Just when chief selector George Bailey and his panel think they have their man, they are made to think again.
The race for a spot in the Australian top order has taken a late twist after Nathan McSweeney failed to tick the last box in his audition for a baggy green in Australia A’s clash with India A at the MCG.
Nathan McSweeney was out for 14 in his first crack as opener for Australia A.Credit: Getty Images
McSweeney’s failure to see out the new ball in his first try as an opener has left the door ajar for Marcus Harris to launch an unlikely late charge and pip him at the post. It would be a shock if both were not in the 13-player Test squad to be named at the end of this game.
McSweeney’s early departure came after India’s reserves turned in another deplorable performance with the bat on Thursday, keeping the alarm bells ringing on the other side of the world.
But Australia are down a fast bowler for the start of the Border-Gavaskar series, losing perennial squad member Michael Neser to a left hamstring strain in the final session, just hours after he routed India A’s top order with the new ball.
Though McSweeney looked the better of the two Test aspirants in the time they were out in the middle together, the manner in which he got out for 14 will have selectors at least wincing.
Nathan McSweeney was dismissed for 14.Credit: cricket.com.au/Fox Sports
Caught in two minds, the adopted South Australian poked ever so slightly with an angled bat at a delivery around the fourth or fifth stump channel from three-Test seamer Mukesh Kumar, then tried to withdraw – but not before the ball had caught the outside edge.
This is a technical blotch McSweeney will need to iron out if he is to have success at the highest level, particularly given the recent trend in Australia towards pacy Test tracks that offer generous bounce and sharp seam movement.
Harris had his share of nervous moments, playing and missing several times, but luck was on his side, not least the arrival of rain, which cut short a testing stint under skies so grey the lights needed to be turned on. Unbeaten on 25, Harris has everything to play for on Friday. The hosts were 2-53 at stumps in reply to India A’s 161.
“If you can get through the new ball, it does get a little bit easier,” Australia A all-rounder Beau Webster said of the pitch. “The class of the two bowling attacks, the batters are definitely going to be up against it in the first 20 or 30 overs.”
The luckless Neser will not bowl again this game, and is facing at least several weeks on the sidelines after pulling up short in his 13th over. Neser had missed Queensland’s last Shield game after complaining of hamstring tightness about two weeks ago.
Neser cut a dejected figure as he hobbled off the MCG, his figures of 4-27 providing little solace as he deals with an injury that will rule him out of the start of the series against India.
While Neser was unlikely to have played in Perth, his knack of moving the ball on seaming tracks would have come into calculations for the day/night Test in Adelaide starting December 6. Both of Neser’s appearances in the baggy green have come under lights with the pink ball.
His setback paves the way for Scott Boland to be named unchallenged as the back-up quick for the first Test.
India’s senior batters are struggling to find runs. Their potential replacements are going just as badly.
Bundled out for 107 by Australia’s third-stringers in Mackay, India A flopped again, this time against Australia’s reserve attack.
Such a scenario would not normally be of immediate concern for a touring team, but India’s batting is in disarray and reinforcements will be needed unless they can snap their poor run.
Of the three India A players in the main touring party, only wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel fired, impressing with a composed 80 on a lively first-day track.
He was not the ideal man India’s selectors wanted to see runs from given it’s up the top where they must find a fill-in for skipper Rohit Sharma, who will miss the start of the series for the birth of his second child.
KL Rahul, an experienced opener who is also the whipping boy on social media for India’s cricket fans, made just four before he was drawn forward by a fullish offering from Boland that demanded a shot, and was caught behind.
Though there was not much else Rahul could have done, his dismissal will have Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins licking their lips.
Uncapped 29-year-old Abhimanyu Easwaran had yet to score when he was undone by a rearing ball from Neser, which ballooned off his handle to Corey Rocchiccioli, who made good ground from gully.
The manner in which Easwaran played the steep bounce will not give selectors much faith he can see off Australia’s famed pace trio.
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