Darren Lehmann believes Brisbane Heat’s BBL-winning leader Nathan McSweeney will one day captain Australia.
The 24-year-old stepped into the captaincy role, taking over from Usman Khawaja (Australian Test duties) and Colin Munro (UAE T20 league) who were both unavailable during the BBL|13 season.
McSweeney was crucial in leading the franchise to their second BBL title with a dominant win over the Sydney Sixers at the SCG on Wednesday night, suggesting to former Australian coach Lehmann that he is destined to skipper his country.
“He’s a very calm leader,” the Heat assistant said on SENQ Breakfast.
“He was fantastic for us at the back end. So was Colin Munro and Usman Khawaja when they were captain.
“We were lucky enough to have three leaders that are really calm.
“McSweeney is only 24, he’s a future captain of international cricket, the way he plays.
“He’s got to get in the side first, obviously, but he’s a guy that’s going to have a great career domestically and hopefully internationally.”
After Jimmy Peirson was dismissed early in the Final, McSweeney joined forces with Josh Brown to put on 85 for the second wicket.
He made a controlled 33 from 32 balls to help guide the Heat to a strong total off 166 which the Sixers fell well short of.
“McSweeney’s knock was brilliant in terms of the context of the game,” Lehmann added.
“He summed it up perfectly. He only struck at just over 100 with 33 off 32, but the way he went about it and set up the game with Josh Brown was excellent for our batters.”
Overall, Lehmann was so pleased with the Heat squad which despite lacking “superstars” lost just twice throughout the tournament.
“I’m just proud,” he said further.
“We haven’t got a lot of superstars, but we just played the right way.
“Everyone bought in to how we wanted play, that’s probably the biggest thing.
“I’m just really proud of all the players and how they went about it.”
Individually, McSweeney made 222 runs at an average of 27 and a strike rate of 105 for the Heat in BBL|13.
