George Bailey has backed Nathan McSweeney to come good as opener against India in Perth. (CA)
With some former Australian cricketers including former opener Ed Cowan questioning the selection of Nathan McSweeney for the opening Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australian chief selector George Bailey has voiced his support for the South Australian and believes “has the game to success at Test level’. Cowan had 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 unofficial Test against India A side.
“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,” Bailey told SEN Radio on Thursday.
The former Australian cricketer, who played in five Tests, 90 ODIs and 30 T20Is, compared the cricketing decision to the decision of picking up new players for the three-match ODI series against Pakistan, which the hosts lost 1-2. “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 rested five players including captain Pat Cummins for the last ODI of the three-match ODI series against Pakistan at Perth, the Australian chief selector termed the planning and decision as a ‘sound’ one. Sunday’s defeat had meant that Australia lost an ODI series against Pakistan at home for the first time since 2002.
“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,” Bailey said.
Bailey was also of the view 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.
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