IND vs AUS: Michael Vaughn advices McSweeney to bat in middle order after snub
IND vs AUS: Michael Vaughn advices McSweeney to bat in middle order after snub
Former England captain Michael Vaughan backed Nathan McSweeney make a strong comeback into the Australia side despite getting dropped from the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India.
“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 said in an interview to Australian broadcaster Fox Sports.
The 25-year-old was dismissed by Bumrah four times across six innings and scored just 72 runs. The Australia selectors replaced him with Sam Konstas for the last two matches of the series.
“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,” Vaughn added.
“I thought they’d go with McSweeney for Melbourne, and if he failed again, they’d bring Sam (Konstas) in for his home Test at the SCG.”
Vaughn said that shifting to a spot lower down the order might help McSweeney.
“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.
“If I was McSweeney, next time I get the chance to wear the baggy green, I’d want to be in the position that he’s played all his life. I feel for Nathan, I think he’ll be back — but I totally understand why Australia made this move,” Vaughan said.
His partner at the top, Usman Khawaja, is also under the scanner for his below-par effort with the bat.
“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 said.
