Time cost others, and that was Nathan McSweeney’s creation. That’s why he can kill a ‘myth’

Queensland’s Matthew Renshaw overcame a slump in form to hit 120 against Tasmania on Sunday after Jake Weatherald’s 186.

Marcus Harris then guided Victoria to victory against Western Australia – scoring 47 and an unbeaten 56, his best performance since the opening round (143 and 52).

But when there was selection pressure, they failed to respond.

McSweeney did just that – plundering 457 runs across four matches – convincing selectors to pick the best available batsman, regardless of their traditional role.

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“Nathan doesn’t need to do anything different,” McSweeney’s opening partner Usman Khawaja said.

“Something Nathan has done really well is he’s been able to handle the pressure at Shield level and he’s scored consistently from a young age.

“When you look at Nathan, his demeanor and the way he plays, you feel that over a long period of time this guy will be able to handle the scrutiny and pressure of Test cricket.”

McSweeney will look to become the long-term replacement for David Warner, albeit with a contrasting style.

Warner’s fire enabled Australia to attack from ball one – his first-class strike rate (70.76) dwarfing McSweeney (41.92) and Khawaja (50.10). That aggressive mentality has been copied by Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal and England in their ‘Bazball’ era.

But Khawaja rejected suggestions that a slower approach would hold Australia back.

“I don’t know where this myth started where you need someone to score really fast to do well,” Khawaja said.

“We didn’t have a Test match for five days (last season). Opening is as much about scoring runs as it is being able to absorb in that time.”

Usman Khawaja

“Davey was special … he sometimes got 100 runs off 100 balls, but he didn’t do that every time – he set a platform for the guys to come in later and score runs.

“Nathan is doing really well. He can score runs, but he can also bat for time, and those are really important facets to have if you want to set up games to win.”