McSweeney is a chance of Test debut

There's a lot to like about the South Australian.

Nathan McSweeney bringing up his third century of the 2023-24 Shield season.

The idea of converting South Australian skipper Nathan McSweeney into a Test match opener is taking hold.

In the past 24 hours there has been two very good judges of cricketing talent who have suggested to Cricket Et Al that he could do the job. Others, like Greg Shipperd and Greg Blewett, have said as much publicly.

Cricket people love the 25-year-old’s leadership and they rate his batting.

In first class cricket McSeeney’s average is a modest 37, but he has scored six centuries and 11 half centuries in the 63 innings since making his debut against Tasmania six years ago.

Three of those centuries came in a break out season last summer which saw him score 762 Shield runs to finish behind only Beau Webster (938), Cam Bancroft (778), Sam Whiteman (770) as the most productive batters in the competition.

There was hope that he might show a little more this summer and he did that with a great start in the Shield in the match against NSW.

His appointment as Australian A captain signals respect and continued interest from the selectors.

I’ve done McSweeney a bit of a disservice by focusing only on Sam Konstas’s efforts in the first round.

The visiting captain’s 55 in SA’s first innings was built in the shadows of Konstas’s 152 the previous day and ended only when he was run out. His dogged 127no to save the game in the second innings was similarly shaded by the teenager’s follow up century.

This was the McSweeney’s highest score at this level and was hard-earned. Nathan Lyon sent down 39 overs and Tanveer Sangha 26 in an attempt to wiggle him out, but he stayed on deck as team mates like Henry Hunt and Travis Head made for the life boats.

McSweeney followed up with 37 and 72 in the game against Queensland.

The Australian A squad includes Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and a few others like Josh Philippe who will all know their performances against India A at MacKay November 22-26 are going to be worth more than most that preceded it.

McSweeney isn’t an opener, but he is walking out at first drop for his state which makes him the next best thing.

You’d think he’d move himself up to that opening spot in the Shield, but he explained on Sportsday SA that he didn’t think that was necessary.

“No, I haven't (thought about moving up the order),” McSweeney said on Sportsday SA.

“My role at three is where I think is the best position for me to bat in this team.

“All I'm trying to do is make sure I can put South Australia in a good position to win games of cricket with the bat.

“My preparation batting at three is not too dissimilar to the opening batters, I train with the new ball, and I can be out there the second ball of the game, so it's not too dissimilar.

“But I'm very comfortable batting at three for South Australia, I feel like that's my best spot.

“I would love to play for Australia, no doubt.

“It's what I’ve dreamed of as a kid, and I'd bat anywhere they told me to if I got picked.

“All I can really control is make sure that I prepare really well for South Australia and keep trying to punch out runs and hopefully get us in positions to keep winning Shield games like we're able to do today.

“I'll leave that up to the experts, I’ll just keep trying to do my bit.”

NSW coach Greg Shipperd is backing his man (child) Konstas but says that he also reckons Josh Inglis could be in with a chance, calling him “a right-handed version of David Warner”.

Inglis bats low however and it would be a radical shift of gears, but he is a hard, clean striker of the cricket ball. Alex Malcolm did the stat work on the ODI wicket keeper who averaged 12.66 from three times he batted at three and only passed 50 once in seven innings at four and five. Inglis’s six centuries _ including two already this summer _ have come at No.6 or lower.