Queensland’s Matthew Renshaw overcame a form slump to strike 120 against Tasmania on Sunday, following Jake Weatherald’s 186.

Marcus Harris then guided Victoria to victory against Western Australia – scoring 47 and an unbeaten 56, his best performance since the opening round (143 and 52).

But when there was selection pressure, they failed to respond.

McSweeney did – plundering 457 runs across four matches – and convinced selectors to pick the best available batsman, regardless of their traditional role. 

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“Nathan doesn’t have to do anything different,” McSweeney’s opening partner, Usman Khawaja, said.

“Something Nathan has done really well is he’s been able to handle the pressure at Shield level, and score runs consistently from a young age.

“When you look at Nathan, his demeanour and the way he plays, you feel over a long period of time this guy will be able to handle the scrutiny and pressure of Test cricket.”

McSweeney will seek to become the long-term replacement for David Warner, albeit with a contrasting style.

Warner’s brand enabled Australia to attack from ball one – his first-class strike rate (70.76) dwarfing McSweeney (41.92) and Khawaja (50.10). The aggressive mentality has been replicated by Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, and England in their ‘Bazball’ era.

But Khawaja dismissed suggestions a slower approach would hold Australia back.

“I don’t know where this myth started where you need someone to score really fast to do well,” Khawaja said.

“We didn’t have one Test match go into five days [last season]. Opening is as much about scoring runs as it is being able to absorb in that time.”

Usman Khawaja

“Davey was special … he’d sometimes get 100 runs off 100 balls, but he didn’t do that every time – he was setting a platform for the guys later to come in and score runs.

“Nathan does that really well. He can score runs, but he can also bat time, and they’re really important facets to have if you want to set games up to win.”