"I can give you my bat-pad pads" - Nathan McSweeney reveals hilarious welcome text from Travis Head after Australia call-up
Travis Head offered his bat-pad (or short-leg) pads to youngster Nathan McSweeney in his welcome text after the latter got his maiden Australia call-up for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The difficult Short-Leg position, only a few feet in front and leg-side of a batter is one of the most difficult spots to field in cricket due to its proximity to action. Thus, it's generally taken up by the least experienced batters of the group, with seniors generally placed in more comfortable slips, covers and mid-wicket spots.
"I just got a text from Travis Head saying: 'I can give you my bat-pad pads' - so I'll be straight under there, I would've thought," McSweeney told Fox Sports in an interview.
McSweeney is a top-order right-hander batter from Queensland. He has scored 2252 first-class runs in 67 innings at an average of 38.16. His exploits include a brilliant 88* against India 'A' in the first of two unofficial Tests in the lead-up to the main event.
"My game's ready" - Nathan McSweeney
McSweeney usually bats at number three in red-ball cricket but isn't too perturbed about batting a spot up and facing the new ball right away.
"I feel like my game's ready," he said. "It's one position earlier than I normally do; my prep is the exact same, I train with the new ball. I'm just really looking forward to the experience and the opportunity."
Australia have struggled to zero in on Usman Khawaja's opening partner after David Warner's retirement. Steven Smith took up the challenge for a while but it didn't work out and now he's set to move back to number four.
Many other options, including Head and now-injured Cameron Green, were considered to replace him but the selectors ultimately decided on McSweeney. Facing Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj on Test debut won't be an easy task for the 25-year-old, but if he aces it, it'd be a massive boost to Australia's Test future.