New Delhi [India], December 21 (ANI): Nathan McSweeney has been “devastated” after he was dropped from Australia’s squad for the Boxing Day Test against India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
McSweeney, who never opened in his career before the second unofficial match between Australia A and India A, was dropped after the first three Tests of the series.
He was axed from the squad, with Sam Konstas making his way into the side and emerging as the favourite to open for the hosts in Melbourne next week.
In his first three outings for Australia, the 25-year-old managed to score just 72 runs, averaging 14.40, with Jasprit Bumrah playing a huge hand in his limited success.
With the Australian opening pair struggling to find its groove, it appears that the selection committee decided to make a few tweaks for the Melbourne Test, with McSweeney paying its price.
“Yeah, I mean devastated. I get the dream come true, and then didn’t quite work the way I wanted. But it’s all part of it, and I’ll get my head down and get back in the nets and work really hard and hopefully be ready to go for the next opportunity,” McSweeney told Channel 7 as he flew back to Brisbane from Adelaide as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
McSweeney earned plaudits for soaking up overs under the lights in the day-night Test in Adelaide. Apart from his composed 39, McSweeney has been dismissed between 0 and 10 for the majority of the time in the series.
“It’s the game we’re in. If you don’t take an opportunity and you’re not performing as well as you want to, your position’s never safe. So I missed out a few times with the bat and unfortunately wasn’t able to take my opportunity, but as I said, I’ll work really to make sure that if the opportunity comes round again, I’m definitely ready,” he added.
Even Australia national team chief selector George Bailey admitted it was a hard decision to tell McSweeney about him being dropped from the squad.
“[It was a] really hard decision for Nathan and one that we spent a lot of time deliberating over. Particularly after a small sample size of three Tests… That’s never a great phone call, is it? Nathan was disappointed, and really, the message to him was much the same as at the start of the series, that we believe he has the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level,” he remarked. (ANI)
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