Australia’s chief selector, Trevor Hohns, yesterday said Mitch Marsh had been picked as a bowling all-rounder for the Test tour of India, despite Marsh’s bowling average of 114 from five Tests in Asia.

This was a change of tack from the selectors, who have always described and used the younger Marsh brother as a batting all-rounder during his 19-Test career.

It was also a curious choice of words given that Australian captain Steve Smith showed little faith in Marsh’s bowling during the side’s last tour of Asia.

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It was clear from the start of that series, in Sri Lanka six months ago, Smith did not rate Marsh’s medium pace on the slow, low pitches.

In the first Test in Pallekele, Marsh did not bowl in the first innings and in the second innings he was the seventh bowler used, behind part-timers David Warner and Adam Voges.

During that three-Test series, where pitch conditions were similar to those expected in India, Marsh bowled only 35 overs. To be fair to Smith, it is hard to place greater responsibility in Marsh when he’s only managed two wickets from his five Tests in Asia.

Marsh is a useful fifth bowler on non-Asian pitches. From his 14 Tests in Australia, New Zealand and England, he has a fine record of 27 wickets at an average of 31. In Asia though, Marsh has struggled.

It’s not that he’s bowled horribly – he has, in fact, been accurate and frugal, going for just three runs per over in Tests in Asia. The issue is that his bowling has had such limited penetration on pitches which don’t offer reasonable pace and bounce.



His strike rate of 225 in Asia is extraordinarily high. That means it takes Marsh 37.3 overs to take each wicket. These are not the figures of a man you want as a bowling all-rounder in India against a brutally powerful and long batting line-up.

Australia’s selectors value the role of a batting all-rounder, but the last time they picked a bowling all-rounder in a Test match was James Faulkner, three-and-a-half years ago, in the final Test of the 2013 Ashes in England.

For the match, Faulkner collected 6-98 and made 45 runs. He’s never been seen in the baggy green since. Faulkner must be wondering how Marsh was picked ahead of him as a bowling all-rounder. With a bowling average of 24 and batting average of 33, Faulkner has a comfortably better first-class record than Marsh (bowling average of 28, batting average of 29).

Faulkner also has been in better form in the Sheffield Shield this summer, making 228 runs at 57 and taking six wickets at 33, compared to Marsh’s return of 26 runs at 6.5 and eight wickets at 28.

That’s not to suggest that Faulkner deserved to be in Australia’s line-up for the first Test in Pune next month. But, surely, if the selectors wanted a pace bowling all-rounder to play in India, Marsh should not be the first option.