News Update
Tezzbuzz|12-12-2024
Nathan McSweeney’s start to Test cricket has been anything but a bed of roses. The biggest thorn has been Jasprit Bumrah. Called up to open the batting in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as Australia took baby steps towards filling David Warner’s void at the top of the order, McSweeney registered 10, 0. 39 and 10* in the two Tests against India. All of his three dismissals came against Bumrah. He was all at sea against the Indian spearhead in Perth. To be honest, none of the Australian batters seemed to have an answer to Bumrah’s fire in the series opener and McSweeney was on debut. The right-hander put up a much better show under lights in he day-night Test. He was obviously helped by a dropped catch by Rishabh Pant early on off Bumrah’s bowling, but the way he got through the final session of Day 1, combating another testing spell from Bumrah, was commendable.
“To get a bowler like Jasprit early in my career, it’s not going to get much tougher than that and I take some confidence from getting through a spell in Adelaide. The more I face, the more comfortable I’ll get against him,” McSweeney was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
Bumrah had taken eight wickets in the Perth Test, before adding four more in Adelaide to emerge as the best Indian bowler on tour so far.
McSweeney tried to explain why Bumrah is different from most other top-quality bowlers in the world. “Facing him for the first time – he’s quite a unique bowler. He’s obviously world-class and a bit different to most bowlers I’ve faced. (It’s about adapting to his angle and where he delivers on the crease,” said McSweeney, who was one of the Australian batters to train at the National Cricket Centre on Wednesday.
“I got two pretty good balls from him (in Perth), so to try and wear that on the chin and trust what I’ve been doing is going to be good enough. He got me again in Adelaide – he’s a great bowler, and really enjoying the experience of trying to work out a game plan on the run against a world-class player. Hopefully, I’ll get better the more I face him and can throw a few more punches here at the Gabba.” McSweeney shared a 67-run stand with Marnus Labuschagne in the first innings of the day-night Test.
Labuschagne also returned to form with a 64 and McSweeney said watching his senior partner helped him.
“He’s a beauty of a guy. I think what we see on TV when the bowler is bowling the ball, he’s really intense, but in between overs, he’s actually quite calm,” McSweeney said.”It gives me confidence just realising that we’re all going through the same stuff – I’m (in my) first game, trying to work it out, (and) he’s 50 games in, still trying to tinker and work things out … it’s a very important series, we’re not quite all batting the way we want to, but there’s always room for learning and tinkering, and we haven’t all quite worked it out yet.
“So that gave me a little bit of confidence – we’re always striving to be better, and I think that’s what makes guys like Steve (Smith) and Marnus really good,” he added.
It was at the Gabba where McSweeney made his first-class debut in Sheffield Shield in 2018, and the opener shared some fond memories.
“I love playing here – the wicket has great bounce. Batting well at the Gabba (is about) leaving well in particular … you can really trust the bounce here, and it’s about not fighting that bounce, and scoring square of the wicket.
“It’s a ground that if you spend a long time out there, the game can open up and you can actually score quite quickly. So, it’s definitely a new-ball wicket, and if you can get past that, it’s a lovely ground to bat on,” he said.