Picking Mitch Marsh over Maxwell is madness

Australia’s batting is its major shortcoming in Tests, so it makes no sense to further weaken the top six by selecting tried-and-failed all-rounder Mitchell Marsh for the third Ashes Test this week.

All-rounders typically are picked to enhance the balance of a cricket team, but in the case of Marsh, the effect is opposite. Given the supreme strength of Australia’s bowling attack, their fifth bowler need only be a modest performer capable of keeping things reasonably tight while the specialists rest.

Unlike teams such as England, who rely heavily on a fifth bowler to help them take 20 wickets, Australia have shown they can win games handsomely with just four.

Between Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, Australia have such firepower that the fifth bowler likely would only be required to send down a meagre six to eight overs per day. Marsh has delivered only eight overs per innings on average across his 21-Test career, and having just returned from a serious shoulder injury it seems improbable he would be asked to exceed that workload.

A quota of eight overs per innings does not necessitate fielding a high-quality fifth bowler like Marsh. All that is needed is someone who has plenty of experience bowling in professional cricket, someone who isn’t a rank part-timer.

It just so happens that this description fits a man who is dominating the Sheffield Shield with the bat and who was frightfully unlucky to be dropped for the first Ashes Test.

(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Glenn Maxwell is not in the same league as Marsh with the ball, but he is a much, much more accomplished first-class batsman. Over the past two years, Marsh has made 943 runs at 26 in first-class cricket. In that same period, Maxwell has made 1,438 runs at 48.

Those in favour of picking Marsh will point to the fact Maxwell averages 160 with the ball in the current Shield season. What’s more relevant is Maxwell’s impressive economy rate of 2.85 runs per over across the 56 overs he’s bowled for the Bushrangers.

The role Maxwell has played with the ball for Victoria is exactly the one he could perform for Australia. Just like the national team, Victoria have a powerful frontline attack, with Chris Tremain, Scott Boland and Jon Holland each averaging between 18 and 24 with the ball this season. All they’ve asked of Maxwell is to chip in, sending down seven overs an innings on average while not allowing the pressure to be released.

Victoria don’t need wickets out of Maxwell and nor would Australia. Both teams have frontline attacks that have no problem running through the opposition; the fifth bowler just helps keep those guys fresher.

Similar to the way a nightwatchman’s main job is to protect specialist batsmen rather than to make runs, a fifth bowler’s role in such a potent attack is to ease the bowling load of the frontliners rather than to make breakthroughs.

Australia cannot afford to weaken a batting line-up which has collapsed with alarming frequency in recent times. Despite cruising to a 2-0 scoreline in this Ashes, the side’s batting has been far from commanding.

In the first dig at Brisbane, they were 4/76 before being rescued by Steve Smith. In the first innings at Adelaide, they were vulnerable at 5/209 when Shaun Marsh and Tim Paine put them back on track before they were then rolled for 138 batting a second time.

(AAP Image/David Mariuz)

Looking beyond the Ashes, Australia’s next series is in South Africa in less than three months from now against one of the greatest pace units ever assembled in Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel. The Proteas destroyed Australia’s batting line-up last summer despite missing Morkel and Steyn getting injured midway through the first Test.

That South African bowling attack would be licking their lips if Australia were to arrive in their country with a number six in Mitch Marsh, who currently averages 21 with the bat in Tests.

The presence of Marsh in the batting line-up would also ratchet up the pressure on new gloveman Tim Paine to make runs. Paine already has a stiff enough challenge to adapt to Tests having not played a great deal of first-class cricket in recent years, having struggled badly with the bat during those limited appearances. He doesn’t need to be given a greater batting burden.

While I understand the concerns about Peter Handscomb’s form and the need for a fifth bowling option on an expected flat deck at Perth, Australia would be overcorrecting by picking Marsh. Australia have looked more balanced in his absence.

If Australia feel they need to replace Handscomb with a batsman who is a reasonable bowler, then Maxwell is the obvious choice. Unfortunately the Victorian has been stiffed once more and Marsh appears set to be gifted another unjustified Test cap.