Youngster Nathan McSweeney has expressed disappointment at being dropped from the Australia squad for the Border Gavaskar Trophy‘s final two tests.
Despite a challenging debut series, McSweeney aims for redemption, particularly after his omission from the final two tests. Due to Jasprit Bumrah’s dominance, his debut has proved to be a nightmare and has sparked mixed reactions from cricket figures.
McSweeney was dropped with the inclusion of Sam Konstas, following a series where he struggled to captialize on opportunities. Notably, McSweeney fell to Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah four times and posting low scores throughout the series.
McSweeney made 72 runs in six innings but appears to have paid the price for the selectors wanting more impetus from the top order.
“Yeah, I mean devastated, I get the dream come true and then didn’t quite work the way I wanted,” told McSweeney.
“But it’s all part of it and I’ll get my head down and get back in the nets and work really hard and hopefully be ready to go for the next opportunity.”
McSweeney had been praised for his role in soaking up overs, especially the first innings under lights in Adelaide where he and Marnus Labuschagne made it through a crucial session on the first day, but his other five dismissals were between 0 and 10.
George Bailey has gone into detail about Australia’s Test squad selection #AUSvIND
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— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 20, 2024
“It’s the game we’re in,” he said. “If you don’t take an opportunity and you’re not performing as well as you want to, your position’s never safe.”
“So I missed out a few times with the bat and unfortunately wasn’t able to take my opportunity but as I said I’ll work really to make sure that if the opportunity comes round again I’m definitely ready.”
McSweeney’s route back to test cricket would now appear to be in the middle order although he will need to wait for a vacany to open up. The return of Cameron Green from injury later in the year will create competition for those batting positions.
Meanwhile George Bailey admitted it had been a difficult to relay to McSweeney. “[It was a] really hard decision for Nathan and one that we spent a lot of time deliberating over,” he said.
“Particularly after a small sample size of three Tests… That’s never a great phone call, is it? Nathan was disappointed and really the message to him was much the same as at the start of the series, that we believe he has the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level.”
McSweeney’s availability for Brisbane Heat while facing Adelaide Strikers on December 22 in the BBL 2024-25 at The Gabba will be confirmed later on Saturday.
The fourth match of the Australia-India tests will begin on December 26 at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
