“I I reckon he’s always had that leadership quality,” said elder brother Aaron, a talented Old Boys allrounder who played first grade with his brother at the club. “He’d be pretty stoked with that [the vice-captaincy], I’d imagine.”

Hazlewood has become only the third specialist fast bowler to achieve the feat, after what Cricket Australia labelled a “lengthy selection process”. Former pacemen Rodney Hogg and Jeff Thomson both held the vice-captaincy briefly during the 1970s and 1980s, respectively.

Following a poll from the playing group, Hazlewood and Marsh were among a number of players whose names were presented to a selection panel that included coach Justin Langer and former Test captains Greg Chappell and Mark Taylor.

Hazlewood, 27, who has taken 151 wickets at 26.84 in 40 Tests, will share the role with allrounder Mitchell Marsh, with keeper Tim Paine remaining skipper for the side’s upcoming Test series against Pakistan in the UAE. CA announced the appointments on Thursday morning.

Hazlewood will miss the UAE tour, which starts on Saturday with a match against Pakistan A, as he continues to recover from a back injury ahead of a bumper summer of cricket at home – including a Test series against India.

Aaaron Hazlewood said: “I had a thought that he might have been in the mix for it [the vice-captaincy]. But they don’t usually give it to bowlers, so I wasn’t overly confident on it. It’s a pretty rare thing for a fast bowler to be named Australian vice-captain.”

Aaron said the role carried even more significance given the transition the side was going through following the ball-tampering scandal.

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He said his brother would be key to helping the “newer, greener” players establish their Test careers, and to forging the team “culture”.

The brothers’ parents, Trevor and Anne, still live in Bendemeer. When asked if the family, including eldest sibling Casey, planned to celebrate the news, Aaron said: “I don’t know. Maybe at some stage we’ll sit down and have a yarn about it.”

He said he had not yet spoken to the deadly accurate fast-medium menace, whom he labelled a “born leader” with a “good head on his shoulders”, but he would “give him a buzz shortly”.

Aaron said the family watched Hazlewood play as much as they could, “because obviously it doesn’t last for ever and it is such an achievement”.

Simon Norvill, Old Boys’ opening batsman and the club’s new president, played with Hazlewood at the club when the then promising quick debuted in first grade.

Norvill said Hazlewood, from an early age, “carried himself” and bowled in a way “that you always knew he had the potential to go that far”. 

“It's always good to see someone you used to play with succeed in such a big way,” he added.