If there was ever a time for Shaun Marsh to make runs, this was it. He has been given countless opportunities in the Australian team, but yesterday – against the attack who will run onto the Gabba in the first Test match – he put his hand firmly in the air.
After a half-century against the pink ball in the first round of the Sheffield Shield, and a duck in the first innings against New South Wales, he smacked the Blues attack around for 91, as part of a 179-run opening stand with wicketkeeping hopeful Cameron Bancroft.
While many will bemoan the fact we are even mentioning Marsh again, form and circumstances have demanded we talk about him.
Yesterday, I wrote about the lack of apparent openers in Australian cricket. It’s not far from the truth given we are talking about Marsh, who has had more chances than most, but he is demanding another look.
He made an attack featuring Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Patrick Cummins and Nathan Lyon look second rate, in a timely reminder to the national selection panel.
Whether they will take a punt on Marsh is anyone’s guess, but it’s not hard to remember that he was in the Test team last summer and then toured India. For him to be given another opportunity would drive fans up the wall, but it may not be the worst option.
Two good innings, both against good attacks and the first of those in trying conditions against the pink ball, illustrate that he is in some decent form.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Matt Renshaw.
As I detailed yesterday (met with mixed reactions from Roarers), the incumbent Aussie opener is struggling. He made 19 off 109 balls in his second innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and hasn’t gone close to making a half-century in his four Shield innings.
Renshaw’s problem is that he hasn’t scored a great deal of runs in his last six Test matches. While he deserves to be there based on his century in the last Test of the 2016-17 summer, he doesn’t have long to show form in the present, particularly if Marsh keeps peeling off a score every second innings.
As for Bancroft, in his first match of the season, he carried his bat to make 76 in the first innings before backing it up with 86 yesterday.
Given the well-publicised struggles of wicketkeeper Matthew Wade – whose Shield season has yielded scores of 3, 6, 9 and 17, which doesn’t inspire confidence – Bancroft has thrown his hat into the ring as a smokey for the job come November 23.
Other keeping possibilities Alex Carey and Peter Nevill have struggled with the stick during the opening two rounds, but Bancroft is clearly in form. However, while he was opening for Western Australia, it’s unlikely Bancroft would do the same in the baggy green, instead batting at No.7.
Progress was also made in the race for No.6. Despite Jake Lehmann joining the list of bolters on Monday with a brilliant 93, Glenn Maxwell seems to have cut that race off at the start line, blasting his way to 64. It was his second half-century of the match and with Western Australian all-rounder Hilton Cartwright inconsistent, Maxwell is in the box seat.
A century almost certainly would have sealed the day for the incumbent all-rounder, but it wasn’t too be as he was removed by Joe Mennie.
AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi
In other news, it’s becoming clear just how dangerous an in-form Starc can be. He picked up a second hat-trick in as many days to win the games for the Blues yesterday, against lower-order batsmen, while Hazlewood held an end down – as he so often does in the baggy green.
After Chadd Sayers took wickets the previous day, Joe Mennie took over on the morning of Day 4, leading the Redbacks attack with 4-39 from 18 overs.
It was a superb performance from Mennie and must put him into calculations as the squad’s first reserve bowler.
Dogs Boddy
Roar Rookie
Wow calm down people, nothing like mentioning Dave Warner to bring em out. I was estimating the 90% mark, thank you to those who have the accurate stats to show me they have more time on their hands than is warranted. What I am saying is that he makes a lot more runs in Oz than elsewhere. His average in India is 24 by the way (0 hundreds 3 fifties), yet he always plays there. See I can Google too. I like Dave Warner, I just find it interesting that he can go through quite lean periods and never be considered by the Roar crowd as being in trouble, yet everyone else has their name come up if they fail a few times in a row. He has certainly benefitted from being allowed an extended run in the team to get set. Maybe other players should be given the same benefit, that's the point I was trying to make.
Don Freo
Guest
Julian, if you read the comment above yours by JamesH, you will see why there is a case. No one is "spellbound". They just follow the game.
JamesH
Roar Guru
I don't think we should go back to Marsh. That said, the calls for his inclusion have far more merit than most people are giving credit for. One thing people overlook is that the first part of his international career came on the back of his alleged talent, rather then weight of runs. He was averaging around 30 in Shield cricket for a while and still coming into test calculations. The Australian public have always been very hard on players who get picked on potential rather than merit, yet that's hardly Marsh's fault. You don't knock back an invite to play for your country. From 2014 onwards, Marsh has averaged well over 50 in Shield cricket. In the same period he has played 16 tests at an average of a touch under 40 with effectively 4 hundreds and 7 50s (I'm including a 99 and a 49 as a ton and a 50 respectively). Of those tests, just 5 have been at home. If you consider that the last four matches were in India - traditionally the toughest place for Australians to score runs - it's actually a pretty strong record. At present, Marsh is clearly in decent form and he has put together some cricket over the last three years that genuinely makes a case for his selection. I do wonder how much the public's views are coloured by those early failures when he shouldn't have been picked.
Ben Brown
Guest
How many Tests has Khawaja played overseas to prove his worth since his recall Ronan?
PeteB
Guest
No no no no....he has still only put up one good score in a row...he has proven time and again that he is not consistently good enough for test cricket. Stick with Renshaw...at least he still provides hope for the future.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
To be fair Maxwell performed better in India than Renshaw but only played two of the four tests. Selectors hadn't quite worked out that Mitch Marsh was little more than an exercise in futility. Better late than never, I guess.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Test averages away from home: Warner ........... 38 Khawaja ......... 27
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
Not a massive Marsh fan but number of times dropped from the side shouldn't be reason not to be selected. If that were the case Khawaja can't be considered. He's been dropped five times.
John Erichsen
Roar Guru
His last two test hundreds were scored away from home. In his last two tests, in fact. Maybe that's why nobody thinks he should be dropped?
Steve
Guest
warner has three centuries in SA, 1 in the UAE and 2 in bangledesh, not 90% in australia, if only he had 60 hundreds...
JohnB
Guest
Incidentally, Renshaw was second in the aggregates in India. A long way behind Steve Smith, but ahead of all others. He tailed off as that series went on (fatigue?). In Bangladesh he top scored in the first innings of the first test (but with only 45) then had 2 failures and a start, for a poor season below all the batsmen bar Khawaja, Cartwright and Wade (although only Warner and to a lesser extent Handscomb did much with the bat). So yes his last 6 tests haven't been great - but they've been not appreciably worse than anyone else's bar Smith and Warner. While I think he needs runs soon (if only because he's been able to stay in long enough to show he doesn't appear to be in much form), I don't think he can be kicked out because of the last 6 tests.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Yeah, that seems one of the sillier things I have read on this site, sorry Chris. Coming from someone who usually backs of their opinion with long explanations and thought.
Dogs Boddy
Roar Rookie
That could be it :) Mind you over 90% of his centuries have been in Oz. He constantly fails in India yet doesn't suffer the same issues as Usman and others. He is certainly a protected player.
George
Guest
Bang on. Marsh has many times been in the thick of the collapse problems.
George
Guest
18 scores of 11 runs or under.
Gordon Smith
Guest
Wow - against an Australian attack when the rest after he and Bancroft got out scored next to nothing. I suppose when he won the first day night test under lights against NZ they were perfect conditions also.
ja ja klazo
Guest
I can't be sure, but I would imagine the reason no one is saying to drop Warner is because he has scored 20 test centuries at an average just under 48...
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Marsh came in during probably the best batting conditions of the Shield season to date, the pitch had flattened out, the sun was shining, there was no swing at all. He built a good opening partnership, then the ball started reverse swinging and he was out within a couple of overs of the ball starting to swing, followed by the rest of the WA team.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Marsh would bat at 6 if he was selected. I can't see Renshaw being dropped.
vrx
Guest
Renshaw to do the job of seeing out Anderson and Broad with the new ball. If he does that, Khawaja and Smith will feast on Woakes, Overton and/or Moeen Ali. There’s no need to chop and change with the top order.