Cricket Australia announced a revamped squad for the final two Test matches of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Melbourne and Sydney. 19-year-old Sam Konstas replaced Nathan McSweeney in the squad, who opened in the first three Test matches in the series. Konstas has been in tremendous form in the domestic set-up of Australia. He smashed two centuries in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield for New South Wales against South Australia. Moreover, he smashed yet another century in the practice game with the pink ball against India ahead of the second Test match against India.
There were calls being made for him to be selected in the squad for Australia. Australia’s opening partnership of McSweeney and Usman Khawaja has been a failure in the first three Test matches against India.
George Bailey, Australia’s chief selector, conveyed that the team’s top three batters had been performing in a somewhat similar manner. He emphasized the need to introduce a different approach against India to bring variety. Reflecting on the series as a whole, Bailey suggested that the top six batters had not operated at the required level of performance.
What did George Bailey say?
He also discussed Sam’s unique batting style, contrasting it with those of Nathan, Beau, and Josh. Bailey noted that these differences among the players offered the team various combinations and strategic options for shaping the XI for the Boxing Day Test.
He said:
“You can say the way our top three are playing has been reasonably similar and we’d like the ability to throw something different at India off the back of that. If you look more broadly, I don’t necessarily think the top six has quite functioned to the level that we need in this series as a whole. Think Sam’s method, his style, is different to Nathan’s, different again to Beau’s and Josh’s as the other batting options within that team and we think they provide the options of a different look and a different make up for the XI come Boxing Day.”
Bailey also talked about the decision of dropping McSweeney for the remaining two Test matches. Bailey expressed Cricket Australia’s support on the batter and his skills of surviving in the Test level. However, they want to try a different option given that their opening partnership has not succeeded in this series.
“Nathan was disappointed and really the message to him was, much the same as at the start of the series, that we believe, and that hasn’t changed, that he has the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level but just given the way the series has played out, we want the option of throwing something different at India for this next Test,” he added.
