A highly rated allrounder, James Faulkner has crammed plenty of representative honours into his 18 years. In the same summer that he captained the Tasmania Under-17s, he was already in the state's U-19s and the Tasmania Second XI. A left-arm fast-medium bowler and right-hand middle-order batsman, Faulkner earned himself a state rookie contract for 2007-08, a place in the Australia U-19s for a tour to Malaysia, and one of three positions in the Academy's development squad for 2007. He was part of Australia's U-19 World Cup campaign in 2008, although he didn't have a great impact, and he retained his state rookie deal for 2008-09. He is the son of the former Tasmania allrounder Peter Faulkner, who until 2008 served as the state's chairman of selectors.