Mitchell Swepson to lead Queensland in Marnus Labuschagne’s absence

Australian leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson was recently named the vice captain of Queensland, and he will be leading the side in both the One-Day Cup and the Sheffield Shield in ace batter Marnus Labuschagne's absence due to international duties.

Under the new leadership of head coach Johan Botha and high performance manager Joe Dawes, the reason to hand the skipper role to Swepson seems to have come as part of the major shakeup in Queensland. 

It is worth noting that Labuschagne was appointed the full-time skipper after he replaced Usman Khawaja. Furthermore, wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson had been the deputy skipper for quite some time, but it was the decision of the management to toss the captaincy hat to Swepson. 

"We had quite a bit of leadership chat in the winter, and him [Swepson] and Jimmy were excellent with all of that and the way the group saw them. I think that's a big thing as a leader, the group really would play for them and like what they see. And that's certainly the way we thought about it. We know that Jimmy can do it. He's still going to be the same Jimmy and the same on and off the field. So we just felt we want to develop another leader,” Botha told ESPNcricinfo.

It is worth noting that Swepson’s first outing as Queensland captain will come in the opening One-Day match of the season against Tasmania. Despite being a regular choice in Queensland’s set-up, Swepson has only played one 50-over game for the Bulls since November 2022. However, with his shot coming against Tasmania, Swepson will be sure to repay the faith that has been put in him by the higher-ups. 

"I think in One-Day cricket it's easier to captain as a spinner, because the game sort of tells you when to bowl. But in four-day cricket, is he going to be brave enough to bowl the 17th over of the Shield game on day one? But that's what we'll keep pushing him towards to get himself into the game. We trust him as a staff and a group, and he just needs to trust himself,” Botha said.