Bowling to be the making of Marcus

When Marcus Stoinis was named as Mitchell Marsh’s injury replacement for the final two Tests of the Qantas Tour of India, more than a few eyebrows were raised.

For starters, Stoinis’ 2016-17 Sheffield Shield batting average of 17.90 is considerably lower than his allrounder rivals Moises Henriques (65.90), Hilton Cartwright (41.40) and Jack Wildermuth (35.78).

Only once this summer has the 27-year-old passed 50 in any format, but that was a breath-taking maiden one-day international century against New Zealand that almost pulled off a remarkable win in Auckland.

And unlike Henriques and Cartwright, Stoinis has never been involved in the Test set-up, let alone donned the Baggy Green for his country.

But none of that matters now as he makes his way to Ranchi where he’ll link up with the rest of the Australia squad tomorrow for the third and crucial Test against India starting on Thursday.

Whether Stoinis will come straight into the XI and make his Test debut remains unknown, with the Ranchi pitch and the balance of the team set to dictate selection in a series deadlocked at 1-1 after two pulsating Tests.

When asked about Stoinis’ squad selection and particularly his ascension over fellow in-form allrounders, National Selection Panel chairman Trevor Hohns said it was his ability with the ball that won the right-armer a first Test tour.

It’s an area of the Victorian’s game that has improved dramatically, according to his state captain Matthew Wade.

Wade has played in 20 of Stoinis’ 32 Shield matches for the Bushrangers and was the wicketkeeper during Australia A’s tour of India in 2015 where the allrounder starred with ball in hand.

Stoinis claimed three wickets in two first-class matches against India A, but importantly removed key players and potential future Test opponents Karun Nair and Cheteshwar Pujara – both bowled – all while conceding just 2.21 runs per over.

Wade says Stoinis’ development as a bowler, to go with his polished career record as a top-order batsman, makes him a versatile and exciting prospect for Australia.

“Batting at No.3 in Shield cricket has placed him in a really good spot to play an all-round role for Australia. He can bat anywhere in the order,” Wade said on Sunday in Bengaluru.

“But the last couple of years we’ve seen improvements from his bowling.

“Australia A (in 2015) he bowled really, really well, took the pace off.

“He knocked off a couple of their big players in that series so I think the last couple of years that’s probably what the selectors have seen a bit more in him.

“They always knew he was a really strong batter, but his bowling has improved out of sight the last few years.”

Stoinis is a significant chance of making his Test debut in four days’ time after fast bowler Pat Cummins was drafted into the squad to replace injured tearaway Mitchell Starc.

Cummins completed his first Shield match in six years last week, taking eight wickets in a man-of-the-match performance.

While he finished that match unscathed, Cummins is still a risk in five-day cricket and Stoinis’ medium pacers could be a valuable asset to captain Steve Smith in order to take the load off the rapid speedster.

Either way, Stoinis will benefit from being in the Australia camp and Wade can only see his state teammate getting better with each game in national colours.

“He’s developed beautifully,” Wade said.

“He’s batted at three for Victoria over a three or four year period now and averaged quite high in first-class cricket.

“I think he’s only got improvement (in him), I said that to him before he got picked in the one-day team in New Zealand and we saw what he did there.

“He’s not a finished product that’s for sure.

“He’ll come in and play a really strong role for us if we need him but he’ll improve playing each game at international level.

“No one expects people to come in and start dominating international cricket from ball one, but he’ll improve from game to game that he gets at international level.”