Just two innings into his career as a first-class opener, Nathan McSweeney is ready to take the first ball on debut for Australia.
The Queenslander, who moved to South Australia for more opportunities in 2021, has won the race to be Usman Khawaja’s opening partner for the start of the blockbuster Test series against India.
McSweeney will become the first Australian in 47 years to make his Test debut as an opener despite never having batted there at Sheffield Shield level.
After a dominant start to the summer at No.3 for SA, the 25-year-old was promoted to open in the second match against India A.
McSweeney was unable to convert starts – 14 and 25 – in both innings as Australia A closed out a six-wicket win at the MCG.
Despite not being able to capitalise as he did in Mackay where he top-scored for Australia A in both innings, he was given the good news by chairman of selectors George Bailey immediately after play on Saturday.
McSweeney will become Australia’s 467th men’s Test player, and first since spinner Matt Kuhnemann debuted in Delhi in February 2023.
The right-hander will almost certainly face the first ball, something he is prepared to do.
“I’ve heard that ‘Uzzy’ (Khawaja) is not the biggest fan of it,” a beaming McSweeney said on Sunday.
“I faced the first ball in both innings out here (at the MCG), so I’m comfortable with that.
“I’ve already been told that by a couple of the boys.
“Other than walk out one position earlier than I normally do, my prep is the exact same.
“I trained with the new ball batting at three, and you can be in there in the first over of the game.”
McSweeney beat Marcus Harris for the vacant spot, created when Steve Smith was shuffled back to No.4 after allrounder Cameron Greeen was ruled out for the summer with a back injury.
Harris, who last played a Test in January 2022, has even missed out on being part of the extended squad after selectors chose Australia’s white-ball wicketkeeper Josh Inglis to be the spare batter.
Left-hander Harris top-scored with 74 for Australia A at the MCG, but he also fell for a golden duck in the second innings.
After batting at No.4 for Australia A in Mackay, McSweeney swapped places with NSW teen opener Sam Konstas.
Bailey had seen enough to pick McSweeney for the first Test at Optus Stadium, saying the last tour game was “icing on the cake”.
“We really value Australia A cricket,” Bailey said.
“It’s important to put a little bit of onus on these games
“It would have been disrespectful to the game to have had announced this squad a week ago, we wanted to play it out and get as much information as possible.
“They don’t necessarily send someone from the bottom of the pile to the top, but they continue to put together good cases.”
Western Australian opener Cameron Bancroft and Harris were initially thought to be next-in-line, having played Tests before and performed strongly at Shield level in recent seasons.
But Bancroft couldn’t be considered after going through a dire form slump at the worst possible time.
Bancroft, who last played a Test in the 2019 Ashes, had dominated for WA during the past two seasons, but his top score across eight innings this summer is 16.
AUSTRALIA SQUAD: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Scott Boland.
© AAP