Tough call to axe McSweeney, but Konstas can offer something different vs India: Bailey

He also didn’t give a guarantee that Konstas could make his debut in the Boxing Day Test against India at the MCG, starting on December 26.

Australia’s chief selector George Bailey said the desire to throw something different towards India in the last two Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests led to them giving a call-up to teenaged Sam Konstas and the omission of Nathan McSweeney.

At the same time, Bailey acknowledged it was a tough decision to axe McSweeney, who made just 72 runs in the first three matches at an average of 14.40, despite not having opened previously in first-class cricket. He also didn’t give a guarantee that Konstas could make his debut in the Boxing Day Test against India at the MCG, starting on December 26.

George Bailey

“It’s a tough call, a really hard decision for Nathan, and one that we spent a lot of time deliberating over, particularly after a small sample size of three Tests. Nathan was disappointed, and the message to him was much the same as at the start of the series.

“We believe he’s got the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level. We’re confident he’ll be back. You can say the way our Top-3 have been playing has been reasonably similar and we’d like the ability to throw something different at India on the back of that,” Bailey was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au on Friday.

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