Mitch Marsh is a member of Australia’s Ashes squad, and there’s talk of him being picked for the fourth Test starting on Wednesday in Manchester.
Marsh shouldn’t play the next Test, and in fact, he shouldn’t even be in the squad.
After 31 Tests, Marsh has a batting average 25. His batting isn’t up to Test match standard.
But despite his constant failures at Test level, Marsh has a decent white-ball record. In the ODI format, he averages 35 with both bat and ball. In the Twenty20 arena, Marsh averages 30 with the bat and 27 with the ball.
(AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)
Unfortunately, the constant push to make Marsh a Test player has limited his white-ball opportunities. He was left out of Australia’s limited-overs sides in November last year in order to play in the Sheffield Shield.
Earlier this year, Marsh signed up to play for Glamorgan in the English Twenty20 Blast, but he was selected in the Ashes squad, which made him unavailable for that competition.
Since making his Twenty20 International debut in 2011, Marsh has played just 11 matches for the Australian T20 national team. Playing a season of Twenty20 cricket in England would’ve helped Marsh push for a spot in that Australian side.
So while players such as D’Arcy Short, Alex Carey, James Faulkner, Peter Handscomb and Dan Christian have been playing Twenty20 cricket and pushing for international selection, Marsh has been running drinks for the Test side.
If the Australian selectors stopped trying make Mitch Marsh a Test player and allowed to focus on limited-overs cricket, he could be a valuable asset to the Australian team.
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.
It seems franchise cricket has forgotten about the great battle between bat and ball. In fact, this season in the IPL there is no battle at all.
The mammoth rise of Jake Fraser-McGurk - his enormous potential and the destructive shot-making that he possesses makes him a very tempting option.
Marcus Stoinis produced his first IPL century and it was a beauty. He went 6, 4, 4, 4 to finish off the Lucknow Super…
Test great Steve Smith is to play for Washington Freedom in the second season of Major League Cricket as the Australian influence in the…
Nathan Lyon has revealed his disappointment that Australia's cricket chiefs have prevented him from playing his first full season of county cricket in England…
Some of you may have watched the recent Fox Sports Series 'A Brief History of Australian Cricket: the Eighties'. If not, I’d definitely recommend…
