One-Day Cup 2024-25 – Sheffield Shield – Mitchell Swepson to captain Queensland in absence of Marnus Labuschagne

Labuschagne has been named as Queensland’s all-round captain, replacing long-time skipper Usman Khawaja, despite being expected to play very few matches throughout the summer due to being first-choice in Australia’s Test and ODI squads.

“We had many leadership discussions in the winter, with him [Swepson] and Jimmy was great about all that and the way the team saw them,” Botha told ESPNcricinfo. “I think that’s the biggest thing as a leader, the team can play for them and they like what they see. And that’s exactly how we thought about it. We know Jimmy can do it. He will still be the same Jimmy on and off the field. So we just felt like we wanted to develop another leader.”

But Botha, who captained South Africa in white-ball cricket and South Australia as a spinner, believes Swepson’s challenge as a spin-bowling captain will come in Shield cricket rather than the shorter format.

“I think in one-day cricket it’s easier to captain as a spinner, because the game tells you when to bowl,” said Botha. “But in four-day cricket, is he going to have the courage to bowl the 17th over in a Shield match on day one? But that’s what we’re going to keep pushing him to bring into the game. We trust him as a player, the staff and the team, and he just needs to be confident.”

Swepson, like Kuhnemann, is trying to win a place in Australia’s two Tests in Sri Lanka in late January. Swepson played the last of his four Tests in Sri Lanka in 2022 as Australia’s number two but missed out on selection for the tour of India last year despite being in the visiting squad, as Australia opted to play three-fingered Kuhnemann Nathan Lyon. and Todd Murphy on the same side. Murphy took him as first-choice back-up for Lyon on the Ashes tour later that year.

Botha was impressed with Swepson’s swing as he prepared for his first season in charge of the Bulls. The coach hopes to use Swepson more this year, even in better conditions at the Gabba.

“He impressed me a lot,” said Botha. “His control of the legspinner has been very good, and you can see why he has played Test cricket in the past. He got 30 wickets last year. So we hope that will be done this summer, and I think for our team I certainly want to use the -spinners more and better and earlier in the games, and not just all the old style of an over before lunch, an over before tea and a bit in the last session now, and our attitude towards it is to make him bowl faster and bowl more in the day to help he comes out quickly that’s the way we want him to play, and I think he’ll appreciate that support.