Incumbent opener Shaun Marsh says he’s ready to fight for his Ashes dream, with veteran duo Chris Rogers and Adam Voges in the box seat to oust him ahead of the series-opener in Cardiff.
Marsh knows three into two doesn’t go, and he is in a dogfight with Rogers and Voges as he scraps to emulate his father, Geoff Marsh, and play an Ashes series on English soil.
Results from the tour matches against Kent, starting on Thursday, and against Essex the following week, will likely decide who slots into Australia’s top six.
David Warner, Steve Smith and Michael Clarke are all certainties, while allrounder Shane Watson is favoured to retain his spot at No.6.
Of the contenders, Marsh appears to have the most work to do.
Voges looked to have cemented an Ashes gig with his important century on debut against the West Indies earlier this month which steered Australia from a precarious position into a match-winning one in the first Test.
Rogers has runs on the board, having topped Australia’s run-scorers across the back-to-back Ashes series in 2013 and 2014, and would be confident of being slotted back into an opening partnership alongside Warner.
“Chris is a really experienced player, he’s had a lot of success in the UK and he’s going to play a big part throughout this series,” Clarke said of Rogers.
The pair also have significant experience playing on English wickets having embarked on successful county careers.
But gifted 31-year-old left-hander Marsh isn’t giving up his spot without a fight.
“When you’re playing international cricket there’s pressure any game you play in, whether it’s tour games or Test matches,” he said.
“That’s what you expect. When we’re playing against Kent next week there’ll be pressure on not only me, but everyone.”
Marsh scored a magnificent 141 on debut against Sri Lanka in 2011 to announce himself on the world stage, but inconsistent form and injury troubles have hindered his development at Test level ever since.
He stepped in against the West Indies when Rogers withdrew on the eve of the first Test with concussion, having been struck in the head during a net session, but failed to crack 20 in his first three innings of the series.
An impressive 69 in the second innings of the second Test showed improvement, but Marsh lamented his inability to convert it into a big score – something he hopes to atone for in the tour matches.
“It was disappointing to get out on 69, I threw away 100 there. I was really disappointed in that,” he said.
“I felt like I was moving pretty well throughout both Test matches.
“I enjoyed getting out there with Davey with the challenges of opening the batting.”
When asked about what it would take to convince selectors to stick with him for the series-opening Test on July 8, Marsh joked “a few hundreds would be nice”.
dan ced
Guest
You can't play Shaun Marsh when you have Michael Klinger who cannot stop scoring runs in any format at the moment. Klinger has the patience of an old school player, with the modern edge T20 cricket has forced him to add to his repertoire. Has years of brutally good domestic form, and some good form for Aus A. Captaining experience in AUS and England. He really would be next cab off the rank. Ahead of all the youngsters and Joe Burns. Shaun Marsh needs to bat a little further up the order for WA if he wants his runs to mean anything.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
He's hardly the incumbent. Playing 2 tests as an injury replacement doesn't make him the incumbent opening batsman, it makes him the fill-in opening batsman. Chris Rogers is the incumbent opener. Marsh had the opportunity to put pressure on the incumbent opener while he replaced him for a couple of tests because of injury, and he didn't do enough to put a lot of pressure on Chris Rogers, meaning that, as the incumbent, Rogers is almost certain to be selected for the first test unless he absolutely can't find a run in the lead up matches while looking completely out of sorts, or is further injured.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Difficult to see how S Marsh gets into the team for the first test. I suppose if Voges plays poorly in the warm up games and Marsh does well he replaced him. However he won't be opening and we'll be playing an allrounder so Watto or his brother will be at No 6. Marsh is in a difficult position, his time to crack the team is just about passed. At 32 he's running out of time, if he's dropped and we keep winning, he'll have to come back to the Shield and simply keep scoring like he has and hope that none of the younger batsmen also pile on the runs (Burns, Lynn etc). We can talk about how Australia has been selecting older guys and it's never too late, but Rogers had a FC average of 50 and Voges was 45 - Marsh's isn't even 40, so it is difficult to see what he'll bring to the table moving forward if these younger batsmen keep scoring as they have over the last few years.
Bearfax
Guest
Shaun Marsh has been for so long the 'love child' of Australian selectors. There's no question the guy has talent and when he's on, he looks good. But amidst his occasional standout scores, are a lot of sub 20 scores which tells us something about his discipline when he needs to tough it out. His first class average tells us he lacks consistency and this has continued in his test play. Australia need a solid middle order player, not someone who gives away his wicket too cheaply too often. Voges deserves to be in the Australian side and there are a couple of young batsmen in the Australian A side who deserve a spot ahead of S. Marsh. Great on his day, but awful more often than great.
Rob JM
Guest
Voges averages 33.7 with the ball in first class cricket. That means we have another batsman who can fill Wattos role and who can also score runs. Play a Marsh at six (any one will do) and leave out Watson!