The Australia chief selector George Bailey has put his faith in Nathan McSweeney’s selection for the opening test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
George Bailey’s statement comes after the criticisms on the selection of the uncapped player in Australia’s squad for the high-profile match against India.
Bailey has voiced his support for the South Australian and believes “has the game to success at Test level.”
Cowan has raised concerns about McSweeney’s technique and temperament as an opener and had called the decision as a guess with McSweeney donning the role of an opener only once in his career during the second test against India A side.
To which Bailey responded, “I’d like to think it’s a little more than a guess, but I guess we could all run our fingers down the list of leading run-scorers and leading wicket-takers and just work our way through the top, but that’s not how cricket teams work.”
He compared the cricketing decision to the decision of picking new players for the three match ODI series against Pakistan, which caused them a 1-2 defeat.
“The one-day team that’s played recently, I think that was a good example of that. There are players in there that actually have the capacity to perform at a one-day level, but one thing that was quite apparent was that they didn’t quite gel.”
“They didn’t quite know how each of their teammates worked and what it looked like when they were in partnerships and working together. We certainly think Nathan will complement the players he has around him in the Test team,” Bailey said.
While Australia have rested five players including Pat Cummins for the third ODI series, George Bailey termed the planning and decision as a ‘sound’ one.
“We’ve been really clear that the priority for this summer was going to be the Test series, and by virtue of that, nearly every individual in that squad has had a different preparation. We may not see the full benefit of that training until even potentially the Sri Lankan series (two Tests in January-February), but there’s a bit of thought that goes into it,” George Bailey said.
Bailey also confirmed that seven or eight players from the team, which played against Pakistan in the last ODI, can feature in the champions trophy.
“On one hand, we often stand accused of having an ageing Test team, but yet on the other hand, when we do get some games into some players who we see as the future of our one-day team – I think out of that team that played (in Perth), there’ll be seven or eight who will be part of the Champions Trophy squad.” added Bailey.
The five-match test series will kickstart on November 22 while the second test will be played on a day-night format under the stadium lights starting on December 06.
The third test will be played in the Gabba which will be held between December 14-18. The fourth test will be played between December 26-30 at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The fifth and final test at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3-7 will give a promising dramatic conclusion for the exciting contest.
