Mitch Marsh will miss the first Test against Pakistan after breaking his hand, opening the door for fellow Western Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis to come into Test contention.
With Marnus Labuschagne offering a good fifth bowling option, Australia do not need a batting all-rounder who bowls pace like Stoinis or Marsh.
Yet the Australian selectors long have favoured picking this style of player and, with Marsh injured, Stoinis is the only realistic option should they decide to go down this route once more.
As Stoinis’ ODI form has nosedived, he has been impressive for Western Australia in the Shield over the past 12 months.
In five Shield matches in that time he’s made 416 runs at 46, to go with 11 wickets at 27. Stoinis has showed nice consistency with the bat, registering five half centuries from nine innings over that period.
The demise of the Sheffield Shield is hurting all of Australian cricket. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
That includes a double of 61 and 57 in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield this past week against Tasmania in Perth. On the opening day of that match Western Australia were in trouble at 4-99 when Stoinis steadied their innings and helped guide them towards a solid total.
As Stoinis came to the crease in the second innings, Mitch Marsh’s anger at just having been dismissed prompted him to punch a wall, which fractured his hand.
This injury is expected to see him miss the start of Australia’s home Test season, cricket.com.au reported yesterday.
Marsh was Australia’s incumbent number six after earning a surprising Test recall in the fifth Ashes Test last month.
Having averaged 10 with the bat and 59 with the ball in his previous six Tests, Marsh was very fortunate to be brought back into the team at the expense of Travis Head, who had averaged 43 with the bat in his 12 Tests.
The middle order spot vacated by Marsh will be hotly contested. Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Matt Wade seem to have sewn up three of the four spots in the Test order between first drop and six. Claiming Marsh’s spot, then, looms as a battle between Head, Will Pucovski, Kurtis Patterson and perhaps Stoinis.
Pucovski continued his amazing start to his first-class career by cracking 123 for Victoria this past week, albeit on a road at the Junction Oval, while Head made 51 in the same match.
Patterson, meanwhile, missed that round with a quad injury but will return for NSW against Tasmania. The left hander was unlucky to be omitted from Australia’s Ashes squad after his brilliant Test debut last summer.
Patterson made 30 and 114* in his two knocks against Sri Lanka but was squeezed out of Australia’s Ashes line-up by Wade, who was rewarded for his scorching touch across all formats.
The 26-year-old remains a very good middle order option in Tests. Any of Patterson, Head or Pucovski shape as attractive picks to replace Marsh for the Tests against Pakistan.
They’ll now engage in a shootout in the Shield, round two of which kicks off on Friday. NSW play Tasmania, Queensland host South Australia at the Gabba, and Victoria travel to the WACA to face WA.
While Patterson, Head and Pucovski should be the three clear-cut options to take Marsh’s place, don’t be surprised if Stoinis leapfrogs all of them if his fine form continues.
The Australian selectors struggle to resist the siren song of the all-rounder.
Josh H
Roar Rookie
Fair enough haha
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Babar Azam has just been named the new T20 captain.
Jero
Roar Rookie
Labuschagne in the right conditions, Head maybe, Wade no. And you’re asking a fair bit from Labuschagne. As things stand, you may have to re-visit whether Head should be selected on his bowling credentials, given how his batting’s going. It’s easy to pencil in batsmen then argue that they can chime in with some overs. The trouble is that when a bunch of them fail you’re left without the runs and very neuter bowling backing up the three quicks. If we were talking about Brad Hodge or David Hussey being kept out by Marsh or Stoinis it would be a much more arguable case to drop an all-rounder, especially if they could bowl a quota of decent overs. For that reason, I’d look at Maxwell at 6. He doesn’t have a 50 1st class average, but 40 is still good. But having been sent to Coventry last year, he’s been predictably forgotten while chasing white balls in exile. At least when Marsh stuffs up you get his overs. Clearly, we want more runs out of number 6, but if you can bowl fast/medium at 1st class level rather than Wade-like dibbly dobblers, they’ll cut you some slack with the bat. I’m keen to look at the WA v VIC game today, to see what a bona fide no 6 who bowls 1st class standard offies goes against a lesser batsman at no 6 who bowls more solid fast/medium, when two strong Shield teams go at it. Pity I’m not a selector.
HR
Roar Rookie
Perhaps... ;)
HR
Roar Rookie
The all-rounder rule of thumb seems to be that they have bowling averages lower than their batting averages. His differential is greater than Tony Greig, Richard Hadlee, Andrew Flintoff and Ian Botham. His fielding is top-class too, so Smith should definitely be classed as an elite all-rounder/pie-chucker. I don’t make the rules ????
DingoGray
Roar Guru
Please no more bits and pieces All rounders. There is no Shane Watson's in Cricket Australia set up. Lets stick with our 4 bowlers and if we need to ask Labus & Wadey to roll the arm over.
HR
Roar Rookie
It might well, especially if he doesn't get a chance to bowl.
Jero
Roar Rookie
What I think is that other countries are less hung up on having to have a great all rounder, they'll "lower the bar" and say that even Cummins and Starc are all-rounders. They probably don't get as stuck in as we do if an all-rounder isn't shooting the lights out each time, and they probably don't overlook that you need to get some good back up overs bowled. Going in with just four proper bowling options is a risk, especially on flat, lifeless wickets in baking conditions. And if you want to avoid it then guys like Marsh and Stoinis start to look good. Being a quality all-rounder might mean being basically able to fulfill the role, even if you don't shoot the lights out every time. 15 good overs per innings might be worth more than an extra 20-30 runs per innings. If it means that your seam attack stay fresh in back to back Tests. It's easy to knock the players picked and the selectors, not as easy when you have to look for alternatives. Sure, you can get some overs out of Labuschagne and Smith, and find that those extra 20-30 runs you got with the bat have just been hit to the boundary when Hazlewood and Cummins came off. The selectors seem to take this into consideration, when they pick the Australian XI.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Yep, and although Mohammad Abbas's last few Tests at the start of the year were quiet, he's a late bloomer with 66 wickets from just 14 Tests at 18.86. Throw in the leggies of Yasir Shah and even the offies of Bilal Asif and the attack is not as weak as some may think. All that said, it's Babar Azam I'm really keen to see. He hasn't quite put it together in Tests yet, certainly not away from UAE anyway, but his ODI form has been exceptional the last 18 months (though 3 ordinary iT20s v SL earlier this month) and I think this could be a breakout Test tour for him given the way he approached a few of his innings in the WC.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Not to mention Wahib, who loves playing here for a reason.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
1 – You think the ICC all rounder qualification is loose, so……Cummins and Starc aren’t allrounders? _______ 2- I don’t care whether most of the world’s allrounders aren’t titans, our selectors don’t consider them for the Australian XI. _________ 3 – I’ve never cared what Ian Chappell thought.__________ 4 -You answered most of your own argument and made the same point I did.
John
Guest
I hope not Stonis is sub par
Jero
Roar Rookie
Yeah, I can't see the opening combo of Watson and Blewett holding out for more than a few overs before Brynner got the first one with the new ball either, steaming in off the long run up.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I think Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Charles Bronson would beat Watson, Funky, Blewett and North...in a game of cricket. Heck, Coburn would run em all out by himself.
The Bush
Roar Guru
maybe that new zealand innings was an aberration It definitely was and he benefited from that for too long. If you look at Stoinis' List A record, a batting average of 33.5 and a SR of 87.8, he's actually a pretty run of the mill limited overs player...
Jero
Roar Rookie
There could be a Roar article in this: The Adequate XI. Roarers can put forward a wide range of contenders to choose from. Plus, it's got a nice ring to it. Like the Magnificent Seven. The Adequate Eleven. It will be take a lot of seasoned knowledge to whittle it down, with so many to choose from. Peter Sleep, Tim May, Jim Higgs, Greg Richie, Wayne Phillips. It requires a lot of rigorous analysis to sort out the adequate from the inadequate, and those who did enough without going overboard and setting the world on fire.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Love it, let's award it retrospectively, some potential key winners could include: Greg Blewett; Colin Miller; Marcus North; All fine examples of adequate players that chip in around the field.
redbackfan
Roar Rookie
fair enough
Jero
Roar Rookie
What do you reckon Bush, about introducing the prestigious Watson Medal, honouring the most adequate Australian player over the last 12 months?
Jero
Roar Rookie
I agree with all of that. But I still think he sneaks into the "adequate" category. Whatever friction there may have been at times between them, Clarke certainly liked his bowling. He was always handy for a spell. With Johnson and Harris towards the end, he didn't have to do much in those final years. When you consider that Bailey's primary role was to smile in the field when we smashed England over here, I think Watson's output was especially adequate, in the circumstances. Timing is everything. He did enough to justify his selection either in a weak team or a strong one, most of the time anyway. He may go down as the most adequate player ever to win back back Border medals.