In labuschagne’s Absence, Swepson Will Captain Queensland

With captain Marnus Labuschagne out on international duty, legspinner Mitchell Swepson has been designated Queensland’s official vice-captain and will captain the team in the Sheffield Shield and One-Day Cup.

Queensland Cricket has dramatically transformed by hiring high-performance manager Joe Dawes and new coach Johan Botha. The decision to promote Swepson to the leadership position furthers this transformation.

Long-serving captain Usman Khawaja was replaced by Labuschagne as the permanent captain of Queensland in all formats, even though the latter was also expected to play relatively little during the summer because he was Australia’s first-choice player for both the ODI and Test teams.

For many years, Jimmy Peirson, the wicketkeeper, served as Queensland’s dependable backup and automatic captain in all situations when Khawaja was not available. However, after leading the team in several preseason games, Botha has decided to promote Swepson to the position.

“He [Swepson] and Jimmy were great with all that and how the group saw them during the leadership conversations we had throughout the winter. Before taking on Victoria on Friday, Queensland will play their first One-Day match of the season on Wednesday at the Junction Oval in Melbourne against Tasmania on neutral territory under Swepson’s captaincy. Khawaja will play against Victoria on Friday but will miss the match against Tasmania. 

Peirson is missing from the 13-man Bulls roster for the two games in Melbourne. For the Bulls, Ben McDermott will stop shots. Gurinder Sandhu is out of the game due to a calf strain, but Michael Neser is expected to participate in both games. Xavier Bartlett is still out of commission because of the lateral strain he sustained during Australia’s UK tour.

Although Matthew Kuhnemann had to relocate to Tasmania due to Swepson’s long tenure as Queensland’s preferred Shield spinner, the player has only appeared in one 50-over match for the Bulls since November 2022 and just six overall since he participated in three ODIs for Australia in Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier that year.

Botha, however, feels that Swepson’s task as a spin-bowling captain will come in Shield cricket rather than the shorter format. Botha captained South Africa in white-ball cricket and South Australia in all formats as a spinner.

“I think in One-Day cricket it’s easier to captain as a spinner, because the game sort of tells you when to bowl,” remarked Botha. However, that’s the direction we’ll keep pushing him in order to engage with the game. He only needs to trust himself because we trust him as a member of the team and as staff.”

Like Kuhnemann, Swepson strives to get a spot on Australia’s upcoming Test Two trip to Sri Lanka in late January. Swepson participated in the final four Test matches in 2022 in Sri Lanka as Australia’s second spinner. However, despite being part of the touring party, Swepson was not selected for Australia’s tour of India last year because the team chose to field Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon, and Todd Murphy as finger spinners on the same side. Later that year, Murphy replaced him as Lyon’s first-choice backup on the Ashes tour.

Swepson’s bowling has impressed Botha in his first preseason as the Bulls’ coach. Even in seam-friendly conditions at the Gabba, the coach intends to utilize Swepson more frequently this season.

Botha declared, “I’ve been really impressed with him.” You can understand why he has played Test cricket in the past because of his outstanding leg-spinner control. Last year, he amassed 30 wickets. To read and know more cricket highlights, betpro log in.

We hope to see more of it this summer. As a team, we want to use the spinners better, more often, and earlier in games rather than sticking to the traditional schedule of using them for an over before lunch, an over before tea, and a significant amount in the final session. 

To read more blog: Melbet App: The Ultimate Betting Platform for Sports Enthusiasts

Given his bowling performance right now, our goal is to improve our quicks by getting him to bowl earlier in the day and more frequently. We want him to play that way, and he will value our support.