The Ashes 2019: Australia cruise to tour match win over Derbyshire but questions over batting remain
Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc have starred in Australia’s tour match demolition of Derbyshire to give selectors more to consider ahead of the fourth Ashes Test.
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Australia has “more options” to solve its fourth Test selection conundrum according to chairman Trevor Hohns after a Saturday morning rout at Derbyshire completed a comprehensive win.
Mitchell Starc took the final two wickets in two balls to give the left-arm quick seven for the match and further ammunition in his case to get his first start in this Ashes series.
Mitchell Marsh was man of the match, with 74 runs and two last day wickets, and while he got a pump up from Hohns, the selection chief confirmed three quicks and a spinner was his preferred outfit.
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“This game has given us a lot more options. We’ll get the Manchester, look at the pitch, and got through what options we do have, and they are plenty,” Hohns said after the match.
“There are a few headaches there, but they are nice headaches. All players are in contention, I must say.”
Starc cleaned up the Derbyshire tail again, with five of his seven wickets batsmen coming at at number seven or lower.
“He’s certainly given us a good option there,” Hohns said.
The real selection questions hover over the batting, and while the Aussies only lost five wickets in compiling 338 the runs made by those looking to stay in the team when Steve Smith returns were viewed with a little skepticism.
One of the batsmen who could make way Smith, opener Marcus Harris, was quarantined from his teammates on Saturday after coming down with a mild stomach bug.
The Victorian, who was run out for 62 while batting with Usman Khawaja on Friday, even had to sit at the front of the team bus on the way to the ground.
He didn’t field as Australia tried to bowl out the home team for a second time. But Harris said he just felt “a bit crook in the guts” and it wouldn’t keep him from the fourth Test, if selected.
Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns watched the entire game from high in the grandstands, in constant conversation with coach and co-selector Justin Langer, who didn’t attend the last tour game in Worcester.
They have to find a way to make room for Smith, and not affect team balance.
The options include dumping Harris after just one Test, and opening with Khawaja, to ensure the batting line-up has as much Test experience available.
But Khawaja has yet to post a 50 in six innings in the series, and his average batting in England has dropped to 19.
Selectors waited until the night before the third Test at Headingley to tell Harris he was replacing Cameron Bancroft. It’s likely the same scenario could apply for the fourth Test, which begins on Wednesday at Old Trafford.
The bowling line-up of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Nathan Lyon could be picked again, after all were rested from the tour match.
Lyon was jogging on Saturday morning, showing no signs of being hampered after the spinner rolled his ankle during a training drill on Wednesday.