New Delhi: Former Australia fast-bowler Ryan Harris has backed ‘well-equipped’ Nathan McSweeney to come good in the second Test against India at the Adelaide Oval, starting on December 6, after struggling to get going on debut at Perth. On his Test debut, McSweeney was trapped lbw twice by Jasprit Bumrah for 10 and zero as Australia lost to India by 295 runs at Perth Stadium and are now 1-0 behind in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
“For now, I think he’s the best person for it but like everyone he needs to score runs. Batting at No.3 and opening is slightly different but it’s not…Nathan is well-equipped to do that. Obviously, he didn’t have a great start but he copped two pretty good balls in Perth,” said Harris to SEN Radio.
Harris, who coaches McSweeney in the South Australia domestic side, feels the batter’s best position at Test cricket in the future is number three. “Ultimately, he probably slots back into three at some stage depending on what happens over the next couple of years with ‘Uzzie’ (Usman Khawaja).”
“He’s the right person for that position right now but again, long-term, if Uzzie was to keep going and play well then they probably stay with that combination. If Uzzie was to finish next summer… then probably Sam Konstas comes into it and there’s a new batting pair from there.”
Meanwhile, former Australia batter Michael Hussey has backed Marnus Labuschagne to come good in Adelaide, adding that the right-handed batter needs to solve his mindset issues. Labuschagne managed only two and three in the Perth Test, with calls to drop him from the team increasing.
“I actually went back and had a look at highlights of some of his great innings from a few years back. It was just to see if I could see anything different than what we’ve been seeing in the last week or so. From a technical perspective, there’s actually not a lot of difference from when he was playing really well in scoring a lot of runs compared to the last Test match against India.”
“The biggest difference I’ve noticed is just his intent to score. He’s probably looking at it thinking, ‘I’m a senior player now, I’ve got to take responsibility, I’ve got to bat time, be there for the team, soak up the pressure, and all of that’.
“That gets you into a tentative defensive frame of mind – of batting time, being there, and being patient. Whereas when I watched some of those highlights from a few years back, he was just confident and decisive in everything he did, even in defence and when he was letting the ball go he was getting into really strong positions.”
“I feel as though it’s something that can be fixed really quickly just with a mindset shift. If he can just change that mindset of just looking to occupy the crease … into, ‘Whatever I do, I’m going to do it confidently, decisively and be a little bit more positive with an intent to score’. I feel like he can turn it around really quickly,” he concluded.
–IANS