England leg spinner Mason Crane is hoping to better Shane Warne’s debut figures after making an encouraging start to his Test career on day two of the fifth Test at the SCG.

Crane was given his chance to impress in the fifth and final Ashes Test against Australia at the SCG, becoming the country’s youngest specialist spinner since Ian Peebles 91 years ago.

The Hampshire leg-spinner, who has previously played Australian first-class cricket for New South Wales, impressed with his control despite going wicketless after bowling 17 overs for 58 runs.

And the 20-year-old is taking encouragement from Warne’s figures of 1-150 on his Test debut against India at the SCG in 1992 before going on to become the greatest Test leg-spinner with 708 wickets, second only to Sri Lankan world record holder Muttiah Muralitharan’s 800.

“I’m hoping for slightly better figures [than Warne’s],” Crane told reporters.

“At the end of the day that’s how it goes, he turned into a great bowler and I’m sure it was character building for him.”

Crane was faced with the daunting task of bowling to Australia’s prolific scorers Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja, but he stuck to his guns and was unlucky not to snare a wicket. And the youngster insists Smith, unbeaten on 44 at the close and chasing his fourth century in the series, was the key wicket for England.

“He’s obvious played very well and scored a lot of runs but he is only human as well,” he said. “It is awesome to be bowling at some of the best players in the world, that’s why we play the game.”

“He’s a key player for them. I feel if we can get him out and we can take a couple more wickets then we can hopefully get a first-innings lead,” he concluded.