It was probably the best and the most dramatic few days for the Queenslander-turned South Australian captain in his cricket career. McSweeney had kicked off his summer making a Test debut in an unfamiliar role as opener in Perth before losing his spot in the side after three opportunities against Jasprit Bumrah and the Indians.
That is before he returned to Shield cricket and led his adopted state in inspiring fashion to a home final, culminating in those unforgettable crowd invasion scenes at the Karen Rolton Oval last weekend.
McSweeney had not just ended South Australia’s 29-year-old domestic drought, he’d also become only the second man after Steve Smith to captain title-winning teams across all three formats in Australia.
But at the end of it all, the 26-year-old couldn’t make the cut for the list in which Cricket Australia have earmarked cricketers likeliest to represent the country over the next 12 months.
This doesn’t mean, of course, that McSweeney will not be able to forge his way back into the Test team.
Unlike in the case of another Shield favourite, Michael Neser, who couldn’t make it back after having spent nearly half-a-dozen years in the mix.
Neser turned 35 on the last day of the Shield final and unfortunately for him, his team and his fan-club (which I am assumed to be the president of) he couldn’t bowl his team to victory. And it’s difficult to comprehend a scenario where the bearded Queensland warrior, who was named his state’s Sheffield Shield cricketer of the year, manages to come back into the reckoning to add to the two Tests he’s managed to play so far – despite having come close on so many other occasions to making the playing XI.
I’m basing this on the overall theme of the central contracts list, with a clear impetus on transition. Though there were only three omissions from last year, when you look at players in their 30s, only regulars and certainties, whether it’s in red-ball or white-ball cricket teams, have earned a central contract.
Which might explain the preference for the likes of Xavier Bartlett, Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson over someone like Brendan Doggett, 30, despite the fast bowler’s record-breaking 11-wicket match haul heroics in Adelaide last week. It’s a clear look to the future as the focus around workloads and ageing bodies increases around the four incumbent fast-bowling superstars.
Australia are set to play all of 30 Tests (assuming they make the 2027 WTC final as well) in the next two-and-a-bit years. And they’ll have to ensure they have contingencies ready and raring to go in case of injuries, or even on a rotational basis.
That explains why the two fastest bowlers in Australia currently to have played Tests have been stuck with, even if Morris and Richardson have both struggled through a spate of injuries and time out of the game. Morris, 27, in particular, looked to be on the cusp of being unleashed as The Wild Thing two seasons ago but has since been in and out of Western Australian teams, mainly owing to his body not always playing ball. The same goes with statemate Richardson, 28, who’s been unable to build on an eye-catching start to Test cricket, with his last appearance having seen him bag a five-wicket haul with the pink ball in an Ashes Test. Bartlett, 26, meanwhile is being looked at as a multi-format operator and seems to have overcome the worst of his injury issues after having looked sharp in his few white-ball appearances for Australia last summer. And there’s a strong expectation that the monopoly Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland have deservedly held over the fast bowling spots in Test cricket will slowly and surely start to get spread around, and it’ll be up to Morris, Richardson and Bartlett to take up that mantle and build on the success that the current lot have built up in their time.
With five Tests each in India and in England, 2027 is being looked at as the turning-of-the-page moment for this world-beating Australian Test set up.
It was fun to pick the brains of national selector Tony Dodemaide who was in attendance on all four days of the final at the Karen Rolton Oval, and to ponder over what the fast-bowling transition looks like. All while 19-year-old Callum Vidler was making quite an impression with the ball. The flame-haired teenager displayed a great blend of genuine speed with control, skills and temperament, alongside a smooth action to boot, and is part of a very exciting next generation of fast bowlers coming through the ranks. Make sure you take note of Mahli Beardman, Tom Whitney, Tom Straker and Charlie Anderson for now. It’s a group of young men who we’ll be hearing about a lot over the next few years as they populate and take over CA’s annual central contracts list before taking the cricket world by storm.
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On Saturday, Nathan McSweeney was the toast of South Australia. By Monday afternoon, he had the keys to the city of Adelaide. Then on Tuesday, he missed out on his Cricket Australia central contract.