Shaun Marsh set to become victim of Australia’s soaring batting stocks
Of all the ticklish decisions Australia faces before selecting its 15-man World Cup next week perhaps the curliest of the lot is which batsman misses the cut, writes ROBERT CRADDOCK.
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The cut line.
It’s where Shaun Marsh has been balancing for much of the past two decades and he’s back there again in the countdown to cricket’s World Cup.
Of all the ticklish decisions Australia faces before selecting its 15-man World Cup next week perhaps the curliest of the lot is whether to choose the left-handed batting enigma.
It is a desperately tight call.
With Steve Smith and David Warner returning from suspension, two batsmen who were part of the squad in the 5-0 whitewash in Dubai must be culled.
If fringe-dweller Ashton Turner is one, Marsh or Peter Handscomb are expected to be the other with former coach Darren Lehmann reluctantly admitted Marsh would not be his squad.
“Shaun Marsh is pretty unlucky there, he is very unlucky,’’ Lehmann said.
“I know he has made a few hundreds but I just thought with Smith coming back in, you have got Khawaja ... I think you are going to need some power.
“I think there are going to be big scores, 350. You are going to need big totals.’’
Marsh has had a superb run in 50-over cricket with four centuries in the past year but the batting stocks have hit an unexpected high.
There is no doubt Marsh will have strong selection room support from his coach Justin Langer but it’s a complex equation and if he misses selection it could be the end of his international career now he has been replaced in the Test side.
To Handscomb’s advantage, he can also keep wickets.
Normally when a team wins eight matches in a row its side is as predictable as the alphabet but the return of Warner and Smith and the injury toll among Australia’s fast men is also causing concern.
Josh Hazlewood (back), Mitchell Starc (torn pec) and Jhye Richardson (dislocated shoulder) have all battled injury with Richardson (shoulder) the most unlikely to miss the trip.
“That’s going to be the biggest challenge I reckon, working out where they are at with their injuries,” Langer said.
“There’s actually some good depth of talent now. It’s not just about three bowlers (Starc, Hazlewood and Pat Cummins). There’s a number of guys who we could easily select.”
Australia can make changes to its squad until May 23.
“There are going to be one or two guys brutally unlucky,” Langer said. “Because they’re all going so well.
“There’s obviously going to be a couple of really disappointed players … all the blokes in the squad at the moment will be praying it’s not them.”
Mitchell Starc (torn pec), Josh Hazlewood (back) and Jhye Richardson (dislocated shoulder) are all racing the clock to be fit for the 50-over tournament.
“That’s going to be the biggest challenge I reckon, working out where they are at with their injuries,” Langer said.
Langer said the World Cup squad is “becoming more obvious by the day” to him and selectors.
“There are going to be one or two guys brutally unlucky,” Langer said. “Because they’re all going so well.
“There’s obviously going to be a couple of really disappointed players … all the blokes in the squad at the moment will be praying it’s not them.”
Originally published as Shaun Marsh set to become victim of Australia’s soaring batting stocks
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