Australia's new Test opener had a difficult start to his first-class career until a breakthrough 99 not out
As he entered his final game of the season three summers ago, Nathan McSweeney felt he was running out of time.
His first season in South Australia hadn't initially worked out the way he'd hoped and seven games into his first-class career his top score remained the 35 he scored in his first innings for Queensland on Sheffield Shield debut.
Having just turned 23, he'd left his native state a year earlier after finding his path to first-class cricket blocked by Test-capped batters Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Renshaw and Joe Burns.
But with just two red-ball appearances for a return of 65 runs to that point in a winless South Australian side, McSweeney's fortunes hadn't changed much from the five matches he'd played before leaving the Bulls.
Already questioning whether he had the game to succeed at professional level, his doubts were heightened further when he was trapped leg before by NSW veteran Trent Copeland for seven in the first innings of their 2021-22 season finale.
By that stage, the right-hander's first-class batting average had dipped to 14.14 from 15 innings.
"I missed out in the first innings and it almost felt like it was now or never at the time," McSweeney recalled to cricket.com.au ahead of his selection in Australia's Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
"It's a bit more dramatic when you're actually in the moment than what it was probably.
"At that point, (the move to SA) probably didn't go to plan.
"I was playing well in Queensland Premier Cricket but without doing it at the next level, in first-class cricket, and hadn't quite nailed any opportunity that I'd been given.
"So I was definitely looking for answers and wondering if my game was good enough, and did I need to change technically, or was it good enough at all?"
***
Raised in Brisbane's outer north, McSweeney played his junior cricket for Caboolture before graduating to Premier Cricket club Northern Suburbs where he debuted in first grade aged 16.
He idolised Ricky Ponting, so it was no surprise when he was named captain of Queensland's Under-17 team in 2015, hitting an unbeaten 132 in the grand final against NSW to take his state to the title.
"I always wanted to be Ricky Ponting," says McSweeney, whose nickname 'Buddha' was coined by his preschool PE teacher who decided the "chunky" kinder student looked like the Buddhist icon.
"He was captain … so I always thought about the game in-depth, and tactically I'd set fielders when I was playing in the backyard. I always wanted to be captain of the team I was playing in."
He would lead his state the following two seasons at the U19 National Championships and later the second XI, while his first innings for Australia at any level was coincidentally opening the batting where he scored an impressive 111-ball 156 at the 2018 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand.
McSweeney earned a Bulls rookie contract on the back of his World Cup form (211 runs at 70). His 68 in the Queensland Premier Cricket grand final in March 2018 that helped Norths secure the first-grade premiership also reinforced the teenager was a player of the future.
He made his Sheffield Shield debut in October later that year, telling his dad Scott after facing 179 balls across almost four hours it was "the best (he) could have batted" and he only scored 35.
But such scores became a familiar occurrence over the next two seasons. While he continued to churn out club runs – including an unbeaten 182-ball double-century – he was unable to convert promising starts at domestic level and was dismissed five times between 10 and 25.
Then a global pandemic arrived and put travel on hold and the lack of international cricket meant McSweeney didn't get a look in for the entire 2020-21 summer.
"I was 21 at the time, and I was playing well in grade cricket, but I was stuck behind Matt Renshaw, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Marnus … and I didn't quite see a way in," recounted McSweeney.
"South Australia, fortunately, offered me an opportunity to go down and play. I didn't nail my spot in the team until probably 18 months ago really, so there was definitely plenty of work to do."
His Covid training buddy – Australia's Test No.3 Labuschagne – was also a key sounding board in his move south. The pair spent countless hours talking batting and giving 'sidearm' throwdowns to each other during McSweeney's three years on contract with the Bulls.
While their batting styles are similar in the way they take guard, leave the ball and score in certain areas having learned their craft on bouncy Queensland wickets, McSweeney insists he's now found his own way that's "natural" to him.
"He's one of the best players in the world so you'd be silly not to try and take a few things from his book," says McSweeney.
"To have someone like (Labuschagne) that's been online for me ever since that moment via text or FaceTime, or whenever we're in the same place we catch up for coffee and talk batting … I'm very lucky for that.
"Basically, at the end of the day, I just had to do what was best for me.
"I felt like my game was ready to get an opportunity and I didn't quite see one in Queensland.
"Looking back on it now, it was not as a big move as it probably felt at the time, but I'm very thankful for it."
***
McSweeney was recalled to SA's Shield side for the penultimate game of the 2021-22 season following his maiden domestic half-century in a one-day match against Victoria in February.
But with scores of 1 and 10 in that match against his former state in his birth city, the breakthrough innings he longed for to prove he belonged in the first-class arena continued to elude him.
Staring down the barrel of a 17th straight game without a win, South Australia too were desperate for red-ball success in the last match of the season. But half-centuries by Blake Nikitaras, Matthew Gilkes, Jason Sangha and Lachlan Hearne turned the Blues' slender 17-run lead into a sizable second-innings advantage.
With NSW racing towards a lead of 300 on the final morning, then SA captain Henry Hunt threw McSweeney the ball for what he described as some "declaration bowling".
His strike rate of 60 with the ball from his 34 first-class games to date suggests McSweeney's off-spinners are more than that and it proved the case, striking twice in as many balls to remove Hearne and Chris Tremain to take his second innings haul to 4-89 from 26 overs.
The declaration came soon after with SA set a target of 326 to win in 82 overs. At 3-89 when McSweeney – batting at No.4 – was joined by Jake Lehmann, there was plenty of work to do.
"We were always trying to chase the runs," McSweeney says. "When you're not in positions to win games often, you've got to make sure you're really positive when they do arise."
The single-minded focus on winning perhaps helped McSweeney to let go of his own trepidations, while Lehmann's blazing 94 from 89 balls took the "pressure off".
"Going into that game, I said to myself, 'I've just got to be positive and really look to score'," McSweeney recalled.
"When you're batting with someone that scores quite quickly, it always helps you down the other end. I could just really be calm and wait for the right ball that I could score off.
"I was able to play the game like I probably was in grade cricket … and was able to let go of the results or possible outcomes."
He reached 99 not out when he pulled the winning boundary to midwicket as the shadows grew longer at Karen Rolton Oval late on day four. While it won't go down as his maiden first-class century (he has scored six since to earn a Test debut against India in Perth), it's worth just as much for McSweeney.
He says the thought of reaching his hundred never crossed his mind despite needing eight runs for the milestone with seven required for victory.
"I was just happy I was still in at that stage. It was my highest Shield score by quite some margin, and I just wanted to win the game," he says.
McSweeney's then housemate Brendan Doggett – who had moved from Queensland to South Australia at the same time – was among the first to embrace him once he reached the pavilion. He says the right-armer had been a trusted confidant through the tougher times.
McSweeney is embraced by Doggett after hitting 99no in SA's drought-breaking win // Supplied-SACA
The innings proved a significant turning point for McSweeney's career and one he replicated recently with his unbeaten 88 to get Australia A over the line against India A in Mackay, helping seal his elevation to the Test side to partner former Bulls teammate Usman Khawaja in this week's series opener against India.
In the two-and-a-half seasons since his 99no against the Blues, McSweeney's first-class average has risen to just shy of 40 with six centuries.
"I think as a batter, we often don't quite get the confidence we need to really believe we belong at the level until you do it and you make some make a big score," McSweeney says.
"For me, that game just reassured that what I was doing was on the right track, and my best was good enough at the level.
"It just gave me that confidence to come the next season with the same mindset … and trust my game, that I am good enough to do it at this level.
"I've been able to grow and get better each year and hopefully it's a long journey that I can continue to do that."
The fifth of his six tons to date again came in the final game of the season in March earlier this year when he hit 117 on a seaming Bellerive Oval deck where the next highest score in the innings was 29.
He then started this season with a brilliant 127 not out to help SA bat out a draw against NSW on the final day in Sydney.
He followed up with his maiden one-day century with 137 against Queensland to rocket into Test calculations with Cameron Green ruled out of the summer due to back surgery and Steve Smith returning to the middle-order.
McSweeney, now 25, believes he's playing the best cricket he ever has and insists opening the batting will be no different to his No.3 role: "Other than walking out one position earlier than I normally do, my prep is the exact same."
Men's national selection chair George Bailey also doesn't consider it a huge adjustment after confirming McSweeney would become Australia's 467th Test cricketer in being given the nod to partner Khawaja in the first Test.
"We're just really thrilled with Nathan's game over the last 15 months (and) seeing a player whose growth is on a great trajectory," says Bailey.
"He's very organised, a composed player at the crease, we think he's got a game that will really suit Test cricket."
McSweeney, appointed SA captain at the start of this season, speaks openly about the challenges he endured at the start of his career and says the experience helped shape him into the player he is today.
"I was able to go back and learn a lot about my game and myself and how I want to go about it," he says.
"Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to play for Australia and that's the direction you train.
"You're trying to put your best foot forward to first make your Shield debut to hopefully one day play for Australia.
"Now, being one of South Australia's important players, I feel like being captain of that side also adds a bit of an extra layer of importance.
"I think that stuff has really helped me.
"I want to play for Australia. So does everyone that plays domestic cricket.
"The whole journey has made me really trust my process and to try and deter away from being a result-based sport, which it is.
"It just doesn't stop me from preparing as best I can and trying to go out and play my game."
