Nathan McSweeney has catapulted back into Australian Test contention, with officials adamant his selection for Sri Lanka is based on the present and not the future.
Australia confirmed their touring party on Thursday, with Cooper Connolly the bolter in a 16-man squad as Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Peter Handscomb all missed out.
Steve Smith will captain the side while Pat Cummins stays home for the birth of his second child, while Josh Hazlewood has also been kept on ice after his calf strain.
Matt Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy have been picked as spinners alongside Nathan Lyon, while Sean Abbott is the back-up quick behind Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland.
Australia’s side has a clear look to the future about it, with Connolly, McSweeney, Sam Konstas and Murphy all aged 25 or younger, while Beau Webster is also there after his SCG debut.
But chief selector George Bailey insisted picks were not age-based, and the same squad would have been named even if Australia hadn’t already qualified for the World Test Championship final.
“We view every test tour and Test match as being really important,” Bailey said.
“It was more around structuring up two or three different ways of what we thought the first XI may look like and, clearly.”
McSweeney’s selection is arguably the most interesting ahead of the first Test in Galle on January 29.
The 25-year-old joked on Thursday he had received “a nicer” call from Bailey than when axed for the Boxing Day Test three weeks ago, three matches into his career.
His most likely chance to play in Sri Lanka will be if Australia opt to open with Travis Head in Sri Lanka, in place of either Usman Khawaja or Konstas.
That would create an opening in the middle, for either McSweeney or Josh Inglis to come into.
“We still view him as a great Test prospect and a long-term Test prospect,” Bailey said.
“But at the time of the series, we felt like we needed to throw something a little different at India, given the challenges we were facing from Jasprit Bumrah.
“At times when someone is left out of a team or squad, there’s a view that they fall out of favour or down the pecking order, but that wasn’t the case with Nathan.”
Bailey also suggested that McSweeney could one day be considered as an opener again.
It came as the South Australia captain also rejected suggestions on Thursday he had been “thrown to the wolves” against India, after never previously opening in Sheffield Shield.
“I was playing really well at the start of that series and came off some nice Shield scores,” he said.
“I felt like I was more than ready. I didn’t have the success I would have liked, but definitely plenty of learnings.
“It didn’t feel like I was out of my depth at all, just didn’t get the scores I would have liked.
“I am just super excited to not be left out of this squad.”
Connolly’s selection is also eye-grabbing, with selectors making clear they see the West Australian as a player of Test pedigree.
He has played only four first-class games, but averages 61.8 with the bat with his left-arm orthodox spin a bonus.
There is a possibility that Starc or Boland will be the sole paceman in the XI, if Australia opt to play three frontline spinners in Lyon, Kuhnemann and Murphy.
AUSTRALIA TEST SQUAD FOR SRI LANKA:
Steve Smith (capt), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
