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Australia could field a debutant batsman and a rookie quick in the Boxing Day Test due to Mitch Marsh’s injury and Mitchell Starc’s wayward bowling in the second Test at Brisbane.
Marsh will miss the third Test against India due to a hamstring strain, while there has been no confirmation yet that veteran quick Ryan Harris will be fit to return.
Starc would be certain to give way should Harris be available but looks set to be dropped even if he isn’t. The lanky left armer was a liability with the ball in the first innings, serving up boundary ball after boundary ball en route to returning 0-83 at almost five runs per over.
He bowled with greater purpose in the second innings although it probably was not enough to save his hide, particularly given his history of being turfed after ever-so-brief stints in the team.
While the Harris-Starc situation is unclear, Australia certainly will field a fresh face in their top six at Melbourne. Shane Watson is perhaps fortunate that Marsh suffered another hamstring complaint or he may have been facing the axe.
After returning to the XI for this series, Watson has made just 72 runs at 18. Even more damning than those statistics have been the manner of his dismissals. His airy attempted hook shot which gave India a sniff on Saturday was the latest in a sequence of fatally ill-advised strokes.
Marsh’s absence had seen Watson bowl 28 overs, his biggest workload in a Test for two years. The burly all-rounder was at his frugal best and those spells, together with Marsh’s injury, will give Watson some breathing space.
It remains to be seen, though, whether he will bat at first drop in Melbourne. It is possible he could move back down to six with Marsh’s replacement batting in the top order.
Who that will be is anyone’s guess. Tasmanian veteran Ed Cowan, Queensland youngster Joe Burns, and South Australian strokemakers Callum Ferguson and Tom Cooper would all be in the mix. Even 35-year-old Sandgroper Adam Voges is an outside chance of a belated Test debut after crashing 1278 runs at 67 in the Sheffield Shield since the start of last summer.
If the selectors opt for experience and reliability then Cowan or Voges will head the field. If they seek to inject some youthful vitality into an ageing Test unit then Burns would be the obvious choice. Ferguson and Cooper were both mentioned regularly as potential replacements for injured skipper Michael Clarke before that honour eventually went to Shaun Marsh.
The decision on Mitch Marsh’s replacement will be heavily influenced by what the selectors intend to do with Watson. If they wish to keep him at first drop then the incoming batsman would be stationed at six.
As a specialist opener, it is difficult to see Cowan occupying a spot outside of the top three in the Test line-up. Cooper, Ferguson, Voges and Burns all have experience in the middle order.
Burns has the advantage of being not only the youngest of that quartet but also the most versatile. He began his first-class career batting mainly between four and six for Queensland before moving up to open midway through last summer with great success.
If one of Cooper, Ferguson, Voges or Burns were picked they might not be the only Australian making their debut on Boxing Day. As stated above, Harris is no certainty for the third Test and Starc has left himself vulnerable to the axe.
Having made a statement by dropping veteran Peter Siddle twice this year, the selectors may not want to fall back on the out-of-touch Victorian. The success of introducing beanpole youngster Josh Hazlewood at Brisbane could sway them to offer a chance to another of Australia’s plethora of emerging pacemen.
West Australian left armer Jason Behrendorff and South Australian swing bowler Chadd Sayers would be the leading candidates in such a scenario. With 54 wickets at 24 in the Shield over the past two seasons, Behrendorff has been the form fast bowler in the competition.
Sayers, meanwhile, has been a consistent wicket taker for the Redbacks since debuting early in 2011. However, the 27-year-old’s lack of pace – he operates mainly in the 125-130kmh range – could count against him given Australian coach Darren Lehmann’s statements that he prefers bowlers who can exceed 140kmh.
Behrendorff, then, would appear a genuine chance of earning a baggy green on Boxing Day, perhaps alongside a debutant batsman.