Marsh has a route to the Ashes despite T20 commitments as he could return to play Shield cricket after that.
With Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald stating that Mitchell Marsh is batting “as well as he has for a long period of time” and Usman Khawaja endorsing his Queensland teammate Matt Renshaw as the ideal choice to partner him in the opening Test, Mitchell Marsh’s return to Test cricket in the Ashes is still possible.
McDonald stated that the selection panel would be comfortable selecting a player from white-ball cricket to play against England, but that there might be a window for Marsh to return to the Sheffield Shield when it coincides with the first two Test matches. This was in advance of the T20I series against India, but with a lot of attention on the Ashes.
McDonald’s opinion is in line with what was initially announced in April when the selectors’ chair declared that Marsh’s Test career was still alive despite his dismissal against India in January. Due to Marsh’s outstanding ODI and T20I form—he has amassed 555 runs in his previous ten innings—the idea of a comeback has gained traction in recent weeks.
“We would be comfortable picking someone, and if you want to put a name to it, Mitch Marsh, out of white-ball cricket, if we felt like that was going to benefit the Test team,” McDonald said. “He’s the captain of the white-ball team. It’s very hard for him to vacate and balance out Test preparation, if he was to be in the window for that.
“We feel he’s batting as well as he has for a long period of time. And when he got dropped last summer, I think he was one of our highest averages from Headingley [in the 2023 Ashes] to that point. He hit a bit of a flat patch there, and we felt it best at that time to bring Beau Webster in.”
“We still haven’t given up on Mitch Marsh’s Test career,” McDonald said. “So what would the prep look like for him? It would have to be through white ball or maybe some Shield cricket after white ball if he isn’t in that first squad and then [he] he can press his claim through that.
“There’s Shield [rounds] five and six also when we’re playing the Test matches, where players that aren’t in the first Test will obviously go to work then.”
On November 22, Western Australia will play a day-night match against South Australia. Prior to the Big Bash break, they will play Victoria in the last round. Before the India series, Marsh participated in two Shield matches last season. However, he was dismissed after scoring six single-figure runs in seven innings.
It’s unlikely Marsh would be an all-round option, having shelved his bowling and not done any since late last year against India.