In the end, Mitchell Marsh left the selectors with little choice

At 27, Mitchell Marsh is no longer a project player and he could not hold his place in the team with either the bat or the ball leaving the selectors with little option, writes Robert Craddock.

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During his first stint as an Australian selector three decades ago Greg Chappell was asked did he have a view on what makes a Test all-rounder.

“I do,’’ said Chappell.

“It is someone who can hold their place in the side on one specialist skill so that the second skill becomes a bonus.

“The trouble is if you pick a bits and pieces player who is not quite up to it in either skill you tend to count them as a batsmen and a bowler and they often let you down in both categories.’’

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Mitchell Marsh has been forced to go back to state cricket to find form, something Steve Waugh had to do three decades ago.. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Here lies the simple truth of why Mitchell Marsh has been sacked from the Test side with Chappell returning to the panel and the selector on duty in Adelaide.

Cricket has changed a lot since Chappell spoke those words. Averages have fallen. Pass marks have been lowered but not so much that the essence of Chappell’s theory has changed much at all.

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Marsh is not a Test match batsmen or bowler. Not overall anyway. At his absolute best he was both.

But his best was rarely seen at Test level.

Everyone likes Mitchell Marsh. People are willing him on. Maybe, for this reason, he has simply been overrated.

Marsh has been unable to hold his position in the team as a batsman....(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

In choosing the first Test team the selectors were adamant that because the returns of players have been so modest they would go on gut feeling rather than numbers.

But the numbers got Marsh in the end.

After 30 Tests he is averaging 26.1 as a Test batsman and the collective wisdom of statistical benchmarks framed over 140 years of Test cricket tells us you simply cannot exist in the top order with those sorts of returns.

And he is no longer a project player.

At 27, he may well be closer to the end of his career than the beginning.

....Or bowler. (AAP Image/David Mariuz)

Marsh’s axing is a blow mid-ships to Australia’s new leadership structure because he was appointed co-vice-captain with Josh Hazlewood and he becomes the latest entry in Australia’s eternal search for a top class all-rounder.

It has also sparked the opinion that perhaps the world under-rated the much-maligned Shane Watson who may never have been the player he threatened to be but was a solid achiever nonetheless.

The simple message is that great allrounders are hard to find.

Australia have been searching for the new Keith Miller for more than 70 years.

The true gems are hard to find.

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Originally published as In the end, Mitchell Marsh left the selectors with little choice