Mitchell Swepson of Australia hopes the management will stick with him and Nathan Lyon for the first Test against India on February 9 in Nagpur. The 29-year-old is aware that he will face stiff competition from the likes of Todd Murphy and Ashton Agar, given that spin will be a major factor in the series.
The Queensland wristspinner made his Test debut in early 2022 on the Pakistan tour, but has had limited success. Swepson has ten Test wickets at 45.80, with his best figures of 13-0-55-3 against Sri Lanka in Galle.
Swepson admitted on SEN Afternoons that selection is out of his hands, but he is willing to play as the second spinner if given the chance. The 29-year-old emphasised how well his variations complement Nathan Lyon’s, saying:
“I think I’d be doing the team, Patty and the coach Ron a disservice if I wasn’t ready and wanting to play as the second spinner and preparing to play the role. I’ll certainly be preparing to play that Test, selection is a part of the game I can’t control, but what I can control is being ready to go if I get that call so that’s how I’m going about it.”
“I think we complement each other very well spinning the ball different ways. One is a finger spinner, Gaz has that sort of accuracy, he doesn’t miss his spot and he camps on the one spot all day. That allows me to throw in a bit of variation with the leg-spin so I think we complement each other well.”
“Spin will play a massive part in the whole series I think”- Mitchell Swepson
Swepson believes that an off-spinner and a leg-spinner should make for an effective combination based on his experiences in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“It definitely will, spin will play a massive part in the whole series I think. I have a little bit of a biased opinion, but being a leg-spinner it works really well I thought In Pakistan and in Sri Lanka for us having an off-spinner and a leg-spinner. There are some other great spinners in the squad. Ash Agar is left-arm orthodox spin, he’s obviously a very good bowler and you have the young Todd Murphy as well.”
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