History is repeating itself, with the Australian Ashes squad announced yesterday leaving the most talented left-handed batsman at home for the biggest Test series on the calendar.
A largely overlooked reason Australia lost the epic 2005 Ashes series is prolific run-scorer Mike Hussey wasn’t in the squad, as the selectors stuck with out-of-form Matthew Hayden, whose style and ability was completely unsuited for the English conditions – fast, lateral-moving ball.
Had the selectors selected the best batsman for the job of opening, in Hussey, from the beginning of the series, Australia more than likely would have had a decent platform to score enough runs to win the series.
Fast forward to 2013, and the selectors were faced with the very same conundrum. Persist with mediocre lefties in Ed Cowan and Usman Kawajha while re-engaging with another unproven and largely untested first-class veteran in Chris Rogers (to name a few), or add a bit of variety and class in dumping one of those bland ideas for our most skilled left-handed top order batsman in decades – Shaun Marsh.
Sure Marsh’s Sheffield Shield form had been poor prior to finishing the season strong, but his technique and ability is not only superior to Hussey’s, it is arguably the greatest of any left-hander in the history of Australian cricket.
The fact the selectors found no room for him in our squad of 16, which only has one world-class Test batsman in Michael Clarke, needs clarification.
I’d imagine the selectors would argue Marsh has discipline and personal issues, combined with his sub-par form. However form is temporary and class is permanent and from what I’ve seen of Marsh, his struggles at Test level seemed to stem from being a victim of his own exquisite technique, which has often given him a false sense of security.
Marsh’s technique is so well built he has the ability to defend any ball delivered, while also dispatching almost any type of delivery to or over the boundary and it was apparent he was well aware of this.
Consequently, his shot selection suffered in the form of arrogantly trying to play every delivery, which meant bowlers were able to find his edge and have him caught behind square early in his inning.
All Marsh has to do is slightly channel his less talented peers (Ed Cowan) and predecessors (Mark Taylor) and leave 60% of deliveries that are missing the stumps, especially early in his innings, and he will be well on the way to having Test career statistics that will rival Hussey and Hayden.
What must also not be discounted in Marsh’s omission is that it may not be just be due to the non-player selectors, but due to him not fitting within the playing group.
If true, this is a failure of captain Michael Clarke and the so-called high performance unit for not creating an environment that gets the absolute best out of Marsh.
In previous years it was acceptable for selectors to dump Test batsmen like Ricky Ponting, Greg Blewett, Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Martin Love and Brad Hodge to find form in domestic cricket as there was a plethora of world class batsmen waiting in the wings.
Now we are forced to persist with batsmen who cannot average above 40 batting to the best of their ability.
Surely in these times, Marsh is worth persisting with for a year to see if he can find form and play to his potential on the stage he deserves.
Worst case scenario he performs at the same level as the current crop, best case scenario he averages above 50 and plays a pivotal role in Australia winning the Ashes this year.
Marsh’s omission is a disgrace for all involved and we can only hope the England bowling attack continues its recent blunt form and allows our squad to post enough runs to win the Ashes.
But I fear we will be channelling 2005 when we were in desperate need of having Hussey ready and available to replace Hayden, or in this case the entire batting line-up excluding Clarke, and save us from losing the Ashes.
Daniel
Guest
Hughes is 24 and khawaja is 26 while Marsh is 29 is another thing to think about
Daniel
Guest
Please tell me you're kidding?! Every batsman in that squad has a better record than Marsh, especially Rogers... Rogers' FC average overall is 50, Marsh's is 35 (Khawajas is 45 (43 inc test, Cowans is 42, (39 inc tests) and Hughes is 48 (44 inc tests))... Rogers FC average this season is 50 with 3 hundreds... Marsh's is 18 with 0 hundreds and 1 fifty... That's right, that "improvement" you are talking about is one innings... T20 and OD form is not FC form... If you use the Warner comparison remember that Warner's FC average is 50 (45 including tests) Marsh had his chance and blew it spectacularly, move on.. If anyone was stiff it miss out it was Smith and Cosgrove...
Bearfax
Guest
Two points DH. Khawaja's test average statistically is not valid because he has had too few test innings. It really shows little of his potential.. Cowan's on the other hand is now sufficient to consider as getting close to being consistent with what is to be expected of him. The first class averages again are a little deceptive though valid. However given Khawaja had a very poor 2011-12 season his average dropped from about 45-46 in FC to 42 at present. Cowan' on the other hand had a very good 2011-12 season and his average rose from about 35 to 39-40. So what you are seeing is Cowan's high end average and Khawaja's low end. Further Cowan is 30 and generally by that age you reach close to your best average. Khawaja is 26 and has a few years of developing and one can expect him to reach a higher medium average. I would expect Cowan to pan out at about 37 for FC and slightly less for tests. I would expect Khawaja to reach anywhere between high 40s to low 50s for FC and for tests, slightly lower when he reaches his peak. I suspect Cowan is about 15 runs poorer in potential average to Khawaja. But that's just measured guessing I suppose based on what seems to happen to most batsmen.
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
+2
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
Thank the selectors for this selection otherwise Marsh would have successfully proven that he ain't class but a$$
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
True Fact!
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
But he just doesn't get it.
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
+1
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
Watson on any day.
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
Irrespective of his first class performance, he would have failed to make a mark in England.
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
agreed
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
leaving him out is pretty good! You will see Warner's heroics pretty soon in England!
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
Maybe because of the focus and determination in Warner is much more than Shaun!
Harsh Sinha
Roar Guru
He is not the right man for Ashes!
nmj1654
Roar Rookie
Khawaja lovers, this is what you sound like, minus 7 runs off the FC average.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
The ball in the top corner of this article should be replaced by HA! This is the funniest article I've ever read on this forum! Thank you for giving me a laugh!
Gr8rWestr
Guest
Marsh, Bailey, D Hussey, Voges and Maxwell 2012/13 FC form, no debate, although most agree they has poor seasons. Ferguson, Doolan and Smith it depends what stats you focus on. Personally, I think of these players Doolan actually had the best 2012/13 season. Here are the 2012/13 FC stats for each player, where a player played games in addition to the Sheffield Shield (SS) I have included SS stats after FC: Player (Matches; Inns; NO; Runs; HS; Ave; 50; 100) GJ Bailey (8; 14; 0; 256; 66; 18.28; 1; 0) JA Burns (10; 19; 1; 587; 120; 32.61; 2; 2) AJ Doolan (11; 19; 2; 876; 161*; 51.52; 4; 2) SS (10; 18; 1; 715; 149; 42.05; 4; 1) CJ Ferguson (9; 17; 1; 639; 164; 39.93; 2; 1) DJ Hussey (9; 15; 0; 358; 112; 23.86; 1; 1) SE Marsh (4; 8; 0; 152; 84 ;19.00; 1; 0) GJ Maxwell (6; 9; 0; 193; 64; 21.44; 2; 0) SS (3; 4; 0; 90; 51; 22.50; 1; 0) SPD Smith (8; 13; 0; 524; 92; 40.30; 5; 0) SS (5; 8; 0; 296; 90; 37.00; 3; 0) AC Voges (8; 16; 1; 388; 94*; 25.86; 2; 0)
formeropenside
Guest
The answer is The Big Show - also converted himself the same way. Without the same success. The better question, which remains unaswered, is "why Marsh?"
The Barry
Roar Guru
This is either the biggest leg pull in history or the worst article I've ever read. The absolute highlights for mine are: "his struggles at Test level seemed to stem from being a victim of his own exquisite technique, which has often given him a false sense of security." "Marsh’s technique is so well built he has the ability to defend any ball delivered, while also dispatching almost any type of delivery to or over the boundary and it was apparent he was well aware of this." "his technique and ability is not only superior to Hussey’s, it is arguably the greatest of any left-hander in the history of Australian cricket." Then responding to a post the beautifully named DH says: "Agree that he also has an LBW problem, most likely from poor front foot planting, but this obviously can be improved with hard work. Every batsman has weaknesses, at least you can isolate Marsh’s to being just a couple technically" Doesn't sound like someone with an exquisite technique to me.
JohnB
Guest
Burns' recent and 2012/13 FC form was better than any of the others you mention and better than/comparable with others mentioned as possibles like Voges, Ferguson, Doolan. Better also than Smith (and Maxwell for that matter). Undeniable though that to really make a case he needed to do more.