Australian cricket great Aaron Finch fires back at Ed Cowan over Nathan McSweeney ‘guess’ take

Australian white-ball great Aaron Finch has fired back at former Test opener Ed Cowan for suggesting the selection of Nathan McSweeney at the top of the order was “a guess”.

McSweeney will open the batting alongside Usman Khawaja in the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against India later this month, despite never having done so at Sheffield Shield level.

The South Australia captain has impressed at No.4 and, more recently, No.3, for his state in his young career.

Selectors dropped a major hint that McSweeney was in line for a Test debut when they promoted him to the top of the order for the second Australia A tour match against India A last week — the first time he had been picked to open the batting in first-class cricket.

The 25-year-old failed to fire in his new position in that match, with scores of 14 and 25, but selectors had already seen enough.

Chief selector George Bailey argued that McSweeney’s lack of specific opening experience was effectively irrelevant, considering he often walked out to the crease before the 10th over at Shield level anyway.

But Cowan ran the numbers on the times McSweeney had been in against the new ball and said they didn’t reflect those of a player who was ready for the cauldron that is the top of the order at Test level.

“He has two scores over 50; 53 and 67 against NSW. Here are his other scores: 22, 32, 10, 0, 12, 48, 36, 15, 20, 25, 11, 0, 7 and 0,” Cowan said on ABC’s Grandstand Cricket podcast.

“I feel slight vindication in many respects suggesting that he’s not an opening batter and the Australian selectors were looking for a data point this week.

“We said if he’s going to open for Australia he needs to open this week (for Australia A, which he did).

“They were begging for a data point. You know what they got? They got an open blade. Because that was money for jam behind the wickets in both innings.

“Forty-five degree bat, caught at second slip, caught behind.

“The data would suggest at the moment in his career, he doesn’t have the technique nor the temperament to do it.”

Cowan accused his former Tasmania teammate Bailey of taking a hopeful stab in the dark by picking McSweeney to partner Khawaja.

“Do you know what a selection, when the data doesn’t support your point of view, is? It’s a guess. It’s a guess,” he said.

“And you know what guesses do? Guesses sometimes pay off, but that’s called luck.

“And if they don’t (pay off), they actually dilute the players’ confidence, as in the whole playing group in first class cricket right through, as to the confidence as to what it takes and what they need to do to get selected.”

Finch, who in 2019 was picked to open for Australia in Test cricket while occupying a spot in the middle order for Victoria — albeit having had red-ball opening experience for his state in the past — countered that you never really know if any selection in any position will work.

“All selection is literally guessing!” he said in direct response to Cowan’s comments.

Speaking on Willow Talk, Finch said McSweeney had the game to go to the next level.

“I like the selection. I think when you look at his game as a whole, he looks very organized,” Finch said.

“He’s technically quite sound, he’s got the runs on the board. I think his leadership with South Australia — which wouldn’t have been the easiest job over the last probably decade as well, I mean, when you’ve had not a huge amount of success particularly in Shield cricket, that can be quite a different environment to come into, when he’s coming down from Queensland as well.

“But I think it’s a good selection.

“If you look at his stats, the amount of times that he’s in inside the first 15 or 20 runs anyway shows that he’s equipped to face the new ball consistently, so yeah, I like the selection.

“I think with that squad there’s 12 of those guys that picked themselves.”

McSweeney will become Australia’s first debutant since Will Pucovski played his one and only Test in 2021, also at the top of the order, when he walks out to the middle in Perth next week.

He edged out Marcus Harris for the position, who became the only other selectable player amongst a group of four contenders, which also included Cameron Bancroft, whose recent dire run of form ruled him out at the worst possible time, and Sam Konstas, who has failed to recapture the form that saw him score centuries in both innings of a Shield game earlier this season.

Finch also added on the podcast that the form of Marnus Labuschagne, or lack thereof, has been forgotten in the midst of the opening debate.

“They’re all getting starts, which is the unusual thing about it. You think back for Steve Smith, once he gets to 20 just pencil him in to get 80-plus,” former Test opener Finch said on the podcast.

“Marnus batting at No.3, and shuffling around in (English) county cricket, where he’s been up the top of the order saying ‘I’m here to do the job if I need it’ — there is a lot of pressure on that middle order.

“For a while now the likes of Travis Head, Mitch Marsh and Alex Carey have been getting them out of a little bit of trouble at times.

“I think Marnus in particular, there’ll be some extra pressure on this one and just another part in his whole career.

“You look back, there was often talk about Marnus gets dropped a lot and he goes on and cashes in, where as now he’s nicking them now or they’re taking half chances that they haven’t taken for a while.

“This is a big summer, no doubt. The level between Shield cricket and Test cricket is great but he dominates domestic cricket, so that shows that he is the best player for Australia to have batting at No.3.

“I’ve got no doubt that he’ll turn it around. He works too hard, he tinkers constantly with his game, and maybe it’s time just to say ‘Right, this is your summer and really to take it upon yourself to be that man at No.3’.”