Arguably the most eagerly-anticipated Test series of 2024 is upon us as India and Australia gear up to take on each other in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. While India had named their squad for the series a couple of weeks ago, Australia announced their team for the first Test on Sunday (November 10).
Australia's squad announcement witnesses the inclusion of two uncapped Test players - Josh Inglis and Nathan McSweeney. While a lot is known of Inglis as he has already represented Australia in white-ball cricket, McSweeney is an unknown commodity at the international level.
Who is Nathan McSweeney?
Nathan McSweeney is a right-handed batter who also bowls part-time right-arm off-break. He plays domestic cricket for South Australia and has made rapid strides at the first-class level recently. The 25-year-old averages 38.16 at the first-class level and has six centuries and 12 fifties to his credit.
McSweeney has accumulated 2252 runs in first-class cricket and has also racked up 845 runs in the List- A format. He averages 42.25 in List-A cricket and has a century and eight fifties to his name in 22 games. He has claimed 18, seven and four wickets in first-class, List-A and T20 cricket respectively.
Born on March 8, 1999, in Brisbane, Queensland, McSweeney was named in Australia's squad for the ICC Men's U19 World Cup 2018. He was the third-leading run-getter for Australia at the U19 Men's World Cup 2018 behind teammate Jack Edwards (216 runs) and skipper Jason Sangha (229 runs).
McSweeney amassed 211 runs in four innings at an average of 70.33 and a strike rate of 107.10 at the global event and also struck a century (156 off 111 balls) against Papua New Guinea. He had scored 23 runs off 29 balls in the final of the tournament.
Australia had posted 216 runs in the final against the Prithvi Shaw-led India and it was not enough. India chased the target down with 67 balls to spare as Manjot Kalra (101* off 102 balls) smashed a match-winning hundred and routed Australia by eight wickets. Notably, Shubman Gill was named the Player of the Tournament for scoring 372 runs.
McSweeney has also played for two teams in the Big Bash League (BBL). He made his BBL debut for Melbourne Renegades in the 2019/20 season and has been playing for Brisbane Heat since then.
