Nathan McSweeney

Nathan McSweeney moved rapidly from a fringe state player to Australia's Test opener. He had been on the selectors' radar for 18 months, for his leadership as well as his batting, and captained Australia A and the Prime Minister's XI before he led his state, South Australia.

After an impressive 2023-24 season where he averaged 40.94 with three hundreds in a summer where runs were hard to come by, and a productive start to the following summer, he won the race to open against India having only done the job once - a week before for Australia A at the MCG.

It took a switch of states for McSweeney to propel himself up the professional ranks. He had been an Australia Under-19 representative in 2018, but struggled to break into the Queensland side so opted for a move to South Australia for the 2021-22 season. The following season he made his maiden first-class hundred and in March 2023 captained Australia A in New Zealand.

His leadership also shone through when he captained Brisbane Heat the 2023-24 BBL title and he was named captain of South Australia for the following season.

He is also an excellent fielder and handy offspin bowler.