Former England captain Michael Vaughan has expressed sympathy for Australia’s Nathan McSweeney following his challenging start to international cricket. McSweeney, who made his Test debut in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, was dropped from the squad for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests after failing to make an impact at the top of the order.
McSweeney’s record in the first three Tests was less than ideal, with scores of 10, 0, 39, 10 not out, 9, and 4 in six innings. Vaughan believes McSweeney has faced one of the toughest starts to Test cricket, largely due to the challenge of facing Jasprit Bumrah, one of the world’s premier pacers, as well as other Indian bowlers.
“I look at McSweeney and think I don’t think there’s a player who has had a harder start to their career. I feel for the kid, because of all the people that I’ve seen come into Test cricket over the last 10 years, I don’t think anyone’s been given a harder challenge,” Vaughan told Fox Sports.
Bumrah dismissed McSweeney four times in the series, with the pacer proving too much for the young batter in challenging conditions.
“To face Bumrah in the conditions that he’s had to face now, the pink ball under lights in his second game, in Perth it did all sorts and in Brisbane the ball was moving around,” he added.
Blessing in disguise?
While McSweeney’s axing is disappointing, Vaughan sees it as a potential blessing in disguise for the batter’s career. He believes McSweeney, a player not naturally suited to opening, could thrive in the middle order in the future.
“I don’t think in the long run it’s going to be a bad thing for McSweeney. I think he will end up being an Australian Test cricketer, but I don’t think he’ll be up the top of the order; I think it’ll be down at four or five,” Vaughan explained.
Vaughan also discussed the pressure on senior opener Usman Khawaja, who has struggled with the bat in the series.
“I do think that Usman needs runs in the next two games; I don’t think he can be anywhere near a shoe-in to go to Sri Lanka and the West Indies if he doesn’t score runs in this series, because eventually you have to look to the future,” Vaughan stated.
