India’s Jasprit Bumrah, left, celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Australia’s Nathan McSweeney during play on day two of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pat Hoelscher)
For a batsman who had never opened the innings in a First Class match, to make his Test debut in a series in which he was relentlessly attacked by the new ball mastery of Jasprit Bumrah proved to be a hurdle too tall for Nathan McSweeney.
McSweeney, 25, was dropped from the Australian side for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and replaced with promising teenager Sam Konstas.
Upon returning from Brisbane to Adelaide—where he has made a bulk of his first-class runs as a middle-order batsman for South Australia—McSweeney revealed that Australia’s chief selector, George Bailey, told him that it was poor performances against Bumrah that ultimately saw him demoted after only three matches.
“They had seen my results against Bumrah in the first three Tests and George said they wanted to try someone else who has a slightly different skill set and that suits the batting order,” McSweeney was quoted as telling NewsCorp by ESPNCricinfo.
“I faced some balls and spent a bit of time out there so that helped my confidence but I did not get the scores that I wanted. As everyone was saying it probably does not get much harder.”
McSweeney showed few signs of promise, especially being resilient in seeing out the new ball under the lights in the final session of Day 1 that allowed Australia to take control. But 72 runs in six innings with a top score of 39 failed to impress.
“Learning on the go is a different challenge. In Sheffield Shield cricket you face a good bowler and you might see him again after Christmas. It’s different and unique playing a five Test series and fronting up against him a week later so you are thinking on the run a lot,” the 25-year-old said.
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