Around that point even Andy Flower reached out to me to play for his T10 team Bulls. There was a lot going on. But I remember my phone was just going off and off."

Draca also has the experience of training in Barbados for around ten days with T20 World Cup champion Carlos Brathwaite, who was his team-mate at Brampton in the Canada T20 league. Draca counts Brathwaite as one of his mentors and hopes to catch up with him again during this T20 World Cup.

"Me and Mr. Remember the Name are very close," Draca says. "Carlos is commentating now for the World Cup, and I'll see him out there. We just have this connection. It was great to train with him in Barbados and he got me an opportunity to work with Roddy Estwick (former West Indies fast bowler and bowling coach).

"Carlos also introduced me to Jamar Griffith (a former Bajan player who is now Brathwaite's Strength and Conditioning Coach). We had 5am wake-ups and started training. It was about getting my routine right. When I get used to that kind of preparation, my body feels nice and strong. It was all through Carlos and his S&C."

A Hardik Pandya fan, Draca hopes that one day he can break into the IPL and play alongside him. "If I get an IPL contract through my World Cup performances that would be awesome. I've devoted a lot of time to playing my cricket in the subcontinent. Hardik Pandya is my hero and always dreamt of playing for MI as a kid."

Draca's immediate focus, though "is our first World Cup game against Scotland" where he is looking for intangible gains as well.

"The young guys aren't getting the kind of development that myself or the Manenti brothers (Ben and Harry) have got in Australia," Draca says. "I mean, we don't have the facilities like players do in Australia or in England or South Africa or India. There's not much. I don't think we have a turf square. So for us, if we can get funding and grow the game, that's what's most important for us. That's the legacy we want to leave."

Draca doesn't speak Italian but when his team-mates sing the team song with gusto, he usually smashes the bat and does "a lot of shouting". He can't wait for the celebrations to begin.