Dumped all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has the arsenal to worry England and is a chance to make a return to Australia’s test side in time for the Ashes, selectors’ chief George Bailey said on Tuesday.
Marsh was dismissed after the fourth Test of a long series against India, where his low scores were mounting. He had then missed selection for the Sri Lanka tour as he continued to recover from a lower back injury.
The 33-year-old has bowled little in the home summer and although he did pick up the bat in the Indian Premier League, he has only batted for Lucknow Super Giants.
Marsh was nevertheless retained in Australia’s contracted player list released on Tuesday for the 2025/26 season in an endorsement from selectors.
“I don’t think his red-ball career is necessarily over,” Bailey told reporters.
“I didn’t feel he was getting the runs we wanted, or he wanted, when we left him out of the Test side, but there’s an incredibly exciting skill set still there with the bat about how he can rip a game open.
“If you look forward to a team like England and the way they play the game of cricket, the way they seem to want to arrange their team, I think he’s got a skill set there that could possibly help.”
Marsh has enjoyed some of his better days in cricket against England, averaging 47.07 from 10 Tests against them compared to a humble career average of 28.53.
However, it will be a tough ask for him to re-enter the Australian squad with Cameron Green still in recovery from surgery for a back injury, while another all-rounder, Beau Webster, has become one of the Test side’s standout performers on the recent tours of India and Sri Lanka.
Selectors will choose a squad next month for the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s in June.
Two-Test opener Sam Konstas was handed his first Australia contract, but there were no conclusions on whether the 19-year-old would be in line for a recall against South Africa after being dropped for the series win over Sri Lanka, Bailey added.
Konstas is vying with a number of players for a place in Australia’s top six, among them Marnus Labuschagne, Green and Josh Inglis.
Bailey said players who lost out versus South Africa could be given opportunities in the upcoming three-Test series, against West Indies in June-July.
“Potentially how we frame that (WTC final) and how we might structure that team may be different than the West Indies tour,” he said.