Melbourne [Australia], October 27 : Australian head coach Andrew McDonald on Monday indicated that all-rounder and white-ball skipper Mitchell Marsh remains in contention for selection in the upcoming Ashes series, starting November 21 at Perth, should Australia require reinforcement in their batting line-up.
Marsh last played a Test match during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series last year against India, battling a poor run of form all year, during which he averaged 18.86 in Tests. Marsh has represented Aussies in 46 Tests, scoring 2,083 runs in 80 innings at an average of 28.53, with three centuries and nine fifties.
However, Marsh brings his A game against the arch-rivals, having made 659 runs against England in 10 Tests and 17 innings at an average of 47.07, with all of his Test tons and a fifty coming against them, with the best score of 181.
The temptation to play Marsh comes after his strong white-ball form over the last few months, during which he has blazed 503 runs in his last 10 innings, with two centuries and two fifties each, averaging 71.85.
This year, in 17 international games, all in limited-overs cricket, he has scored 671 runs in 17 innings at an average of 47.92 and a strike rate of 116.49, including two centuries and three fifties. His best score is 103*.
"We would be comfortable picking someone, and if you want to put a name to it, Mitch Marsh, out of white ball cricket if we felt like that was going to benefit the Test team," McDonald said in Canberra as quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald.
"We feel he's batting as well as he has for a long period of time. And when he got dropped last summer, I think he was one of our highest averages from his reintroduction during the Ashes 2023. At Headingley, to that point, he was going really well."
"He hit a bit of a flat patch there, and we felt the best at that time to bring Beau Webster in, and we still have not given up on Mitch Marsh's Test career," he concluded.
Marsh's explosiveness against England's high pace was evident during the 2023 Ashes series in the UK, which ended in a 2-2 draw. In three Tests, he scored 250 runs across six innings at an average of 50.00, with a healthy strike rate of 66.84, including a century during his return Test at Leeds and a fifty.