Former Test opener Rick McCosker is going into bat for tyro Nathan McSweeney, five decades after he made his Australian debut with little experience in the role.
The comparisons between the 77-year-old, who these days works as a volunteer at Newcastle’s Mission to Seafarers, and the young Queenslander have come to light recently following the latter’s selection in the national cricket side.
McSweeney, viewed as the long-term replacement for David Warner, will line-up against India in the first showdown of the summer in Perth from 22 to 26 November.
But, McCosker believes the 25-year-old can immediately feel at home at the top for Australia.
He knows the position all too well.
The right-hander became a first-time opener in the 1974-75 Ashes when he replaced Wally Edwards for the third Test.
He scored 80, thus securing his No. 1 spot for both NSW and Australia for the majority of his career.
“Mentally you get prepared for it,” McCosker said.
“There is not a real lot of difference required in your technique from being an opening batsman to a No. 3.
“I felt comfortable with it straight away. It’s really mainly to do with your mental approach.
“You know if you’re out fielding, once the innings is finished, you’re back out straight away.
“That really didn’t take long, because you know you have to. You don’t have much choice.”
McCosker had made scores of 138, 136, 164 and 164 in the three Sheffield Shield matches before a vacancy was made for him as an opener in the Test team, with Ian and Greg Chappell batting at No.3 and No.4.
McSweeney finds himself in a similar situation, hitting two domestic centuries before top-scoring in both innings of Australia A’s four-day clash with India A.
He then opened for the first time for Australia A last week, making two starts with 14 and 25 and earning selection over Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Sam Konstas.
“It’s not a big issue, particularly if you’re selected at the right time,” McCosker said.
“It worked out pretty well… and I hope it works out for Nathan and he has a good opportunity now.
“I’ve watched a little bit on television in those Australia A games and you can see he has pretty good technique.
“There has been some comment from Michael Clarke to say he should be told by the selectors you have five Test matches.
“That would help him if they do that.”
McCosker admitted he could also see merit in the long-term thinking of selecting McSweeney over a more senior opener in the Shield.
“Picking a 25-year-old is in a way good because if he is the right person then you have an opening batsman for the next 10 or 12 years,” he said.
“Usman Khawaja is obviously closer to the end of his career than the beginning.
“So, they could be needing to fill two opening batsmen at the same time otherwise.”
After moving to Newcastle, McCosker continued to play grade cricket with New Lambton until he retired in 1988.
“I found that I had to push myself a bit just to keep playing,” he said.
“I found I was not getting the same enjoyment out of it.”
In mid-2012, about 18 months after retiring from his financial planning business, McCosker became Catholic chaplain to the Port of Newcastle.
“Part of my work there was to do whatever we could for the seafarers who came in off the cargo vessels,” he explained.
“We would get a couple of buses and bring them into town, where they could contact their families, go shopping… and just basically get off the ship.”
- With AAP
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