McSweeney call shows Australian selectors backed themselves into a corner: Hayden

Australian batting great Matthew Hayden says time will tell whether Nathan McSweeney is good enough to flourish at Test level, but declared selectors had “backed themselves into a corner”, which had forced them to pick a non-specialist opener to face India in next week’s first Test.

The 103-Test stalwart, who averaged 50.73 as an opener, was opposed to Steve Smith’s elevation from No.4 to the top of the order earlier this year, saying he thought the move was “crazy”.

Instead of blooding a new opener last summer, selectors stuck with David Warner while allowing Smith to bat at the top of the order in four Tests against the West Indies and New Zealand. Smith made 171 runs at 28.5 and will now drop back to No.4 for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting in Perth on Friday.

McSweeney, a No.3 and No.4 for South Australia, who has opened just twice in first-class cricket, was picked for a debut ahead of specialist openers Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Sam Konstas.

Asked about the standard of openers in Australia, Hayden did not hold back in his views on domestic cricket.

“This is exactly my point and why I disagreed with Steve Smith opening the batting,” he said. “It wasn’t a slight on Steve Smith’s career, it was more of a plea and call to action around the [domestic] system itself.

Big chance: New Australian Test opener Nathan McSweeney.Credit: Getty Images

“Now the Australian selectors have done exactly what I thought was going to happen and that was back themselves into a corner, knowing that you had T20s and one-dayers right through the early part of 2024 and zero Test match cricket. There has been very little first-class cricket and two Australia A games where they chopped and changed the opening batters. There wasn’t one [sizeable] opening partnership.

“Can you imagine how Marcus Harris is feeling right now? He’s carried the drinks forever and been the incumbent opening batsman, and Bancroft is the same.

“We just didn’t allow ourselves the luxury of enough time to select on the basis of weight of runs. It’s something which, if you want to quote [my situation], banging down the door was almost an understatement. They were record-breaking years.”

When Hayden made his Test debut in 1994 as a 22-year-old, he had piled on 4694 first-class runs at an average of 62.59. Even after being dropped from the Test team, Hayden continued to plunder runs in the Sheffield Shield.

Matthew Hayden in action during the Boxing Day Test against India in 2007 at the MCG.Credit: Vince Caligiuri

“I wouldn’t have had it any other way because I became a better player,” Hayden said. “It’s fantastic that Nathan gets his opportunity and God I hope he bangs down the door at Test match level.”

Asked if McSweeney’s selection was the right move by selectors, and whether batting out of position was a concern, Hayden replied: “Time will tell. That’s the political answer. From a former opening batsman’s point of view, I’d like to just confirm that he’s a good choice.

“It doesn’t really matter where you start [in the order]. What really matters is you’ve got the character and the qualities that are required to play Test match cricket for Australia.

“I don’t personally know Nathan, but it’s been confirmed by [selector] George Bailey that he is a special talent and has been groomed for potential leadership roles.”

Hayden says the Australian cricketing public shouldn’t expect miracles from McSweeney against a strong India bowling attack.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Hayden said. “It’s almost impossible to replace David Warner at the top of the order. The side is going to feel different without the ‘Bull’ at the top of the order.

“The first 20-odd Test matches that I’d played, I think I was averaging 30. The first seven or so Test matches, I was averaging 20. On debut, I got 15 and five. Sir Donald Bradman got 18 and one on debut. Steve Waugh made 13 and five.

“It’s crazy to think that it’s just going to be sunshine. I can assure you one thing, it’s mostly hailing in Test cricket, and in particular at the top.

“I just think that the Australian public should understand that this is going to be a really challenging summer of cricket.”

Hayden is adamant India’s recent home series defeat to New Zealand was “irrelevant” in the context of the upcoming five Tests. He says the performances of Smith, Pat Cummins, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah will define the series.

“It’s probably the kick up the arse that India need,” Hayden said. “Even though India copped a drubbing in that series … and were lightweight in terms of their own performance … the fact that they’ve played long format cricket is an advantage from a preparation point of view.”

‘Slap in the face’: Stadium boss’ warning to CA after years of tension

Andrew Wu

Perth’s Optus Stadium is expecting a venue-record crowd for the first Test of this summer’s blockbuster series against India, but the ghosts of recent battles between Western Australia and Cricket Australia still linger.

The governing body has been urged by stadium chief Mike McKenna to show WA fans some love after a stormy few years when the state was sidelined from the Test calendar and angered by the ousting of favourite son Justin Langer as national men’s coach.

Unhappy with the mass withdrawal of star players from last week’s ODI in Perth, Optus Stadium’s boss has urged Cricket Australia to show WA fans some love.Credit: Getty Images

The mass withdrawal of star players from last week’s ODI against Pakistan has not gone unnoticed out west, but it will not stop an estimated 85,000-plus from coming to see Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and co take on Pat Cummins’ men across the first three days of the series-opener.

Should attendances meet McKenna’s expectations, it would eclipse the previous Optus Stadium best of 81,104 set at the venue’s inaugural Test in 2018, also against India, when Tim Paine’s team, missing Steve Smith and David Warner, won on the fifth day.

Australia filled a severely depleted side for the ODI in Perth last week.Credit: Getty Images

WA cricket officials have come under fire for their Test crowds after match attendances of 59,125 last season and 42,723 the year before against Pakistan and the West Indies respectively.

McKenna said crowds exceeding 30,000 are expected in the 60,000-capacity venue for the first two days of the game, starting on Friday, and 25,000 on Sunday. As a comparison, McKenna said a day one Ashes crowd of 50,000 would be considered strong. Corporate sales were also healthy, McKenna said.

There are hopes the Test may attract fans from an anticipated crowd of 60,000 at the WA Day Festival at the nearby Burswood Park on Sunday.

CA’s announcement in August that Perth would host the first Test for the next three years has gone some way to rebuilding head office’s relationship with WA.

TEST CRICKET AT OPTUS STADIUM

• Dec 2018: Australia defeated India by 146 runs
• Dec 2019: Australia defeated New Zealand by 296 runs
• Dec 2022: Australia defeated West Indies by 164 runs
• Dec 2023: Australia defeated Pakistan by 360 runs

Relations were strained during the pandemic when the state did not host a Test against India in 2020/21 or England the following summer due in large part to the WA government’s hardline biosecurity measures to keep out COVID-19.

CA’s handling of Langer’s exit in February 2022 after months of public speculation over his future also angered WA fans. Former WA Cricket chief Christina Matthews spoke about the ill-feeling last year.

“Instead of just pulling off the Band-Aid and making a decision, it was dragged out and I think people here felt he wasn’t treated with the respect he deserves,” Matthews said.

McKenna has gone into bat for WA fans after CA’s high-performance team withdrew Test stars Cummins, Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood just days before the third ODI against Pakistan to prepare for the Tests. Ticket sales for the match opened in mid-June.

The Australia XI thrashed by Pakistan included just three players from the team that defeated India in the World Cup final 12 months ago. Former captain Michael Clarke was highly critical of the withdrawals.

The appointment of a West Australian, Josh Inglis, to captain the side, and five locals in the XI, was not enough to get more than 19,781 to the series-decider. The turnout was just over half of the average attendance of 35,235 who watched the Perth Scorchers play at Optus Stadium during last season’s Big Bash League.

Though McKenna, a former chief of the BBL, understood why CA’s high-performance team prioritised the upcoming Tests, he said fans in Perth deserved better treatment.

“We’re encouraging CA to do what they can to treat the people of WA with a bit of love” McKenna told this masthead.

“When CA put the tickets on sale months out they want people to buy them and people do that with confidence players will turn up.

“When they have bought them and people don’t turn up, people who have bought them a long time ago will think twice about doing it next time.

“Balancing of players’ needs for rest and rotation is fair enough given the amount of cricket they need to play, but you don’t take all of them out at the same time and try and convince us putting WA players in a weakened team is a good idea for anyone.

“You don’t want to have all your players flying back, it’s about balance. To take so many good players out of the squad late in the piece is a bit of a slap in the face for those who make the commitment of buying tickets for those games in advance.”

CA chief Nick Hockley defended the organisation earlier in the week, saying there had been deep and detailed planning into preparing players for the Tests against India, the series in Sri Lanka starting late January and the Champions Trophy.

‘Who wants to listen to a 21-year-old?’ Litchfield coming to terms with calling the shots

Tom Decent

For the majority of her cricketing life, Phoebe Litchfield has been the laid-back youngster in every cricket team she has played in.

Growing up in Orange, in the central west of NSW, Litchfield’s biggest concern as a 14-year-old was ducking and weaving bouncers from grown men who showed her no mercy on Saturday afternoons.

The talent was there to see from an early age.

Now, as the youngest full-time captain in Women’s Big Bash League history, the 21-year-old Sydney Thunder star, whose cover drive was once praised by Indian great Sachin Tendulkar during a charity game, is now tasked with telling the old ones what to do.

“I’m not one to sit down and give people an inspiring speech because who wants to listen to a 21-year-old?” Litchfield says with a laugh, seven games into her captaincy stint.

As the second-youngest member of the Sydney Thunder playing XI - opener Georgia Voll is 109 days younger - Litchfield says she wasn’t initially comfortable with the captaincy dynamic, particularly given it was something she’d only really done during junior cricket when everyone was the same age.

Sydney Thunder captain Phoebe Litchfield at Drummoyne Oval. The Thunder are hosting a ‘Cricket & Culture Festival’ on Sunday. Credit: Phil Hillyard

There was a degree of trepidation having to tell the likes of Chamari Athapaththu and Heather Knight, the national captains of Sri Lanka and England, respectively, where to field and where they’d be batting.

“It was funny and probably a bit of a concern going in, just around whether the older people would accept me or not,” Litchfield said ahead of Sunday’s local derby against the Sydney Sixers at Drummoyne Oval. “I was kind of going in blind.”

So far, so good for the Thunder, who sit top of the WBBL ladder with five wins from seven games.

Senior members of the team told Litchfield they backed her 100 per cent, which put the rising star of Australian cricket at ease and allowed her to stamp her authority on the team, with a soft touch.

Litchfield notched an ODI century in India in January.Credit: AP

“It’s not like I’m there to go, ‘hey, what are you doing’,” Litchfield says. “I’m learning off them and they’re learning off me. It’s definitely making me a better cricketer, which is nice. I don’t know what I expected, but it’s been pretty positive so far.

“I’ve had some feedback … saying that I haven’t changed, which is lovely. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to be the same Phoebe.”

Leadership is lifting Litchfield’s batting average too, with scores of 51, 8, 49, 40, 34, 27 and 14 this season.

There is no doubt that Litchfield, who made her WBBL debut at age 16, could be a future Australian captain, having been a regular on the international stage since the end of 2022.

Just don’t ask about the recent T20 World Cup, where Australia, heavy favourites for the tournament, suffered a shock semi-final loss to South Africa.

“I’m still not over it,” Litchfield says. “It pops up on my [social media] feed so often, and we’re still talking about it [among players]. It definitely still hurts.

“It’s a good point to reiterate that we need to do some work. Winning a T20 cricket World Cup is actually really hard because you just cannot lose a game. It hurts but it’s a good learning.”

The Thunder will host a ‘Cricket & Culture Festival’ on Sunday at Drummoyne Oval, in an event that underlines the franchise’s commitment to its western Sydney and south Asian fanbase.

“It’ll be a great fixture,” Litchfield said. “There’s such an amazing, diverse population in western Sydney that loves cricket and we want to make that as comfortable as possible for them.”

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