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The national selection panel, and John Inverarity in particular, have been on the receiving end of an enormous amount heat from the Australian public for their decision making.
Time and time again, this ‘poor’ decision making is ridiculed, inevitably resulting in writing off the selected player.
I can’t even recall the number of times I read an article here on The Roar or elsewhere, in which the writer was appalled by the selectors’ opinion, with calls for John Inverarity to step down from his role as chairman of selectors.
No doubt the inclusion of Darren Lehmann in the selection setup has been a large factor in Australia’s recent selection success.
This first Test match in the current South African tour marks the second time these selectors have dished out lashings of humble pie since the Ashes whitewash, once again proving everyone wrong.
First it was Mitchell Johnson, the hero of the Australian summer, with his relentless spells of pace and bounce unsettling the very best of batsmen.
Originally written off by everyone and anyone and labelled too inconsistent for Test cricket, Johnson replied by tearing apart any English batsman that stood in his way, taking wickets left, right and centre.
He has since been deemed an Australian hero, as has his iconic mo, rescuing Australia from the depths of despair a number of times, while often simply adding insult to injury on the back of some outstanding batting efforts.
Here we are three days into the first South African Test, and Johnson has already proven he is not a one-series wonder, with yet another devastating spell that brought seven South African wickets at the cost of just 68 runs.
He has shown he can perform outside Australia, an invaluable asset, and can trouble the number one Test team on their home turf.
This time however, it was Shaun Marsh who stood tall in the face of adversity, letting anyone who doubted his ability know just what he can do in the Test arena.
Whatever it was that the selectors saw in Marsh will surely have been seen by all at this stage.
Long thought of as nothing more than a solid limited overs player since his ton on Test debut, Marsh, batting at four, entered the Centurion pitch with Australia reeling in the all too familiar position of 2-24.
He calmly constructed a well paced innings of 148 in tandem with yet another heroic ton from Steve Smith, repaying the selector’s faith in him in the best way possible.
With these two fantastic selections, based on little more than hunches, it is clear the selectors do, in fact, know what they’re talking about, and any suggestions of selectors stepping down should be put to rest for quite some time now.
Surely from here on in, the NSP won’t be ridiculed for a decision that doesn’t seem immediately rational.
Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Johnson have drawn apologies from just about everyone – and it seems John Inverarity and co. deserve the same.
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