McSweeney buoyed by middle time after 'stop-start' summer

Nathan McSweeney knows consistent runs are his best asset for another crack at Test cricket and after a "stop-start" summer he was able to find his rhythm in a crucial knock for South Australia on Friday.

McSweeney weathered a disciplined Victorian attack featuring Test paceman Scott Boland for 199 balls across almost four hours on day two at Junction Oval, with his dogged 60 going a long way in helping the ladder-leaders reach first-innings parity.

Since returning from Sri Lanka where his only batting during a two-and-a-half-week tour was in the nets as an unused member of Australia's Test squad, the 25-year-old has registered scores of 20 and 7 in SA's previous Sheffield Shield match, and 28, 8 and 7 in their run to One-Day Cup glory.

While the three-Test opener admitted the shift from facing predominantly spin in the subcontinent to Junction Oval's seam-friendly surface was a "good challenge", McSweeney is adamant he'll be better for the experience despite limited red-ball playing time since being dropped for the Boxing Day Test.

"Every time you're in that (Australian) environment, you absolutely love it," he said at stumps on day two against Victoria, with his side trailing by 48 after conceding a two-run deficit in the first innings.

"Personally, it was nice to spend some time in the middle.

"It's been a little bit of a stop-start season for me, and I haven't played heaps of cricket.

"It's not the score I would have liked but to spend some time out there and face plenty of balls, hopefully I can make use of that in the second innings and score more freely."

While his immediate focus remains fixed on breaking South Australia's 29-year Sheffield Shield title drought, McSweeney is still hopeful of securing a short-term county stint in the lead up to the World Test Championship final in June.

With state teammate Travis Head set to slide back to No.5 for the biennial Test playoff against South Africa, a strong finish to the Shield season as captain of a championship-winning team would no doubt put the right-hander firmly in the frame for a recall at Lord's.

Australia is facing a selection squeeze in the middle order with Head's return and Cameron Green's looming comeback from back surgery following incumbents Josh Inglis and Beau Webster's impressive start to their Test careers.

But the race to partner Usman Khawaja is wide open following Sam Konstas' slender run for NSW since being left out of Australia's XI for the Sri Lanka Tests in favour of Head.

"All I can do is make runs and get back to being a consistent run-scorer, which is what got me the opportunity in the first place," McSweeney said.

"Wherever my spot is, if the opportunity comes, I'm happy to bat wherever and I think my game is suited to that.

"From my experiences in Test cricket there's definitely some learnings to try and add scenarios where I can tinker with my game.

"But it's also important to know what worked for me leading into that and what makes me a good player.

"It's been an enjoyable last couple of months, challenging ones no doubt, but I definitely like to think I'm better for it.

"All I can focus on now is trying to punch out some runs and hopefully that means South Australia are in a Shield final … the next couple of weeks are massive for us."

Meanwhile, Boland, who took 4-53 from 23 overs in SA's first innings, is set build up to the WTC final and subsequent Test tour of the Caribbean at home rather than in county cricket.

The prolific right-armer also missed selection in Sri Lanka but has taken 35 wickets at 12.34 in his past nine innings in first-class cricket, with includes three Tests during Australia's Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph over India.

Australia also faces a fast-bowling squeeze for the title bout with the Proteas with captain Pat Cummins (ankle), Josh Hazlewood (hip) and Mitchell Starc (ankle) all set to be available after recovering from their respective injuries.

Queensland quick Michael Neser, who was part of the 15-player squad for the 2023 WTC decider against India, is also in hot form after recovering from a significant hamstring injury and took 6-37 against Tasmania on Friday.

"At this stage, I probably won't play any county cricket and just give myself a bit of a break … and then reloading again for England," Boland said.

"My body's fine, like every fast bowler has niggles, especially when you get to the back end of your career, you're never going to play too many games where you're fully fresh."

Sheffield Shield standings 2024-25

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 South Australia Men SA	10	6	1	3	0	0	7.61	9	55.61
2 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	3	3	4	0	0	9.06	8.7	39.76
3 Victoria Men VIC	10	4	5	1	0	0	5.19	9.3	39.49
4 NSW Men NSW	10	3	4	3	0	0	6.99	8.4	36.39
5 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	3	5	2	0	0	7.72	8.2	35.92
6 Western Australia Men WA	10	3	4	3	0	0	5.83	8.6	35.43

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points