Ability to throw something different at India led to Konstas call-up, says Bailey

New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) 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.

“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 three 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.

He also defended the decision to pick McSweeney, who was in competition for the second opener spot alongside Konstas, Marcus Harris, and Cameron Bancroft. “In the lead-up to the (Test) series, he (McSweeney) was performing incredibly well. The key around that was the fact his methodology and the way he plays, we believe, doesn’t change too much wherever he’s coming in the order.”“It hasn’t quite worked out as you’d like it to … but it’s still very much the start of his career. If you look more broadly, I don’t think necessarily the top six has quite functioned to the level that we need in this series as a whole. I think Sam’s method and style is different to Nathan’s … should we go down that path.

“And different again to Beau (Webster) and Josh (Inglis) as the other batting options within that (squad). We think they provide a different look and a different make-up of the eleven come Boxing Day.”

Bailey further dismissed concerns about Mitchell Marsh being able to fulfil his job of sending down overs, citing that call-ups to Jhye Richardson and Sean Abbott are in case of contingencies provided more fitness issues arise due to back-to-back dates of Melbourne and Sydney Tests.

Australia have previously lost pacer Josh Hazlewood to a series-ending calf injury sustained during warm-ups ahead of day four’s play at the Gabba. “I think if there had been some better weather in the back end of that (Brisbane) Test and a lot more overs in the second innings you would have seen Mitch (Marsh) with the ball a lot more.

“Mitch was, I’d say, as well placed as he’d been for the entire series (to bowl). But looking forward… Melbourne-Sydney is clearly a quick turnaround. So we’re just conscious of that, and making sure we’ve got options between those two Tests,” he concluded.

–IANS

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