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Opinion
Australia say all options are on the table for the fourth Test at Old Trafford but there’s one player who isn’t even in the squad who could solve one of their glaring weaknesses.
Glenn Maxwell has belatedly added first-class cricket to his stint with county side Warwickshire after they were knocked out of the T20 Blast competition.
Australia only have one spinner after Nathan Lyon returned home with a torn calf muscle and are not believed to be considering Maxwell as a surprise inclusion for the fourth Test.
… but he’d solve a few problems.
His fellow Victorian off-spinner Todd Murphy was used in less than 10 overs across the two innings of the third Test loss, which captain Pat Cummins explained away as the Headingley conditions not suiting the 22-year-old in his Ashes debut.
Manchester’s pitch next week is expected to suit spinners but both teams are still likely to use their quicks as their strike weapons with Murphy and Moeen Ali employed primarily to soak up an end and quicken the pedestrian over rates.
Glenn Maxwell celebrates taking a wicket in 2017 in Bangladesh. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
If the Aussies aren’t going to bowl their spinner many overs and think their seamers are more likely to get wickets, Maxwell could fill that role while also batting at No.7 ahead of keeper Alex Carey and lifting the team’s fielding standard.
It would be rough to overlook Murphy after a mostly impressive first five games in the baggy green cap but if England square the series heading to a decider at The Oval, the tourists face the prospect of becoming the first Australian side in Ashes history to lose after holding a 2-0 advantage.
Australia’s lower order was a problem in Leeds with Mark Wood’s raw pace ripping through them in the first innings as they lost 6-18 on the back of Mitchell Marsh’s dismissal to be bowled out for 263.
The tail fared slightly better in the second dig to help Travis Head launch a late counter-attack but Carey and the four bowlers only contributed 33 between them to make it a not so grand total of 56 for the match.
Maxwell, who racked up a hundred during his seven Tests from 2013-17, was recalled out of the blue to the squad in Sri Lanka last year before Mitchell Swepson got the nod ahead of him.
The 33-year-old white-ball ace was considered a strong chance of playing in the Test tour of India earlier this year but those hopes were dashed when a freak accident at a party left him with a badly broken leg.
In just his second first-class fixture in the past four years, he only got to bowl five overs, finishing with 0-17 on the first day as Warwickshire’s seamers routed Kent for 171. Maxwell showed he’s in form with the bat by smashing 10 fours and two sixes in his 81 from 67 deliveries as Warwrickshire replied with 7-549 before declaring.
He did not get a bowl in the 14 overs before stumps on day two.
Todd Murphy. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Maxwell has opted out of playing in the Hundred and is due to fly home after this match to prepare for the ODI World Cup in October in India … but if the Test squad ask him to stick around, he wouldn’t say no.
Australia have a history of bringing in outsiders during Ashes tours – Steve Smith wasn’t initially part of the 2013 squad before Darren Lehmann brought him into the side when he became coach just before the series, Shaun Young was drafted in from county cricket in 1997 when injuries struck the fast bowling depth to play his only Test while Mike Whitney famously made hide debut in 1981 after he had gone to England to play for Lancashire league club Fleetwood.
All-rounders are essential in the modern age of Test cricket, particularly with condensed schedules giving frontline pace bowlers less time than years gone past to put their blood-blistered feet up.
The investment in Cameron Green over the past three years has paid off with the towering West Australian 24-year-old fulfilling his potential as the fourth seamer and No.6 batter that Australia have craved for decades.
He was rested at Headingley due to a minor hamstring strain but coach Andrew McDonald confirmed he would be available next week, creating an unexpected selection dilemma after Marsh spanked a century on day one of his first Test in four years.
The Australian selectors are not known for getting funky with their line-ups but the beauty of all-rounders like Maxwell, Green and Marsh is that you can lengthen the batting line-up if you play two or even three of them.
However, the danger with loading up with too many in an XI is that the bowling attack can have a spare parts feel about it. Ultimately it doesn’t matter if you use four, five or more bowlers but 20 wickets is always the bottom line.
Mitchell Marsh. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
“We’ve got everything to consider in terms of Mitch Marsh coming in, what the balance looks like, our all-rounders,” McDonald said.
“There will be an assessment of the players. We’ve got a big break so you would say that most of the bowlers should be fit.
“We do like to have a spinner in the team,” he added in reference to the possibility of going with an all-pace attack.
Zooming out, picking Marsh ahead of Green would be a backward step in the grand scheme of things but it’s no longer necessarily the wrong move.
In his first taste of English conditions, Green has scores of 6, 25, 38, 28, 0 and 18 starting with the World Test Championship final.
He’s picked up five wickets across six innings but his style of banging the ball into the pitch has not been particularly threatening in the UK conditions, although he’s not the lone ranger there due to the placid nature of the majority of pitches Australia have been served up.
Marsh is one of Australia’s few genuine swing bowlers and he was shaping his outswinger away from the English batters, claiming Zak Crawley in each innings.
Cummins underbowled Marsh, giving the 31-year-old just three overs in the first innings and six in the second, relying on himself and Mitchell Starc to do the bulk of the work with Scott Boland less effective as the third main option.
Green is the long-term all-rounder and the selectors deserve rare credit for sticking with him as he’s found his feet at Test level.
But with the Ashes still on the line, it’s no time for looking to the future – winning, or at the very least drawing, one of the remaining two matches is all that matters.
Like many players who have been out of the Test team for a while and get another chance in their early 30s, Marsh looks relaxed on the field and his superb form in T20s and ODIs for Australia in recent years up the order has sharpened his batting skills.
From what McDonald said at his media conference, Australia would be reluctant to shift Marsh to open with Usman Khawaja as a potential solution to the problem created by David Warner’s ongoing form slump.
Cameron Green celebrates a wicket. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
For anyone hoping McDonald would give any kind of indication that Warner was under pressure due to his recurring dramas in England, especially against Stuart Broad, all signs point to the veteran opener getting yet another stay of execution.
“(Marsh) has made a pretty good case, it’s pretty strong. I thought he was outstanding. He was positive, showed great intent. He’s a fine player of the short ball so there’s a lot to like about how he matches up against England,” McDonald said
“He did pretty well down the middle order so to put him up to open in English conditions would probably be something we haven’t discussed yet but we do have some time between now and the next Test.
“You’ve also got to reflect on what the opening partnership’s been able to do across the six innings, and there’s been three 50-plus partnerships in there, albeit it didn’t function to its level (in the third Test).
“In some ways it’s done well so far in this series. We’ve got a lot to consider and a lot to weigh up and Mitch Marsh has put a question to us, no doubt.”