Mitchell Marsh usually makes headlines for the noise he makes rather than the lack thereof, as it happened in this Border-Gavaskar Trophy. All-rounders get to savor miracles and endure tragedy in the same thing, and that is the fact they can, both, bat and bowl. In the event they fail to turn up with the bat, they still have their bowling prowess to do write-home-about stuff. Or vice versa. But if they keep on faltering in one of their two jobs, the other becomes more of a part-time thing.
Marsh has been experiencing something similar. At the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he was Australia’s highest run-getter this year, with a decent 41.06 average. With batting figures so good, his bowling contributions seemed like a bonus. That there were fitness concerns that cast doubt on Marsh the bowler, did not bother Australia much because the side was happy with his generous chip-ins with the bat. Right until no more runs were coming off his bat. Marsh has only crossed double figures once in this Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which has shifted the frustrating eyes to, as it so very often happens with the all-rounders, how he fares with the ball.
There have been reports Mitchell Marsh’s fitness concerns made him a less reliable option with the ball. He has bowled only 33 overs so far in this series, which is the least he has bowled in a five-match series. He bowled 17 of his 33 overs tally in the first game. Even in the games where Australia had a fifth bowling option in the form of Cameron Green, Marsh bowled more than he has, on average, in this series. However, Australia’s red-ball coach Andrew McDonald disagrees with his fitness concerns being the reason behind this. Following Australia’s victory at the MCG, McDonald said,
“No, there’s no concern. And I think people have probably been reading too much into that. We haven’t required him with the ball as often as what we would have thought. He bowled again today. His speeds are up in the high 120s [kph]. There are no injury concerns there.”
McDonald said the decision to not make him bowl was nothing more than a ‘tactical implementation’. Even going forward into the last Test of the series, Australia would not expect their fifth bowling option to be up for a bigger job.
“I think to sort of head that down that angle is a little bit unfair. We just haven’t required him at certain times for whatever reason, so that’s more a tactical implementation, as opposed to a body. I think the amount of overs that we’ve bowling across the series is probably going to be to a benefit to us.”
“Across the entirety of the series, it’s been relatively light, so I’d expect both attacks to be in decent shape to be able to press [in the final Test]. So does that mean you need a fifth bowler? I think you still need a fifth bowler. But are you going to put a huge demand on the fifth bowler, potentially not.”
The last BGT Test will begin on January 3rd in Sydney, which will only be three days after the conclusion of the Boxing Day Test. Managing the workload of pacers in such a circumstance is never easy. Additionally, Mitchell Starc has some discomfort in his back. Though he is very likely to get fit by the start of the Sydney Test, Australia would still want to be very careful. McDonald, however, is confident the Aussie bowlers will handle the situation well.
“We’ll see how everyone recovers. Bowling last, it was a pretty attritional game, something that we’re not used to in the last few years. Clearly Starcy’s carrying something of some description. We’ll assess that. But other than that, it looks as though we got through pretty unscathed, but [with a] short turnaround recovery is important, and we’ll assess what the team looks like in Sydney based upon the surface, as we always do.”
