Proud McSweeney 'truly honoured' as he is awarded County cap by Northants

Nathan McSweeney declared himself 'truly honoured' to become only the eighth Australian to be awarded a County cap by Northamptonshire.

The 27-year-old was presented with the cap ahead of the start of day one of the Rothesay County Championship Division Two clash with Kent at Wantage Road, with former Northants batter Roy Virgin doing the honours.

McSweeney follows in the footsteps of the likes of Mike Hussey, Matthew Hayden and Trent Copeland as Australians to have been rewarded for their efforts as overseas players, and he admitted to being 'truly honoured' at the award.

"Us Australians, we don't experience it back home as we don't quite have a cap system," McSweeney told BBC Northampton.

"So for me to come over here and experience that, I am very lucky and fortunate to be in that group of Australians.

"Northants is such a proud club, Roy said some beautiful words, and I am truly honoured to be a part of that.

"I know how much it means for the players in the squad here to be a capped player, and to be one of them is a great honour.

"Hopefully I can do that cap justice and play really well today and every time I get to wear it."

The full list of Australians to be capped by Northants is Jock Livingston, George Tribe, Jack Manning, Hayden, Hussey, Chris Rogers, Copeland, and now McSweeney.

And with the player having already committed to a cinch County Ground return in 2027, McSweeney is promising to try and keep on producing the goods across all formats.

"I have had a great time since I have been here, and hopefully I will get a few more runs on the board, but it's been nice to contribute so far this season," he said.

"And as I said to a few of the boys earlier, it is something I would love to keep doing for as long as I can.

"The bunch of boys here are really hungry and striving for the success that the club probably hasn't has as consistently as it would have liked over the past few years.

"Coming here has been great for my game, I have learned so much."

And he added: "I am not sure who selects it (to award the cap), but I am very grateful they did decide that I was going to get one.

"I feel very lucky as well, there are some boys in there that have done a great job for the county and haven't quite got it yet.

"The players that do wear it have done tremendous things for a long period of time, so it is a great honour and every time I wear that hat I will be trying my absolute best to do a great job for the county."

As well as the honour for McSweeney, there was also a County cap awarded to Indian leg-spinner Yuzi Chahal.

The 36-year-old is currently enjoying his third stint at Wantage Road, having initially played for the club in 2024, and he was handed his cap by red-ball skipper Luke Procter on Thursday morning.

Chahal becomes the third Indian player to be honoured in such a way, with the others being fellow spin bowlers Bishan Bedi and Anil Kumble.