Former Australia white-ball captain Aaron Finch believes the hosts will not go in with Mitchell Marsh in their playing 11 for the final test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Marsh has bowled just 33 overs in the ongoing series and picked only three wickets while scored 73 runs with bat at an average of 10.42, with the highest score being 47 in the second innings of the Perth test.
“Well, I think probably with the amount of overs that he’s bowling at the moment, you’d have to make a case that he wouldn’t be. Just a pure output of runs, averaging 10, I think, for the series – it’s not up to the mark.”
“I heard Andrew McDonald the other day say it’s not what they were wanting from Mitch, especially in that number six role where you can have such an impact on a game.”
“But I mean, the team’s winning, and what winning does is it allows you to stick longer with players that might be slightly out of form because you’ve seen them at their absolute best. So for me, I think it’d be a hard decision, but I don’t think that they’ll go with him and I think that Beau Webster will come in,” said Finch.
Similarl views were expressed by former cricketer Callum Ferguson. “I think that’s my gut call as well. You’ve got to look at the workload that the bowlers have shared throughout the series, and there was a Test match there where we lost Josh Hazlewood early in the Test.”
“So the guys had to pick up a huge workload there. So I think for the fast bowling brigade, I think they need that extra support going into this Test match.”
While asked about left arm pacer Mitchell Starc would be fine after clutching his side in 184-run victory against test at Melbourne, Finch said,
“I don’t think that he’ll miss. He said that once it warmed up and Pat agreed that when you do have a little niggle and particularly if it’s not a muscle injury, once it warms up, it’s fine.”
“But it’s just that first couple of balls that you bowl – he looked in excruciating pain there for a while. I mean, he would have got through on adrenaline in that last session in particular when he was up in the mid-140s at the back end of the fourth Test match with a high workload. So I think he’ll play.”
Ferguson said, “I mean, you’ve got to be managing this very carefully. We’ve got a Sri Lanka series coming up and that’ll come around quick too. I don’t think you can look forward to that though.”
Responding to Ferguson, Finch commented, “No, I agree with that. Because this series is so important, and this Test match is so important. So I think that yes, whilst the Sri Lankan series is important, I think that’s a selection for next week.”
While puzzled Marsh can play after Starc is picked, Finch said, “I don’t think so, purely for the workload. Nathan Lyon will have a bigger workload obviously with the turn in Sydney. Travis Head might be able to pick up some slack.”
“But I think if you’re going in with somebody under a slight injury cloud and Mitch just hasn’t bowled the number of overs that you would expect from the fourth seamer, that’d be tough. If someone went down, I mean, you can’t bowl in a couple of overs.”
Ferguson concluded by saying “You’re right, Finch. I think if we’re going into this one with Starc, I think we need to find someone who’s got more overs up their sleeve.”
Australia secured a unassisable 2-1 lead in the BGT with an 184-run victory in the fourth test at Melbourne after the third match resulted in a draw. The final match of the five match series will begin on January 03 at Sydney Cricket Ground.
