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The expert feels in-form all-rounder Beau Webster deserves his chance over Marsh at the MCG.
Mitchell Marsh (Picture Credit: AFP)
Former Australia cricketer Simon Katich wants out-of-form all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to be dropped from the squad for the Boxing Day Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) which begins on Thursday. Katich feels ‘something is not 100%’ right with Marsh’s fitness and Tasmania all-rounder Beau Webster deserves a chance.
Marsh, who was seen as an able middle-order-batting replacement for Cameron Green before the series, has had a forgettable BGT so far, scoring just 69 runs in five innings at an average of 13.80. His bowling hasn’t been utilized much either — he bowled 17 overs for three wickets in the first Test in Perth but has since bowled just six wicketless ones. At the Gabba, where Josh Hazlewood got injured mid-way through, he bowled just two overs.
“I’ve been saying for a couple of Tests, Mitch Marsh has not been able to bowl the volume of overs that everyone expected of him, given the conditions and given he is a wicket-taker,” he said on SEN Radio.
“We saw that in Perth, he bowled well on day one. Took some key wickets and then struggled to back up. I mean obviously the Aussie hierarchy know better then we do around where his fitness is at. But for him to bowl two overs the other day after Josh Hazlewood went down, that to me indicates something’s not 100% right with him.”
Webster, 31, has over 5,000 runs in international cricket at an average of 37.83 and 148 wickets at 37.39 apiece. He has been in excellent form in recent months, scoring 303 runs, including a century and a half-century in the latest Sheffield Shield season.
“At the end of the day, Beau Webster deserves to be in that squad. He’s done very well for Tassie in the last few years, he’s a genuine all-rounder given what his role is for Tassie and he plays that dual role with bat and ball,” he said.
Webster also collected seven wickets and made scores of 33, 61*, 5 and 46* in the four innings against India ‘A’ in the two unofficial Tests before the BGT.
Australia are already set to make one change for the Test, with opener Nathan McSweeney dropped from the squad and teenager Sam Konstas picked as his replacement.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – IANS)
