Marsh firms for Ashes cameo as Ponting declares England incapable of change

3 months ago 13

Mitchell Marsh is firming for an Ashes cameo role as Australia consider adding more batting aggression to the squad in response to England’s Perth pace barrage.

Australia’s selectors are set to name their squad for the Gabba Test later this week, and Marsh will be a part of their plans for the pointy end of the series, regardless of whether he is chosen to join the rest of the group in Brisbane, according to a source with knowledge of confidential discussions.

Mitchell Marsh after scoring his century in the third Test of the 2023 Ashes.

If not picked for the Gabba, Marsh will be included in Western Australia’s team to play Victoria at the MCG in the final round of Sheffield Shield games before the Big Bash League. It would be Marsh’s first Shield appearance since the early part of last summer when he started the Tests against India before being replaced by Beau Webster.

Selection chair George Bailey had joked about Marsh’s intention to get on the beers during the Perth Test, saying “if he’s going to be six beers deep by the time the first ball is bowled”, it would be “tricky” to pick him for the opener.

But Bailey was also open in suggesting Marsh would be a part of plans for later on in the Ashes, once his panel had seen England’s attack in action. Marsh has a mediocre overall record in Tests, but in Ashes matches he has made a genuine impact: 659 runs at 47.07 and a strike rate of nearly 60 with all three of his Test hundreds.

“He’s got a game that could provide an injection, a different look at how he might attack it,” Bailey has said of Marsh. “It’s not the path we’re going down to start the series, but what it looks like later on, we’ll see.”

The pace of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson left an undeniable impression on Australia, regardless of Travis Head’s heroics in the second innings to deliver an eight-wicket victory inside two days. Marsh’s penchant for attacking pace, and short bowling, has gained in currency as a result.

Josh Inglis, who made a century against the England Lions at Lilac Hill after the Test finished early, is also around the mark. England arrived in Brisbane on Wednesday, with Joe Root and captain Ben Stokes both telling reporters they were looking forward to the Gabba.

“We’re preparing as best we can, and we’ll look forward to the next game,” Root said.

Ricky Ponting believes that England’s Bazballers are incapable of change in time to avoid offering a flurry of chances to Australia’s slips cordon in Brisbane.

England’s recklessness with the bat in Perth – batting for just 67 overs in total – was summed up best by the second-innings dismissals of Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and Root, all falling to extravagant drives on Perth’s bouncy deck. The Gabba will also offer bounce, plus humidity to aid swing.

Scott Boland celebrates the wicket of Harry Brook in Perth.

Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have insisted on maintaining their combative approach, despite mounting criticism from influential past players. It’s a stance that Ponting believes boxes them into the same approach in Brisbane.

“I don’t think they can [change], and I don’t think they’ll be allowed to,” Seven commentator Ponting told this masthead. “The way they’ve played and built up over a few years of playing a certain way, I don’t think they’ll be able to do it.

“If there was ever a time they were going to do it, it was the last couple days [in Perth]. Even listening to Stokes, he’s saying the guys who went out and had success went hard. But there’s ways to go hard in Australia and ways to go hard in other parts of the world.

“Some of those shots, you just can’t get away with them in Perth, but they knew that, and they weren’t able to change. With their mentality I think they’ll go even harder again in Brisbane. If they do, you can expect similar results.”

Despite their batting frailties in Perth and a dearth of pink-ball, day-night Test experience, England’s first-choice top six declined the chance to play against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra this weekend.

England will instead add extra floodlit training sessions leading into the Gabba Test next Thursday, amid concerns of another early finish given the pace at which day-night matches can move. Ponting argued that, with Cummins on track to return to the Australian side next week, England have already missed their best opportunity.

“That’s the disappointing thing,” he said. “With [Scott] Boland taking the new ball, [Brendan] Doggett on debut … if they got through Starc with the new ball then things would’ve been a little bit easier than what it’ll be in Brisbane. If Cummins comes back, it only gets harder.”

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.