Warne's glowing praise for young leggie

Mitchell Swepson has scarcely made a headline this summer but the Brisbane Heat leg-spinner was last night receiving social media love from a familiar source.

And not just any fan – none other than the King of Spin himself, Shane Keith Warne.

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Swepson took two wickets on his KFC Big Bash debut last summer and instantly caught the eye of Warne, with the leg-spinning legend impressed by the young tweaker's "energy through the crease" and ability to "give it a rip".

He finished his tweet with the line "let's keep an eye on this guy", and clearly that's what Warne has done.

While most eyes were on the pyrotechnics of Swepson's teammates Brendon McCullum and Chris Lynn, Warne was more interested in the leggie – suggesting he should have been included in Australia's squad for the upcoming New Year's Test at the spin-friendly SCG. 

Warne, who debuted at the SCG some 25 years ago, made the point that while the 23-year-old Queenslander might not be quite the finished product just yet, neither was he when he first donned the Baggy Green. 

Swepson, who finished with 1-32 from his four overs – including the wicket of Hamish Kingston with one of his chief weapons, the wrong'un – was predictably playing down any hype.

"It's awesome to hear that. Obviously he's the best spinner we've seen and to get raps like that from him is pretty good," he told bigbash.com.au. 

"I feel like the ball's coming out well, and I'm happy with those comments, so now I'm just looking to keep doing what I'm doing, spinning the ball hard and see what happens.

"They came out pretty well tonight, I was pretty happy. It was an improvement from last game so I want to keep getting better and better – that's the plan."

Swepson played for Australia A in both the first-class and 50-over formats during August-September, so there's little doubt he's on the radar, while his first-class figures are impressive for a young leg-spinner: 14 matches, 42 wickets at 32.82.

That's twice as many first-class games as Warne had played before he was thrust into a Test debut against India, though the Sheik of Tweak had collected his 26 wickets at 22.46.

"It'd be awesome (to play Test cricket), but in saying that it's all Big Bash focus for me at the moment," Swepson said.

"I'm just keen to play well for the Heat and see how we go from there."

And while the leggie continues to work on his bag of tricks, there's one ball that might be permanently ditched after it went horribly wrong on the big stage in front of 34,601 fans at the Gabba.

"'Baz' (captain Brendon McCullum) came up to me and asked me if I could bowl one seam up," Swepson explained with a grin.

"I said I didn't really have one but I'd try, and it just slipped out – it was absolutely atrocious so I'll probably put that one back in the kitbag I reckon." 

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