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Michael Clarke feels Australia have avoided tough decisions on senior out-of-form batters by dropping Nathan McSweeney.
Michael Clarke (L) and Nathan McSweeney.
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke is not happy with the national selectors’ decision to drop youngster Nathan McSweeney ahead of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) against India in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
McSweeney, 25, made his debut in Perth but failed to impress in the six innings, scoring 10, 0, 39, 10*, 9 and 4. He didn’t find his name in Australia’s squad for the Test while 19-year-old Sam Konstas got a maiden call-up, raising expectations that he’d make his debut at MCG.
“Nathan McSweeney has been dropped,” Clarke said on the Beyond 23 Cricket podcast. “I can’t believe that. No matter who they picked in that opening position, they had to give them the series. I think the selectors have got this wrong. We’ve got Usman Khawaja who is 38 years old, and he’s made no runs. He’s a senior player.”
Despite not being a conventional opener (he bats at one-down in domestic cricket), McSweeney’s aggregate was more than his senior opening partner Usman Khawaja (63) and middle-order batter Mitchell Marsh (69) and only 10 behind number three batter Marnus Labuschagne. Thanks to his technique and progressively improving confidence, he faced 212 deliveries in the first three Tests, significantly more than Marsh’s 141 and Khawaja’s 136.
Four of the youngster’s five wickets came against Jasprit Bumrah, who has equally troubled the rest of the Australian lineup.
“We’ve got Marnus Labuschagne, who before the series was under pressure and has made one decent score. Steve Smith batted like a genius to make a hard-fought hundred, but he’s also been under pressure. Everyone apart from McSweeney is over 30 years of age, some in their high 30s. What happens if Usman Khawaja retires in two Test matches? Does McSweeney then come back in, or does he go to the back of the queue? They’ve got to come out and say, ‘We made a mistake picking him,'” Clarke added.
Konstas, though promising and exciting for his attack-favoring game, would be up for a massive challenge. His First-Class average (42.23) is only slightly better than McSweeney’s after just 11 matches at the level while his impressive 107 in the warm-up pink-ball game against India earlier on this tour, came in front of a Bumrah-less attack.
