Australia v India 2014: Who should replace Mitch Marsh if he’s injured for next Test?
THERE are not many times when a table of five cricket scribes falls silent over lunch, but it happened at the Gabba on Friday, writes Robert Craddock.
Opinion
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THERE are not many times when a table of five cricket scribes falls silent over lunch, but it happened at the Gabba on Friday.
Someone asked a provocative question no-one could answer.
“So if Mitchell Marsh’s hamstring rules him out of the third Test, who is Australia’s new number six batsman?’’
Eyebrows narrowed. Heads were lowered. Shoulders shrugged. Vegetables were pushed aimlessly around plates.
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Silence ensued for several seconds before the discussion trickled on and intensified later in the afternoon when Steve Smith required treatment for a sore leg muscle.
Eventually there was not one batsman’s named floated but nine or 10 of them.
Names flew like confetti but that’s the issue. There is no standout Australian batting reserve now, simply an array of options.
The death of Phillip Hughes and the severe knee injury to Usman Khawaja has changed Australia’s batting landscape.
Suddenly there is no pecking order, no heartbreak kids.
There are some reasonable options but no batsman in the country could miss out on Test selection and say, with any sort of conviction, “I can’t believe it … what do I have to do?’’
If Marsh cannot play in Melbourne, Australia’s selectors have an intriguing choice on their hands in which they must choose between youth, experience, an investment or a short-term hit.
The field, as open as a Melbourne Cup on a bog track, includes the following players:
ADAM VOGES (Western Australia): With three centuries and a Sheffield Shield average of 50 he is in career-best form. But he is also 35 and never played a Test. Time may have beaten him but he does have a calm temperament and an excellent one-day record.
JOE BURNS (Queensland): With 439 Shield runs at 54 this season and an average in the low-40s, solid for a Brisbane-based batsman, he is building a worthy case. Will be spoken about.
CALLUM FERGUSON (South Australia): Has decent Shield statistics this season (382 runs at 54). Seems to be blossoming but the statistical shadow over his career is that he has played first-class cricket for a decade an averages 38.5 at the batting heaven of the Adelaide Oval where true Test batsmen should be averaging 50. Worth thought though.
GEORGE BAILEY (Tasmania): He looked gone for good after failing in last year’s Ashes series and has averaged just 30 this year. Needs to do more.
ED COWAN (Tasmania): With four Sheffield Shield centuries this season he is a man on fire but is more top than middle order. When he was dropped after averaging 31 in his 18 Tests it was thought his Test career was over.
JAMES FAULKNER (Tasmania): Fine all-rounder who would never let you down but it is difficult to chose a player in your top six who has never scored a first-class century in his 45-match career. He’s tough though.
ALEX DOOLAN (Tasmania): After being dropped from the Test team recently he needed to do more than average 16 in his opening matches of the season. Not this time.
NIC MADDINSON (NSW): Very promising but probably too soon.
DAN CHRISTIAN (Victoria): In imposing form in the Sheffield Shield and at age 31 is certainly not a spent force but seen as more of a short form player.
MOISES HENRIQUES (NSW): Played just one Shield match this season due to injury. Not now.
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