He [Swepson] and Jimmy were great with all of that and the way the group saw them, Botha said. We had quite a bit of leadership talk in the winter.
Recently chosen Queensland’s deputy captain, Australian leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson will captain the team in the Sheffield Shield and ODI Cup when star batsman Marnus Labuschagne is away on international duty.
The decision to give Swepson the captaincy appears to have been made as part of a significant reorganization in Queensland, led by head coach Johan Botha and high performance manager Joe Dawes.
It’s important to remember that Labuschagne succeeded Usman Khawaja as the team’s permanent captain. Additionally, Swepson was given the captaincy hat by the management, despite the fact that wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson had been the deputy captain for a while.
Throughout the winter, we had a lot of conversations about leadership, and both Swepson and Jimmy handled it really well, both from the group’s perspective. As a leader, I believe that’s crucial because the group would genuinely play for them and appreciate what they saw. And that’s definitely how we approached it. Jimmy’s ability is known to us. Outside of the pitch, he will always be Jimmy the same Jimmy. Thus, Botha told ESPNcricinfo, “we just felt we want to develop another leader.”
It’s important to remember that Swepson will captain Queensland for the first time in the season’s 1st ODI match against Tasmania. Although Swepson is a consistent player in Queensland’s lineup, he hasn’t participated in a 50-over match for the Bulls since November 2022. But when Swepson gets his chance against Tasmania, he’ll make good on the trust the higher-ups placed in him.
Since the game essentially dictates when to bowl, I believe that captaining as a spinner in One-Day cricket is easier. Will he have the courage to deliver the 17th over in the Shield game on the first day of a four-day cricket match, though? However, that’s the direction we’ll keep pushing him in order to engage with the game. Botha stated, “He just needs to trust himself. We trust him as a staff member and a group.”
