With Shane Watson’s dismal performance in Cardiff, there have been calls for him to be replaced with Mitch Marsh – and with good reason.
Watson isn’t taking wickets, or scoring runs, which are what all-rounders are meant to do. One name that hasn’t been mentioned is James Faulkner.
He has been seen as more of a ODI or Twenty20 player, but he has good credentials to perhaps warrant a call-up for the secon Test, even though he isn’t in the squad.
The selectors may have made a mistake in not including him and here are the reasons why.
Firstly, let’s compare their overall traits. Marsh is a strong middle order batsman, and he can also bowl up to 135kp/h.Faulkner lacks the ability to get up to that pace, however he possesses a slower ball which can deceive even the best batsmen.
He is also a useful lower-order batsman who can hit the ball with power.
Now let’s look at the bowling. One of the main problems with the 1st Test for Australia was keeping the economy rate down, and with Faulkner’s bag of tricks, he would be a good choice to try to slow England down if the runs were flowing.
Marsh has more pace, however Australia aren’t exactly short on that, with Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazelwood, Mitchell Starc (if he’s fit) and Ryan Harris’s replacement, Pat Cummins, providing a pace attack that on its day is impossible to beat.
We can now look at the batting side of things. Marsh is a middle order batsman with plenty of skill and in my opinion, he is a better batsman than Faulkner.
However, Faulkner can get quick runs on the board well and bats lower down the order. Australia’s short tail would mean he could bat as low as 9, which would mean England’s bowlers have to work even harder to knock Australia over than they do now.
Overall, they are both great all-rounders, and I believe that Mitch Marsh should be called in for the next Test. I can’t help wondering if Faulkner would have an impact on the series had he been selected in the squad.
The only thing that is certain is that Shane Watson’s time in the team, not only for this Ashes series but his whole career, is almost up.
There is no shortage of successors who can improve the team and win us games for years to come.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was looking comfortable at 67 off 40, until this moment when he hit the ball into his own stumps!
The Aussie made his 50 off 37 balls, for his fourth half-century of the season as his Sunrisers Hyderabad went on to beat Rajasthan…
Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. This quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein, but nobody knows if he…
This series’ twelfth and final team has a distinct West Indian flavour at the top of the order, and a domineering captain.
Mitch Marsh has been appointed as Australia's men's Twenty20 captain, set to lead a squad to the World Cup that does not include Steve…
Australia are set to turn their back on rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk’s whirlwind IPL form and drop Steve Smith in their T20 World Cup…
