Will Marsh be dropped or will he join the greats?
Columnist By Kersi Meher-Homji, 15 Sep 2011 Kersi Meher-Homji is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Cricket, Ryan Harris, Shaun Marsh, Sri Lanka, Trent Copeland
Will Shaun Marsh join Andy Ganteaume and Rodney Redmond or will he join Bill Ponsford, Doug Walters, Alvin Kallicharan, Greg Blewett and Saurav Ganguly in the Colombo Test starting tomorrow?
As we all know, Marsh scored a century in his Test debut last week in Pallekele, Kandy.
What no one knows is whether he will be included in the Colombo Test.
The return of Ricky Ponting means that one of the three; opening batsman Phil Hughes, middle-order batsmen Usman Khawaja or Marsh may be dropped.
Hughes is an opening batsman and thus a near certainty despite his patchy form.
Khawaja has not really fired in his first three Tests but the talent is there. He looks a class act and looks likely to take over the number three spot once Ponting retires.
Also, rain interfered in Australia’s only innings of the previous Test, not offering Khawaja – batting at number six – an opportunity to score more runs.
But Marsh came in at three and scored a solid 141 runs in his only Test innings so far.
If I were a selector, I would promote Marsh to open the innings and drop Hughes. After all, Marsh has opened the batting for Australia in ODIs.
But then I am not a selector!
If Marsh is dropped, he will become the third batsman to be axed after scoring a century on Test debut.
The other two are Andy Ganteaume from the West Indies and Rodney Redmond from New Zealand.
Ganteaume scored 112 against England at Port-of-Spain in 1947-48. For mysterious reasons he was never picked in a Test again and retired from Test arena, a frustrated man but with a batting average of 112.00.
Redmond scored 107 and 56 in the Auckland Test against Pakistan in 1972-73 and was never selected in a Test again. His consolation was a Test batting average of 81.50.
Their stories defy logic.
Ganteaume, now over 90 and a personal friend, confided in me: “Could you imagine any player of the Establishment being dropped immediately after making a century on his first Test appearance?”
Redmond told me, “If a cricketer is not persevered with, it crucifies him.”
I sincerely hope Marsh, currently averaging 141.00 with bat, does not join this sad duo.
Now let’s look at a more positive scenario.
If Marsh is picked in the final Test starting tomorrow and scores a century, he will join the select group of Australia’s Ponsford, Walters and Blewett, West Indian Alvin Kallicharran and India’s Ganguly to hit hundreds in their first two Tests.
So far India’s Mohammad Azharuddin is the only cricketer to register centuries in his first three Tests. Something for Marsh to aim for.
So far Marsh has done everything right for himself, his proud dad Geoff and his country.
He must play in the Colombo Test which commences tomorrow.
For once Australia has an embarrassment of riches in their batting. The same cannot be said about her bowling.
Injured fast-medium bowler Ryan Harris will be missed. He made vital breakthroughs in the first two Tests in Sri Lanka.
If unfit, who will replace Harris? Will it be the experienced seamer Peter Siddle or the 21-year-old newcomer from Victoria, the spiky-haired, quickie James Pattinson?
If selected, Pattinson will be the fourth debutant for Australia in this series against Sri Lanka. Will he be as successful as Trent Copeland and Nathan Lyon were in the first Test and Marsh was in the second?
Will the trend of Australian debutants doing well continue in Colombo?
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- Explore:
- Cricket, Ryan Harris, Shaun Marsh, Sri Lanka, Trent Copeland
September 15th 2011 @ 8:06am
sheek said | September 15th 2011 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Hi Kersi,
As we discussed the other day, perhaps Ian Redpath provides the best example for Sean Marsh. Back in 1963/64 Redpath was called into the Australian team to replace Norm O’Neill, against South Africa.
Here are the similarities – like now, it was the 2nd test; like now with Ponting, O’Neill’s omission was NOT form related (I think he was injured); back then Redpath was an opener replacing a 3-4 batsman, just like Marsh is doing now.
Redpath, opening with Victorian team mate Bill Lawry, with new skipper Bobby Simpson batting down the order, scored 97 & 25, & was promptly dropped again for the remainder of the series.
However, Redpath was selected for the subsequent tour of England, where he played all 5 tests, & went on to a distinguished career, playing 67 tests over 13 seasons.
I think Khawaja is safe, simply because batting at #6, it would require too much alteration with the batting order if he was the one to make way for Ponting. Besides, Khawaja’s talent is obvious, & requires nurturing.
So I think it comes down to Hughes making way for Marsh, or Marsh going back to the bench & biding his time.
If I were the selector I would probably drop Marsh but encourage him that his next opportunity won’t be far away. Hughes has been mucked around enough by the selectors, & he needs more encouragement at this time.
Kersi, BTW, you mentioned Kallicharran scoring centuries in his first two tests – 100 no in 4th test & 101 in 5th tests, both against New Zealand in 1971/72.
This was a good series for West Indian batting debutants. Kallicharran’s team mate Lawrence Rowe had the best start of any new batsman in the first test of this same series. He scored 214 & 100 no!
September 15th 2011 @ 8:28am
Kersi Meher-Homji said | September 15th 2011 @ 8:28am | Report comment
Quite true, Sheek.
Apart from Rowe, the following had grand Test debuts:
Australia’s opening batsman Charles Bannerman scored 165 not out and 4 in his and Test cricket’s debut. This was against England on the MCG in 1877. He carried his bat.
England’s RE Foster scored 287 and 14 in his Test debut, vs. Australia on the SCG in 1903-04. He scored most runs (287) in a debut innings.
As you mentioned Sheek, Rowe is the only one to hit a double century and a century in his Test debut.
Foster and Rowe are the only ones to total 300+ runs in their Test debuts (both innings).
New Zealander BR Taylor is the only one to score a century and take 5 wickets in his Test debut (vs. India at Kolkata, 1964-65).
September 15th 2011 @ 8:42am
sheek said | September 15th 2011 @ 8:42am | Report comment
And Kersi,
Speaking of Charles Bannerman, his 165 out of 245 remains the greatest individual percentage runs (67.35%) of the the team total by any batsman scoring a century.
Many have tried in over 1,000 tests, & some like Slater & Sehwag, have got close, but yet, no-one has surpassed Bannerman’s achievement in international cricket’s first-ever test.
Also, no Aussie batsman on debut has managed to pass Bannerman’s 165, although Archie Jackson (164 in 1928/29) & Kepler Wessels (162 in 1982/83) both went desperately close.
September 15th 2011 @ 8:55am
Brett McKay said | September 15th 2011 @ 8:55am | Report comment
Kersi, at the risk of sitting on the fence, I think the answer to your headline question is ‘both’. I think the Aussies NEED Hughes and Khawaja to get amongst the runs on this tour, which means a rough call on Marsh, but ultimately, I don’t think he’ll need to wait too long for a second Test.
Also, I know this wasn’t after his debut innings, but from memory, Martin Love made an unbeaten century filling in for an injured Steve Waugh, and never played another Test??
September 15th 2011 @ 9:03am
formeropenside said | September 15th 2011 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Nah, Queensland has a few good young batsmen coming through in the next little while, so Australia does not need Hughes and Khawaja to perform. If they cant perform, well, thats a shame I suppose, but we’ll find out in the next little while.
September 15th 2011 @ 9:09am
Rellum said | September 15th 2011 @ 9:09am | Report comment
For this test I would drop Khawaja and play Watson at six and have a Marsh/Hughes opening Partnership, even though I don’t rate Hughes as an international opener. Khawaja and Hughes both have technical deficiencies, but Khawaja’s are minor and can be fixed quickly, where Hughes has his much published problems that he is improving on but are still hampering his play.
September 15th 2011 @ 9:22am
Kersi Meher-Homji said | September 15th 2011 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Brett,
Martin Love scored 62 not out in his Test debut on the MCG in 2002-03. He later scored a Test century against Bangladesh at Cairns but later lost his place to Damien Martyn.
I n my post I was referring to be dropped after scoring a century on Test debut.
Please name the mystery Queenslander, formeropenside.
September 15th 2011 @ 10:15am
formeropenside said | September 15th 2011 @ 10:15am | Report comment
Mystery? Both Joe Burns and Chris Lynn. Of course, not wearing sky blue they will actually have to make runs to get in the Australian team…
September 15th 2011 @ 10:15am
NS1815 said | September 15th 2011 @ 10:15am | Report comment
Maybe formeropenside is talking about Chris Lynn. He was being talked up by pundits last 1st class season, and he scored a hundred in his second match, coming in under pressure at no 4 2nd innings witha big 1st innings deficit and scxoring more than half the team’s second innings total to draw the game. These are the runs that should get a guy picked for Australia. Tough runs under pressue. Although that said he failed in his next 2 first class matches before scoring 172 to finish the season.
September 15th 2011 @ 12:38pm
Sparky said | September 15th 2011 @ 12:38pm | Report comment
Why not ask pointing to sit out a test and reassess for the next series. Relatively easier situations like this are perfect experience for green players and I doubt pointing benefits much from this game and I doubt Australia will need his contribution.
September 15th 2011 @ 2:05pm
Mathew said | September 15th 2011 @ 2:05pm | Report comment
I think axing Phillip Hughes would be the silliest decision Australia cricket could make. The reason for axing Simon Katich
was that they wanted to “bed down” the opening combination of “Shane Watson and Phillip Hughes” for the 2013 Ashes series. If you axe Hughes two tests after you have said that, then your selection policies look all the more ridiculous.
I think you need to give Phillip Hughes an extended run in the test team. Could you please explain what Usman Khawaja has done that gives him the edge in selection over Phillip Hughes? Khawaja has scored less runs than Hughes in his last two tests and moreoever Hughes has scored more first class runs in his last 10 first class innings than any (I repeat, any) batsmen in world cricket.
Also, Shaun Marsh scored 141 on debut but tough luck to him; one innings is not and should not be enough to break
into the team. If it is, then this says a lot about the lack of team stability in Australian cricket. In the words of Steve Waugh, you need to pick a group of young players and stick with them through thick and thin. Hughes and Khawaja need at least until the end of the India test series in January, 2012 to cement their positions in the test batting line-up. Neither of them is horrendously out of form to warrant being axed after two test matches.
A consistent selection policy entails dropping players only if they are out of form. The only exceptions would be when there are so many players knocking down the test selection door that it is impossible to ignore. However, other than Shaun Marsh, no-one is knocking down the test selection door for batting (except David Hussey, Mark Cosgrove, Phil Jacques, Chris Rogers etc. but these players will be ignored by the Australian selectors for some ridiculous reason).
I really do hope that Hughes is backed to perform. The kid has serious talent and has scored twin centuries in only his second test match. Also, he is 22 years old. Please give him an extended run in the test team; he will perform. His first class batting average exceeds by miles the batting averages of every other player in Australian cricket except for Ricky Ponting (and even Ponting’s batting average in first class cricket is not more than 3-4 runs higher than Hughes’).
Mathew
September 15th 2011 @ 3:08pm
MrKistic said | September 15th 2011 @ 3:08pm | Report comment
Given that most of the decisions made up until now regarding Hughes and Katich have been made by a selection panel that has effectively been sacked for its poor decision making ability, I don’t think that resting Hughes for under performing would be ridiculous by any means. Maybe not ideal, sure, but this team will be selected by Nielsen and Clarke and they may have very different ideas about what the team make up should be over the next couple of years.
That being said I’m with you, I don’t see anything wrong with leaving Marsh out. There’s no doubt he’s in contention for a spot if one comes up now and we know that the Argus report tells us we must pick players on form so if he comes home & makes some runs or gets a go in South Africa, he makes his way into the squad. And a poorly performing player like Ponting gets left out. Right?!?
September 15th 2011 @ 2:54pm
JohnB said | September 15th 2011 @ 2:54pm | Report comment
I thought both Ganteaume and Redmond played the last test of a series, then the delay before the next game caused their troubles (Redmond – eye problems; Ganteaume – the general strength of other batting available, and maybe some inter-island rivalry. Cricinfo also suggests dissatisfaction with his “slow batting” in that hundred).
I was wrong re Ganteaume – his test was the second in the series – Stollmeyer and Walcott opened in the first, Ganteaume and Carew in the second (Walcott, who was also keeping, went down the order, Stollmeyer out of the side, why I don’t know). Carew also got a hundred and opened in the third with Goddard (replacing Gomez as captain and coming up from much lower in the order – and the captaincy thing is probably a big part of the reason for Ganteaume being out in those pre-Worrell as captain days). WI won that third test to go one up in the series, but why would that make you keep the same side? For the fourth (and final) test it was Stollmeyer back replacing Carew to open with Goddard, who was still captain even though Gomez had come back. And people complain about the Australian selectors! Mind you, the Windies selectors would point out that they won that 4th test also so they can’t have been completely wrong. So for Andy Ganteaume it looks like a fair bit of competition for his spot, a bit of politics and a bit of race?
Have there been othe instances of a player getting 100 on debut in the middle of a series and then being dropped (while fit) for the next game in the series? Can’t have been many!
Coming back to today, picking 2 of Hughes, Khawaja and Marsh is a very hard call. Neither Hughes nor Khawaja made many in the first 2 tests – on the other hand, the wicket gives an excuse in the first, and Khawaja managed starts in each innings then before not getting an opportunity in the second. Fair also to say that while I’ve never been a fan of Hughes he’s at least batted for some time in 2 of his 3 test innings on this tour, doing the basic job of the opener, so while he hasn’t had a big score you can’t really say he’s failed (and the one time he did fail, in the first test, he got the sort of ball that would have got most people out).
September 15th 2011 @ 7:02pm
sheek said | September 15th 2011 @ 7:02pm | Report comment
JohnB,
Perhaps it’s not quite well known as with the apartheid system in South Africa, but the West Indies not only suffered from inter-island rivalry prior to say the 1960s, but also colonial racism.
As you know, Frank Worrell was the first regular black appointee as West Indies captain in 1960. Although the great George Headley captained the Windies in one test in the late 40s. But otherwise, from 1928 (their first test) to early 1960, all the Windies captains were whites, or mostly whites!
According to Kersi in a conversation the other day, Ganteaume was a black, or at best a coloured. He believed himself that the reason for his future omissions was because of race. Kersi can obviously tell the story better than me, but Ganteaume remains bitter he never played another test because of supposed racism.
To digress somewhat, I would consider Frank Worrell to arguably be one of the greatest captains to ever grace a cricket field, if not the very best. From everything I’ve read about him, he’s the kind of guy I would willingly follow into hell. He was just that inspirational a human being!
When he became captain of the West Indies in late 1960, he was almost 36, which is incredibly late for such a talented leader of men. Why didn’t Worrell captain the Windies earlier? Part of the reason may have been due to the residue of overt colonial racism. But Worrell also missed a couple of tours at different times in the late 40s/early 50s due to his university studies.
He may have captained the Windies only a brief 15 times, but the legacy he left is phenomenal!
September 15th 2011 @ 8:33pm
JohnB said | September 15th 2011 @ 8:33pm | Report comment
The race element is what I was alluding to in talking about Goddard replacing Gomez as captain and that being a factor in Ganteaume being dropped. I mistakenly thought Gomez (who like Goddard was white) did not play in the 3rd test and that accommodating his replacement meant a reshuffle that Gantuaume fell foul of.
I came across this Cricinfo article in looking at the scorecards of the series. It makes a cryptic reference to a pre-series agreement regarding captaincy and that makes it all a bit less bizarre (even though it doesn’t explain the agreement):
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/230869.html
Headley captained the WI in the first test of that series. I don’t know exactly why he didn’t play in the following tests but he was nearly 40 and as he batted 11 in the second innings of that game he may have been injured. Regardless, Gomez captained the 2nd (the one Ganteaume played – incidentally, I can’t really tell from his photo in Cricinfo whether he’s of African or Indian heritage. Also incidentally – Worrell debuted in the same game). Gomez had played test cricket before WWII and ended up with a decent test record as an all-rounder. Regardless, Goddard then replaced Gomez as captain for the 3rd and 4th tests, although Gomez played in both. Goddard had batted lower in the order in the first 2 games (5, 7 and 8, doing ok but nothing spectacular) – he then opened in the 3rd and 4th (for 3 failures and a 40 odd not out, but 2 wins). That Goddard debuted in the first game of that series, such that his first game as captain was only his third test, again indicates that both the race and inter-island things were playing big parts.