With Australia’s new Test match opener Nathan McSweeney standing just yards away outside the MCG, chairman of selectors George Bailey was asked if his selection had been the toughest he had made during his tenure at the charge.
Bailey is never one to reveal much. You shouldn’t read too much into their comments either. But there was only a momentary pause before he responded.
“Not necessarily,” Bailey said. “I think it’s good when you have options and there are players who are putting their hands in different roles. So I think it’s not necessarily difficult on that front, but you always look for what you think will be the best balance.” and the type of composition of that team.
The reality is that this was a challenging selection. Despite the selectors’ insistence that this was not a batting match, or “the great Australian batting match” as Bailey quipped, the way the Australia A teams were selected and the order of Batting, apart from the public debate, clearly demonstrated that there was no outstanding candidate, even if the selectors had an idea of which way they were leaning from afar.
Age, Bailey insisted, was not a factor even though McSweeney was 25 and a “super age,” as Bailey called it, compared to 32-year-old Marcus Harris and soon-to-be 32-year-old Cameron Bancroft. .
The non-selection of Sam Konstas, 19, and a series of decisions that this panel has made in recent times would be evidence in their eyes that they do choose for the here and now. But it is difficult to believe that, consciously or unconsciously, a panel as thoughtful and analytical as Bailey, Andrew McDonald and Tony Dodemaide did not at least consider the possibility that selecting an exclusively over-30s XI in Perth was not the ideal way to move forward in the future. evidence of a team hurtling into a period of transition.
What they have been consistent about is the insistence that batting positions do not matter and they intend to pick the best players in the country for the Test team.
This is where McSweeney’s selection is fascinating. He is set to open the batting in Perth having never done so at Sheffield Shield level and has only done so at first-class level for the first time against India A in the last five days.
In the last 12 or 15 months, I have seen a player whose growth is on a great trajectory, a very organized and composed player in the box and who has got a game that really suits Test cricket.
George Bailey on Nathan McSweeney
“I don’t think it’s a big adjustment to go from three to fly,” Bailey said. “I think in the 15 or so games he’s been batting at three for South Australia, I think he’s been short of 10 more than 20 times. He’s had a lot of experience. I think his game and the way he plays, it’s not I don’t think the adjustment is too much.”
It’s worth digging into those numbers. The 15 innings Bailey refers to are the overall innings McSweeney has batted at No. 3 in Sheffield Shield cricket (one of them came for Queensland before moving to South Australia, which accelerated his rise). He has averaged 30.86 with one century and three half-centuries coming this calendar year in his last seven hits at the position.
Australia’s selectors are understood to have delved into the candidates’ performances against Shield’s top attacks at Test venues in the recent past to find a separator between them. McSweeney stood out.
Last season he made 64 and 100 in a low-scoring match against a New South Wales attack featuring Jackson Bird and Chris Tremain, 112 not out at the Gabba against Michael Neser, Mark Steketee and Mitchell Swepson, and 117 against the Shield finalists Tasmania had a brutal wicket at Bellerive where the next highest score in the game was 68. This season he scored 55 and 127 not out against NSW at
cricket Central in Sydney. where Nathan Lyon took eight wickets in 63.3 overs. His 39 and 88 not out against India A were standout performances at Mackay on a surface that helped the quicks.
But it’s worth noting that he batted at No. 3 in only two of those eight innings, at No. 4 in five of them, and at No. 5 once. His entry points were in the 26th, 18th, 46th, 19th, 24th, 11th, 4th and 25th overs respectively. Two of those four centuries came batting behind a night watchman.
Steven Smith averages 67.07 at No. 3 in Tests with eight centuries, including a double, and although he won’t admit it publicly, even he found it difficult to adjust to the opening.
For this reason, Harris and Bancroft have a right to feel aggrieved. For 12 months, selectors have pointed to the past success stories of Usman Khawaja, Justin Langer, Simon Katich and Shane Watson as converted Test openers to back their stance that batting positions don’t matter. But there’s a chance they could be outliers depending on how you look at things. As Smith demonstrated, and as most grizzled openers will attest, there is a clear difference between occasionally leaving early at one or two for not many to face the new ball, and doing it day in and day out for over a decade like Harris and Bancroft. . have.
Harris’ Test scores of 79 and 70 at the SCG and Perth Stadium against a Jasprit Bumrah-led India attack in 2018-19, and 76 against James Anderson, Mark Wood and Ben Stokes in an MCG minefield in 2021-22, they do not appear to have overturned perceptions about their inability to convert starts and the wide gap between their first-class record in the Junction Oval bowling graveyard compared to the test. places.
His 74 against India A on Friday appears to have been too little, too late, even though none of the other top three batsmen in the game, including McSweeney, surpassed 25. His play against spin would also be a factor. He seemed far from comfortable against Tanush Kotian’s spin. Australia’s hierarchy is cautious about giving R Ashwin a look at four left-handers in the top seven.
For Bancroft, the perception of its technical deficiencies is becoming reality. After being passed over in January after dominating the Shield for two summers, he was never going to be selected after returning 29 runs in eight first-class innings this season. Bailey insisted that the door was not closed to either Harris or Bancroft. But brutally for both men, it’s clear they’re on the wrong side of 30, and despite having higher career averages than McSweeney, they’re also on the wrong side of 40, even though this is an era tough for batsmen in Shield cricket.
Of note, McSweeney’s consistency of mechanics, method and decision-making have been praised following his selection.
For Konstas, his time is coming, but it hasn’t come yet. When Khawaja will finish remains a mystery, but the 19-year-old looks perfectly prepared to take on his role with more first-class experience under his belt.
Ultimately, McSweeney is in the right place at the right time. He has been identified as a future Australian leader and his first-class form matches that position.
“[We’re] I’m really excited about Nathan’s game,” Bailey said. “In the last 12 or 15 months, I saw a player whose growth is on a great trajectory, a very organized and composed player in the box, and I got a game that really suits Test cricket. I think he is a wonderful person. He’s clearly had good leadership exposure now, a good catcher, the bowl has good spin as well. So the package is really impressive.”
However, you are about to take a step into a new world.
