His selection highlights just how perseverance can win out for a young allrounder originally from Coffs Harbour who earned early honours and experience touring with the Northern NSW Under 21 Emus.

The NNSW U21’s, better known as the Emus, are the result of the late Jim White’s great vision more than half a century ago. He saw a need to give young cricketers a chance to play higher standard games at home and on tour after the Second World War.

Early tours (from 1949-50) to Tasmania, New Zealand, South America and in more recent years to Western Australia have been held.

From those tours the Emu Cricket Club was formed and World Tours for senior players who had played for the Under 21 Emus held.

To select those early Emus sides the annual JS White Under 21 Colts Carnival was held in Tamworth in January to pick either a touring side or an Emus side hosting visiting touring teams across the Northern Inland or North Coast regions.

Jim White had a simple philosophy.

“To provide an important agent towards inspiring young men with a correct proportionate outlook on their civic, social and sporting lives,” White said decades ago.

He has since passed on but his ideas have not with the likes of Emu Club president Fred Widdis, secretary Terry Browne and treasurer Terry Psarakis heavily involved in the running and organisation of the Emus Colts.

Former Emu Colt, Peter Clifford, who played for both NSW and Queensland in the Sheffield Shield, has led tours to NZ in recent years.

Mennie, now 27, was on one of those NZ tours in the mid 2000’s. He had won a berth in that season’s touring side from his home town Coffs Harbour.

Browne, a former Country NSW wicketkeeper batsman who played against the touring West Indian side in Armidale, was the coach of that Emus touring side and remembers Joe well.

“The thing I remember most of that tour was that nothing went right for him in the first two or three games,” Browne recalled.

“But he kept on persevering. He was really resilient and by the end of the tour he was in really good form.”

That tour was a great launching pad for the young allrounder as he made NSW Country, NSW Under 23 and the Australian Cricket Academy Centre Of Excellence but was unable to break into the NSW State side.

In 2011 he signed with the Southern Redbacks to play in the Sheffield Shield for South Australia.

On Saturday he will follow on from Doug Walters (Dungog), Rick McCosker (Inverell) and the late John Gleeson (Tamworth) as Emus to play Test cricket.

“It’s great to see Joe has kept on persevering and will play for Australia (after making his debut in the ODI debut in South Africa on October 2),” Browne said.

“He’s also played a fair few Big Bash games (Perth Scorchers, Hobart Hurricanes and has signed to play for the Sydney Sixers in the next Big Bash). I think the Emus helped set the players up to play well, especially the quicks. It showed them how much they could handle playing cricket nearly every day on tour.

“Joe never had the fast track into cricket (Test and Internationals) but he’s kept on persevering.”

Emu Club treasurer Psarakis agrees.

He said Joe Mennie’s selection shows country players they can make it to the biggest cricketing theatre in the nation from the bush. It also shows the value of having unique representative teams such as the Emus in addition to the country representative scene at senior, colts and junior levels.

Psarakis is also the chairman of the Central Northern Zone, which won the Hogg Silver Shield last season for the best zone in Country NSW cricket.

“Great for Joe,” he said of his test selection.

“But it does show how important the Emus are as well as the CNZ rep teams.”

This season’s Emus will be selected next month in preparation for a tour from the Canterbury Country Emerging Colts who will tour the NSW North Coast with a Boomerang Cup Test likely to be played in Lismore as well as an ODI.