The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

If Australia need a fifth bowling option, Mitch Marsh is about the only option

8th December, 2017
Advertisement
Perth marks a perfect return for Mitchell Marsh. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Roar Guru
8th December, 2017
120
2280 Reads

Here we go again… It seems the selectors just can’t look past any option to select a Marsh in the Test team.

First we have the shock selection of Shaun, and now younger brother Mitch has been pulled into the squad.

Much has been said about this, and much more will. He’s not up to Test level, he’s not a top six batsman. If he’s any chance to be he needs a few more years.

Unfortunately, this is where we find ourselves at the moment. Australia has gotten through the first two Tests comfortably with just a four-man bowling attack and done well.

However, there is now the worry coming that with the WACA having turned into an even-paced road instead of the fast, bouncy, fast bowlers paradise of previous years, that having just four bowlers in a match that may be England’s best chance to avoid defeat by just having both teams score 600 plus as it dwindles out to a draw could be a real risk for the three fast bowlers in the team – so despite the success of the four man bowling attack, the fifth bowling option suddenly comes up as a requirement.

Enter Mitchel Ross Marsh. And enter all the calls of “No, not him again.”

Mitch Marsh of Australia

(AAP Image/David Mariuz)

So let’s look around the Sheffield Shield in search of alternate fifth bowling options for Australia.

Advertisement

For pace bowling allrounders we have Marcus Stoinis, Moises Henriques, Hilton Cartwright and Mitch Marsh. Really nobody else is realistically in the picture.

Henriques has done really well with the bat in recent seasons, but hasn’t bowled much, this season he’s in really poor form with bat and ball, and I doubt there are too many people who think he should get the nod.

Stoinis has shown some good things in ODIs for Australia, but has only played sporadically this season and has barely bowled, yet to take a wicket, and hasn’t exactly been on fire with the bat.

Cartwright had a good season last year with the bat, but this year he’s struggled a lot more to back that up. And he’s really little more than a part-time medium pacer.

Mitch Marsh has a first class bowling average of under 30, making him a legitimate bowling option, and while his career average with the bat is a lot less than we’d like, he is in some current form averaging 44 for the season so far.

But what about spin options? Specifically what about Maxwell?

Maxwell has definitely done plenty to put himself forward as the next batsman in line for the Test side. Unfortunately, where he was once considered a genuine all-round option, in recent years he has bowled less and less at all levels and he can be considered little more than a batsman who bowls part-time off-spin these days.

Advertisement

In five Shield rounds he’s bowled a total of 56 overs and taken 1/160. As someone to bowl a decent number of overs at the WACA and keep the pressure on the batsmen, he’s not really a viable option.

There are a few other allround options in Shield cricket, but none of them that can be considered genuine test bowling options or genuine top 6 batting options.

Many people have spoken of Ashton Turner from WA as a potentially really good allrounder, but this season he’s played all 5 games for WA and hasn’t bowled a ball.

We are simply pretty short of options in the allrounder department at the moment in Australia. And if there is a need for a fifth bowler because the pitch is likely to be a high scoring road, then Mitch Marsh’s name simply shines as the only player who can viably fill that position.

Shaun Marsh reacts with brother Mitchell

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

He probably needs a season or two in the Shield (maybe with a County contract during the offseason) to build his batting technique into a genuine top six batting option, but unfortunately, the need is now, and we can’t wait 2 years and then time-travel him back to now, so we have to take whatever option we have now.

Maxwell may be the leading contender for a top six batting position at the moment, but he’s no longer an allrounder, and even less so one who could be effective at the WACA.

Advertisement

Picking Mitch Marsh may seem like a risky Hail Mary play, but it’s probably the only one we’ve got at the moment.

And with the rest of the top six feeling a bit more solid, and Cummins adding batting strength to the tail, we are probably better positioned to risk him in the middle order than we have been for a while.

close