Swepson hopes to go ‘full circle’ with India return

Mitch Swepson is viewing next year's Test tour of India as potentially "a full circle moment" in his career, with the Queensland leg-spinner hopeful he will be selected to return to the country he first visited as an Australia squad member back in 2017.

After playing four Test matches across series in Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier this year with mixed results, Swepson returned to the Marsh Sheffield Shield with eight wickets in the Bulls' first encounter of the summer against New South Wales in Sydney.

Afterward however he was frustrated by a lack of opportunities due to the dominance of his fast-bowling teammates in helpful conditions, until he got through 41 overs against WA in his most recent Shield hit-out, taking 2-127 with the wickets of Sam Fanning and Ashton Agar.

In between, the drums were beating loudly for Victoria off-spinner Todd Murphy, who has been exceptionally impressive as a new addition to the first-class scene, and Blues leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who has made plain his ambition to tour India with the Test squad.

Swepson revealed he was actually a victim of circumstance when South Africa's tour match at Allan Border Field in Brisbane was changed from a first-class fixture to a practice match, which in turn meant a shift from the selection of a full-strength Australia A squad to a Cricket Australia XI featuring a host of promising youngsters and a few Test hopefuls.

The 29-year-old however feels that despite the excitement around Murphy and Zampa, he remains well placed for a plane ticket to India in February.

"That (game against South Africa) obviously would have been an opportunity for me to show them (the selectors) how I'm bowling against high-quality opposition," he said.

"But for me it's just been (about) focusing on Shield cricket … knuckling down trying to push my case.

"One thing that I've probably got a little bit of an upper hand on (my rivals) is that I've now played four Test matches, and that experience coming out of both Pakistan and Sri Lanka will probably hold me in good stead in that selection conversation.

"They were pretty happy, I think, with how I bowled in Sri Lanka, which is our last Test series, so just drawing on that, I'm quietly confident that I'd be in the (selection) conversation at least, and I certainly want to be a part of that tour, there's no doubt about that."

Swepson had played just 14 first-class matches when he was selected as the third spinner on the India tour of 2017, which Australia ultimately lost 2-1. The then 23-year-old recalls soaking up as much information as he could from the likes of Nathan Lyon and Steve O'Keefe, while also benefiting from exposure to conditions and other factors that make a tour of the cricket world's most populous country unique.

"It seems like a long time ago, and it almost feels like a bit of a full-circle moment with this tour coming up," he added. I was just a massive sponge on that tour, just experiencing touring with the Australian team and learning little bits and pieces at training sessions, and just getting to rub shoulders with guys that I really looked up to at that time. I didn't say much on that tour, I remember that.

"I remember that first Test in Pune, a massive victory, (O'Keefe) taking 12 for the game, and the feeling after that first Test match, it would be amazing to be able to replicate that six years later, and go one further and try and actually win the series."

Swepson's next assignment is the KFC Big Bash with the Brisbane Heat, who will this year be without Chris Lynn for the first time and will kick off their campaign in Cairns against the Renegades next Thursday night (Dec 15).

And with Zampa having come into the Test selection conversation via his outstanding performances in white-ball cricket, Swepson sees no reason why he too can't add to his claims for India via a strong Big Bash campaign.

"I've got all the confidence in my skill, and my game, that I'd like to be able to push up against some of the best in the world, and he (Zampa) is certainly up there with one of the best spinners in white-ball cricket in the world at the moment," he said.

"That'll be my goal – to put in the selectors' minds that I can get up to that level of leg-spin bowling, and that's what I'll be trying to do for Brisbane Heat."