Why Nathan McSweeney's Test cricket axing shows Australia's ...
If Nathan McSweeney's axing for the Boxing Day Test has taught us anything, it's that Australia's controversial selection policy of picking the country's 'best-six batters' - regardless of their position - needs to end. Skipper Pat Cummins and Australia coach Andrew McDonald have maintained for quite some time now that Test selection is more about picking the country's best red-ball batters than choosing players in specialist positions.
McSweeney - who brushed off his shock axing for the fourth Test at the MCG with a match-winning 78 not out for Brisbane Heat in the BBL on Sunday night - is the perfect example of the folly behind Australia's Test selection policy. And the call-up of NSW teen sensation Sam Konstas, who looks all but assured of earning his maiden baggy green cap on Boxing Day, is essentially an admission from selectors that they got it wrong.
Sam Konstas' call-up for the fourth Test and Nathan McSweeney's axing is essentially an admission from Australian selectors that they made a mistake. Pic: Getty
Asking McSweeney to bat in a completely unfamiliar position of opener when he had no previous experience there in first-class cricket was always going to be a major gamble. Chief selector George Bailey argued that McSweeney is often asked to face the new ball coming in at first-drop for South Australia when his side loses an early wicket in Sheffield Shield.
But Sheffield Shield is a completely different beast to Test cricket and coming in to steady the ship for his state is worlds away from being asked to set the tone at the top for Australia. Never mind the seemingly impossible task of trying to tame the best bowler in world, Jasprit Bumrah, who has been an absolute handful for all of Australia's batters, bar Travis Head and Alex Carey to a lesser extent.
Bumrah has removed McSweeney in four out of five innings during the Border-Gavaskar series so far, with stats showing the 25-year-old has been subjected to the most difficult spell of bowling in 18 years, when relevant metrics started being measured. According to CricViz, the expected average number of balls McSweeney has faced is 18.6, which is the lowest number for a Test batter since 2006 (facing a minimum 200 balls).
The xAverage of the balls McSweeney has faced in his Test career so far is 18.6.
That's the lowest figure for any batter (min 200 balls) in the @CricViz database, back to 2006.
Essentially, the sustained quality of bowling he's faced is the toughest of anyone in the data era. https://t.co/ibTOMGpyk3
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) December 20, 2024
Bumrah's quality cannot be understated when it comes to those numbers but the reality is all of Australia's top order batters have been struggling and Usman Khawaja is actually averaging less (12.6) than McSweeney (14.4) this series. Marnus Labuschagne is not faring much better with an average of 16.4, despite a top score of 64 in Adelaide, where he and McSweeney saw off a dangerous night session against the pink ball that helped set up Travis Head's big century.
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Khawaja and Labuschagne have both been in a worrying lean spell of form with the bat but their experience means selectors were always unlikely to drop one of the pair for the Boxing Day Test and have two rookies opening the batting in a must-win clash. McSweeney's slow scoring rate has also come back to bite him, with the hopes that Konstas will be more aggressive and take the game to India's bowlers a bit more.
Sam Konstas has been called up to replace Aussie opener Nathan McSweeney for the Boxing Day Test. Pic: Getty
But the call-up of Konstas poses a massive question around why selectors didn't just pick the NSW opener from the start of the series, rather than batting McSweeney out of position. The Aussie side has already been burned with their 'square pegs in round holes' approach after promoting Steve Smith to opener, only to concede the experiment didn't work and moving him back to his usual position at No.4.
This series against India seemed like the perfect time for Australia to plan for the future and pick Konstas from the start, rather than throwing McSweeney to the wolves and axing him after only a handful of opportunities. Never mind what such an axing can do a young player's confidence. However, juding by his match-winning knock for Brisbane Heat on Sunday night just days after his axing, McSweeney has the mental resolve to bounce back and we'll no doubt see him in Australia's Test squad again sometime soon. Hopefully next time it will batting in his familiar role and that Australian selectors will have learnt from their mistakes of the past.
