Queensland spinner Mitch Swepson is targeting Australia's tour of Sri Lanka as his return to the Test team
Unplayable Podcast: Swepson driven to add to Test tally
It’s right there, in his office.
Currently out of reach for him metaphorically, and for his son, literally.
But it sits there. Not stored away or encased in glass, but as a daily inspiration – and aspiration.
Mitch Swepson wants to wear his Baggy Green again.
He did it four times in 2022, but none since.
For Swepson, earning the cap isn’t enough. His sample of life as a Test cricketer has only whetted the appetite.
First though, he ensures the Baggy Green stays in a safe location; he knows the kind of damage 18-month-old Beauden can do in a hurry.
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“He’d have his way with it,” Swepson told the Unplayable Podcast. “It's downstairs tucked away nicely, not packed away, so it's still there as a little reminder.
“I have to walk past it most mornings. So it's a good motivator there, but it's definitely out of reach of the young fella.”
Swepson’s Test appearances came more than two years ago now, in Pakistan and Sri Lanka – tours that were only a couple of months apart.
When Australia returned to subcontinent for four Tests against India in February 2023, the leg-spinner was overlooked.
Right-arm off-spinner Todd Murphy and left-arm orthodox spinners Ashton Agar and Matthew Kuhnemann were preferred to partner Nathan Lyon.
However, with a tour to Sri Lanka pencilled in for the end of January next year, Swepson is hopeful his experience there (where he took eight wickets at 24 apiece) will help his chances when the selectors name their squad.
“I'd be lying if I said I didn't (have an eye on the Sri Lanka tour),” Swepson said.
“That's certainly somewhere I want to be.
“I'm always wanting to play at the highest level and having a taste of Test cricket, it's just made me more hungry to get back there.
“(I was) lucky enough to be part of the last tour to Sri Lanka and play those two games, so hopefully that gives me a little bit of a leg up, that I've got that experience there in those conditions, and they (the selectors) think about that.”
Listen to the full interview with Mitch Swepson on the Unplayable Podcast now.