‘The package is really impressive’: McSweeney’s form the ‘icing on the cake’ amid Test debut

Nathan McSweeney’s strong form at the crease, combined with the broader skillset he offers, convinced Australian selectors he was ready to be the nation’s next opening batter, committee chair George Bailey said on Sunday.

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While the 25-year-old only made 39 runs against India A when promoted to open for the first time at the MCG over the past four days, selectors had already seen enough in the method with which McSweeney is approaching his cricket.

As a result, he will face the first ball of the Australian innings in the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy beginning in Perth on November 22 and, as the most recent inclusion, will also assume the position at short-leg should one be required.

The South Australian, who has made 457 runs at an average of 76.16 in eight first class innings over the past month and has captained the Australia A side for the past two summers, offers more to the national side than just his batting, according to Bailey.

“First and foremost the cricket, the cricket is important,” Bailey said.

“But I think (he is a) wonderful person. He’s clearly had some good leadership exposure now, (he is a good) catcher and he bowls some good off-spin too, so the package is really impressive.”

A hallmark of the triumvirate heading Australian cricket — Bailey as selection chair, Andrew McDonald as coach and Pat Cummins as captain — has been its willingness to challenge conventional wisdom, which has led to significant success in all three formats.

In overlooking specialist openers Marcus Harris, Sam Konstas and Cameron Bancroft for the role alongside Usman Khawaja, and in adding Josh Inglis as the reserve, selectors have again confirmed they want the best batters in the country, not the best in a position.

This thinking worked wonders in New Zealand when selectors manufactured a way to get Cameron Green back into the side at No.4 and with McSweeney excelling for the best part of 12 months, it was clear the selection panel was taken by the former Queenslander.

Bailey noted that McSweeney had regularly been at the crease before the 10th over when batting for South Australia, which meant that he was used to facing the new ball.

Fox Cricket expert Kerry O’Keeffe said he liked the fact McSweeney was prepared to leave the ball rather than flirt too much outside off stump, which added to his chances of succeeding as an opener.

“We are just really thrilled with Nathan’s game. I think over the last 12 to 15 months, we have seen a player who’s growth is on a great trajectory,” Bailey said.

“He is a very organised, composed player at the crease and he’s got a game that will really suit Test cricket.”

Bailey said McSweeney’s efforts in the recent Australia A vs India A series — he averaged 55.3 and made 166 runs — provided further affirmation he was the right man for the role and said he did not think it was a “huge adjustment” to go from No.3 to opening.

“Icing on the cake is probably a good way to describe it. We had an idea of which way we wanted to go,” he said.

“We really value Australia A cricket. I think it’s really important. And the great Australian ‘bat off’, it certainly wasn’t that for us, but I think it’s important to put a little bit of onus on those games, particularly when they run concurrently with Shield cricket.

“I think it would have been disrespectful to the game to have announced this squad a week ago, when we wanted to play it out and get as much information as we could.

“I think the last couple of games been fantastic. (There have been) some wonderful individual performances but they don’t necessarily send someone from the bottom of the pile to the top.”

But the Australian selectors, who had previously ruled Inglis out as a potential opener but are clearly impressed with his performances for Western Australia this year, allowed some wriggle room with the squad announcement on Sunday when stating it was for Perth solely. Bailey said with players including Harris and Konstas producing good innings for Australia A, and with all-rounder Beau Webster in strong touch as well, they were mindful of keeping an open mind when it came to the broader Border Gavaskar Trophy series.

“I think (Webster) is one, as I mentioned around ‘Ingo’ (Inglis) being the reserve batter at the moment, I think if required at the right time, I think Beau can step in and do a really good job,” he said.

“I guess the last couple of weeks (have) been really impressive. The body of work for Beau has been really consistent. The thing I’ve been most impressed with is just the consistency of his process.

“(We were) disappointed to lose to lose Michael Neser but Brendan Doggett was really impressive (for Australia A) and a couple of quicks that are in a really good space for that and obviously Corey Rocchiccioli and Todd Murphy performed really well as well, so I am really comfortable as to where our depth is at.”

While McSweeney will be on debut, the spotlight will be on Australia’s established top order in Perth more broadly.

Runs have been hard to come by over the past couple of summers in international cricket at home and the nation’s stars, with wicketkeeper Alex Carey the exception, have also struggled to produce big innings in domestic cricket so far.

“(We are) confident they will (find their best). We think they’ll sharpen their focus in the next week as they as they prepare for that Test match,” Bailey said.

“Without knowing off the top of my head, I’m not sure that going into a Test summer with a heap of runs behind you, or no runs behind you, I’m not sure if there is (any) correlation.

“I think once the Test match starts, all (of) those guys have impressive records over a long period of time and they’ll prepare and go out and go well.”