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With Michael Clarke and Mitch Marsh likely to join Australia’s next Test tour, of the West Indies in June, two of Australia’s current top-six could be facing the axe.
Rookie strokemaker Joe Burns, inconsistent West Australian Shaun Marsh and veteran all-rounder Shane Watson will all have their positions scrutinised by the selectors.
Based solely on their efforts in this Test at the SCG, all three deserved to be retained. That won’t happen though, unless both Clarke and the younger Marsh are unavailable for the first Test in Dominica.
If he’s fit for the Windies tour, Clarke is an automatic selection. Mitch Marsh, meanwhile, is so highly regarded by the selectors and has been so impressive in his brief Test career that he also could be recalled immediately.
The 23-year-old put Watson on notice with mature knocks in the UAE, followed by more expansive and exhilarating batting at Adelaide. He had also shown he can operate with the dependability and frugality, if not necessarily the potency, Australia seek from their fifth bowler.
Marsh’s hamstring injury in the second Test at Brisbane eased the pressure on Watson. Yet continued failures with the bat ensured that he entered this final Test in Sydney perhaps playing for his career.
Familiar criticism had emerged about his failure to make Test runs when Australia most need them. Watson often is subjected to unfair slurs, but he has earned this particular one. With the bat he recently has made a habit of struggling when the pressure is on and then cashing in when it is not.
On last year’s Ashes tour of England, he laboured while the series was alive, returning 136 runs at 23 over the first three Tests. Once England had retained the Ashes, he boosted his figures with impressive but effectively meaningless innings of 68 and 176 in the final two matches.
In the return series Down Under, Watson scraped together just 97 runs at 19 from his first five innings. By the time he finally made an impact, clattering 108 in the second innings at Perth, England were a broken side and Australia were all but guaranteed of regaining the urn.
This summer, he made just 141 runs at 23 across the first three Tests as Australia and India fought for possession of the Border-Gavaskar trophy. These figures do not tell the full story either. It must be noted that those three Tests were played on the flattest of decks against a toothless Indian attack. The circumstances could scarcely have been more amiable for an Australian Test batsman, yet Watson floundered, regularly gifting his wicket to the tourists.
To be fair to Watson, his bowling against India has been wonderful. Series figures of 4-222 do not accurately reflect the value he has offered to his side with 76.4 overs of typically accurate, clever and economical bowling.
Watson’s workload with the ball is the heaviest it has been for years. Only twice has he sent down more overs in a series – during the 2013 Ashes (although he bowled just 9.5 overs per innings then compared to 11 this summer) and when India toured Australia six years ago. That would suggest that the Australian coaches and medical team believe his body is in good shape. How long, though, will the selectors put up with his ineffectiveness when series are there to be won?
Mitch Marsh has shown enough in his four Tests to suggest that he should be able to least match Watson’s output with the bat, while performing a similar holding role with the ball.
Of course, it is quite possible that both all-rounders may be included in the team for the Windies and push forward together into the tour of England. Burns appears the man most vulnerable to being jettisoned, despite his valuable hauls of 58 and 66 in this Test. ‘Last in, first out’, goes the saying about sporting selection.
The sometimes unwarranted opportunities offered to Shaun Marsh in the past suggest he is a favourite of the Australian hierarchy. Having collected a solid 254 runs at 42 this series it is hard to see him being dropped ahead of Burns.
The young Queenslander may have to wait until Chris Rogers makes his scheduled post-Ashes retirement before he gets another crack at Test cricket, this time in his favoured spot at the top of the order.
With Watson seeming to have saved his spot once more thanks to a late-series resurgence, the final spot in Australia’s top six looks set to be fought for by the brothers Marsh.