McSweeney gets Ponting’s backing as specialist openers falter again vs India A

Australia A 195 and 139 for 3 (McSweeney 47*, Harris 36, Prasidh 1-17) need 86 more runs to beat India A 107 and 312 (Sudharsan 103, Padikkal 88, O’Neill 4-55)

It may partly be a case of last-man standing, but Ricky Ponting has endorsed Nathan McSweeney to fill the vacancy at the top of Australia’s Test line-up on a day where he impressed again in Mackay, while the specialist opening contenders continued to falter against India A.

Sam Konstas, Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris all made starts in a chase of 225 on a tricky pitch, but couldn’t convert them into big scores to leave plenty of uncertainty for the senior side heading into the second match in Melbourne next week. McSweeney, meanwhile, played positively from No. 4 at the start of his innings, and was unbeaten on 47 at the close, with Australia A just 86 runs away from their target while having seven wickets in hand.

Konstas played some neat shots through the off side before shouldering arms to a delivery from Mukesh Kumar that nipped back sharply, and sent the off stump cartwheeling. As Australia coach Andrew McDonald had mentioned last week, Ponting referenced Konstas’ lack of experience of the Test venues in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane, where he has never played first-class cricket, in explaining why he had changed his view, having previously backed a call-up for Konstas.

“I thought a bit more about it, and he is so young and he has probably not even played on grounds like Optus Stadium or at the Gabba,” Ponting told the ICC Review show. “He wouldn’t have played a pink-ball [match] at Adelaide Oval either. So there’s a lot of things that stack up against the young guy, although there’s no doubt that he’s got talent.

“Another thing that I’d said then was that I don’t think they’d go back to a [Cameron] Bancroft or [Marcus] Harris – because if they’re willing to do that, they would’ve done it the last year.

“So the only name left for me more or less is Nathan McSweeney… he got the most out of any of those guys from the A game in Australia at the moment. And he’s more experienced. He has captained Australia A in the past, and he’s captaining them now. So I’m leaning towards McSweeney now for that opening role at the start of the Australian summer.”

Ahead of the ongoing game against India A, McSweeney had said he felt his game could adapt to opening, and heading into the fourth day, he has now faced over 200 deliveries in a contest where the ball has held sway for long periods.

After batting conditions eased against an older ball on Friday, bowlers again dominated at the Great Barrier Reef Arena. India A lost their last eight wickets for 86 runs following a stand of 196 between Sai Sudharsan, who made his seventh first-class hundred, and Devdutt Padikkal.

The new ball was a threat when Australia A set out on their chase. Bancroft, who had received a rough decision in the first innings when he was given caught off the thigh pad, had a huge stroke of fortune when he was taken at slip on 4 off Navdeep Saini, but it turned out to be a no-ball. Bancroft, though, couldn’t make the most of it even as he reached double figures for the first time in six innings in first-class cricket this season.

However, the delivery which Bancroft received to be eventually dismissed by Prasidh Krishna was an excellent one – a sharp lifter which he fended into gully. It was the sort of delivery which suggested Prasidh could be a threat during the Test series on pitches that are likely to have more pace than Mackay.

Harris, meanwhile, had shaped up promisingly in testing conditions with a brace of drives off Saini suggesting he was gaining in confidence. But playing forward to left-arm spinner Manav Suthar, who was finding some turn, he got a thin outside edge to one which went straight on.

Earlier in the day, it had been offspinner Todd Murphy who broke the game open for Australia A. He had Sudharsan dragging on shortly just after he reached a stylish century, and then added Padikkal for 88 lbw with a slider shortly before the new ball.

The hosts were a fast bowler down due a side strain picked up by Jordan Buckingham, but the remaining quicks carried the extra burden. Fergus O’Neill collected three more wickets on day three after one on day two, including the crucial one of Ishan Kishan, who poked to second slip the ball after hooking him for six.

Beau Webster took a sharp return catch to remove Nitish Kumar Reddy from a full toss, and Murphy closed out the innings with a deserving third wicket.