Nathan McSweeney is set to be recalled to Australia’s Test squad to tour Sri Lanka, less than three weeks after being dropped from the top order. Australia’s selectors will name their squad for the two-Test tour on Thursday, with several fresh faces to be added to the side that played India in Sydney last week. AAP has been told that McSweeney will be one of those, while spinners Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann are also expected to be named.
McSweeney scored 72 runs at an average of 14.4 in his first three Tests against India, before being replaced by Sam Konstas for the Boxing Day Test. But the South Australian’s runs came after being handed the toughest job in cricket, asked to debut against Jasprit Bumrah after having never opened in the Sheffield Shield.
McSweeney’s recall to the Test squad shows he is still very much in selectors’ thoughts as the team enters a transition era, and could well return as a middle-order player. The 25-year-old has found a home batting at No 3 for South Australia this summer – averaging 97 – but has previously batted further down.
Australia already have a decision to make with its opening slots in Sri Lanka, with Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja having finished the Border-Gavaskar Trophy together. Travis Head opened on Australia’s last tour of Asia against India in 2023, and was considered a likely chance to do so again for these matches against Sri Lanka.
But that would require Australia to either drop Khawaja or Konstas, with the former one of the team’s best players of spin and the latter ready to benefit from experience in the sub-continent. If Head was to move to the top, it would create an opening for McSweeney to come into the side in the middle order.
