Opinion
Cameron Green is a talent. Over 1000 Test runs, an IPL century, and some of the safest hands in the gully within world cricket, all before the age of 25, doesn’t happen by accident.
However, getting hit for a hat-trick of sixes from Ben Stokes, following a duck in the first innings, must raise questions within the selectors’ minds.
His first tour of England, thus far, has been relatively quiet from the 1.98m all-rounder, having scored just 114 runs at an average of 19.00, and picked up five wickets at 45.60. With a plethora of in-form Australian all-rounders waiting in the wings within the squad, County cricket or even back home, it’s time for change before the third Test and for the remainder of the series.
Marsh, at time of writing, appears to be the frontrunner as Green’s potential replacement, with his inclusion in the squad coming off a Player of the Series award in Australia’s most recent ODI series against India back in March. Due to his Australia duties in the white-ball formats, Marsh was limited to only one Sheffield Shield innings last season, in which he scored an unbeaten 108 from 111.
Along with his recent success with the bat, Marsh has been at his best with the ball in English conditions in the past, with 15 wickets in his four away Ashes Tests, including career-best 5/46 in his last Test to date, in the fifth match of the 2019 series.
Mitchell Marsh of Australia looks on during an Australia One Day International squad training session at MA Chidambaram Stadium, on March 21, 2023 in Chennai, India. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
Selector George Bailey commented on Marsh’s selection in the squad before the tour began, stating that he’s, “not just Green’s understudy.” Now it’s time to see if the selection committee will stand by their word.
The New South Welshman has lit up County cricket this season, having been influential in Surrey’s first-class campaign that currently sees them at the top of the Division 1 table. Abbott’s seven red-ball matches for the southern side has seen him transition from a bowler who can bat into a fully-fledged, dominant all-rounder.
With 385 runs at 55, on top of his 27 wickets, the fast bowler has adapted to the English conditions as well as any. The New South Wales and Sydney Sixers veteran is one of Australia’s most experienced and in-form players, and for Bailey’s selection team to ignore his performances any further would be an instrumental loss for Australian cricket.
Neser, 33, has spent the better most of the last four years in and around the Test squad, resulting in only two Tests played and a further dozen as 12th man. This winter, like that of Abbott, Neser has found success in all facets of his game, with County side Glamorgan.
Neser’s 7/32 against Bairstow’s Yorkshire, including the side’s 11th County hat-trick in history, and 123 against Ollie Robinson’s Sussex are just two examples of his positive Glamorgan campaign thus far which has seen 311 runs and 19 wickets in his five games.
The Queensland bowling all-rounder has long demonstrated success in English conditions and, the simple matter is, Green (as talented as he may be) hasn’t.
Despite being the only all-rounder on this list without experience in international cricket, Aaron Hardie, 24, has established himself as a big game player continually over the last few years. Following back-to-back successful Sheffield Shield final performances, including 174 not out in 2022, and 45 from 86 and four wickets in 2023, Hardie earned a spot in Australia A’s touring squad of New Zealand in April.
In his three innings for the series, Hardie’s 169 runs saw him be Australia’s third-highest run-scorer for the tour, only behind batters Tim Ward and Matthew Renshaw.
Furthermore, in 2022, Hardie represented Surrey in a lone County Championship fixture, which saw the Western Australian score 46 and 40 not out respectively, along with a pair of wickets.
The young Western Australian, who dismissed Virat Kohli in a tour match at 19, has solidified himself as one of Australia’s most in-form batting all-rounders in red-ball cricket and performs consistently on the big stage, and what bigger stage is there than an Ashes Test with a series in the balance?
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