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Chief selector Rod Marsh is salivating at his pace but it’s Mitch Marsh’s improved fitness and consistency that has the rising allrounder excited about his World Cup hopes.
Marsh has a gilt-edged chance to seal his spot in Australia’s one-day outfit for this season’s showpiece tournament after being included in a 14-man squad to tour Zimbabwe.
One of three genuine allrounders named on Monday, the 22-year-old’s call-up comes following a lusty 211 for Australia A against India A last month.
But the selection panel is more buoyed by his improved medium-fast bowling, highlighted by a 5-50 return for the A-side in Darwin last week.
Panel chairman Rod Marsh has had his eyes on his young namesake since watching him play at a Sheffield Shield match at the WACA last season.
“I couldn’t believe how fast he bowled,” he said. “The keeper was taking them up here (near his throat) and I thought my God … he was quick.
“If he can maintain that, it gives him a new dimension as a cricketer because we all know how he can bat.”
Injury-plagued Mitch, who played the first of his four ODIs three years ago, said he’d focussed on his control over speed since overcoming a gut-wrenching hamstring tear at the start of last season.
“I’m never going to be an express bowler,” he said. “The biggest thing I’ve worked on is consistency and staying on the park.
“The more you play the better you get so hopefully I can do that.”
Australia’s squad has plenty of flexibility with Marsh and Shane Watson able to bat at the top of the order while the likes of James Faulkner, Ben Cutting and Mitchell Johnson are lusty lower-order hitters.
Cutting’s call-up comes after taking 12 wickets at 18.16 in the A series where he attributed sidelined Test quick Ryan Harris’s coaching as invaluable.
“I’ve worked closely with him on my bowling and he’s been fantastic,” the Queenslander said. “He’s been a big cog in the wheel to get me where I am.”
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