Marsh remains in Ashes frame despite bowling questions

Mitch Marsh remains in Australia's long-range plans to tackle England's speed-focused bowling attack in next year's Ashes, as George Bailey insisted the allrounder's Test career is not over despite questions over his long-term bowling future. 

Dropped from the Test side in January, Marsh missed the remainder of the domestic season (a one-off Big Bash appearance aside) due to a back injury that dogged him through the first four Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

The 33-year-old has recently returned as a batter only with his new Indian Premier League side, the Justin Langer-coached Lucknow Super Giants. He's shone in his first two games, smashing 72 off 36 balls and 52 off 31, playing as an impact substitute in both outings.

A way back into Test cricket for Marsh appeared a long shot given the pending return of Cameron Green and the emergence of Beau Webster, the latter featuring as a notable inclusion in the national men's contract list on Tuesday alongside Sam Konstas and Matthew Kuhnemann.

Bailey's concession that bowling "may or may not" remain part of Marsh’s skill-set in international cricket is a further barrier, while he will also be leading Australia's T20 side over a busy upcoming period ahead of the World Cup in that format early next year.

But Australia's selection chief suggested Marsh remains in their thinking for the 2025-26 Ashes when England hope to bring a pacey bowling attack led by Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.

"I still think he's got an incredibly important role to play," Bailey said of the powerful right-hander whose three Test centuries have all come against England, the most recent a stunning 118 at Headingley in 2023 that featured a thrilling duel with Wood.

"He's had some injury issues, and towards the back end of the summer he was battling with his back a little bit.

"It's an ongoing conversation as to where bowling may or may not fit into his international cricket going forward. At the moment, in the IPL, he's available only as a batter.

"He's still the captain of our T20 team and still think he can play an incredibly important role in setting that team up and hopefully leading that team to some success in the T20 World Cup.

"I think he's got plenty of one-day cricket left in him as well, so I still think he's a really valuable member of the white ball sides.

"And I don't necessarily think that his red ball career is over as well.

"I don't think he was scoring the runs that he would have wanted, or we would have wanted, when we left him out of the Test side. But I still think there's an incredibly exciting skill-set there with the bat, the way he can rip a game open.

"If you look ahead to a team like England, and the way they play their cricket and the way they seem to be framing up their team, I think he's got a skill-set there that could be helpful."

Bailey gave little away on more pressing selection matters ahead of June's World Test Championship final.

The panel's main consideration will be the formation of a top-order to counter the Kagiso Rabada-led South Africa attack for the one-off contest at Lord's.

Konstas' inclusion in the national contract list was a vote of confidence after he had an underwhelming finish to the domestic season with New South Wales.

That had come on the back of being an unfortunate omission for the Test series in Sri Lanka when Travis Head was promoted to open and Josh Inglis batted in the middle order.

Konstas will be the frontrunner to return to the opening spot he showed immense promise in during the final two home Tests against India, although Bailey’s panel showed with Nathan McSweeney last summer that it is not averse to trying a middle-order player at the top.

Another tough call looms between which of Inglis, the fit-again Green (as a batter only) and Webster plays against South Africa. Marnus Labuschagne's spot after a so-so Test season could also come under scrutiny. 

The ensuing three-Test tour against West Indies could then see a different-looking team picked again.

"We've got some time around that," said Bailey.

"We've got Cam Green returning and hopefully that continues to track well. He's going to head to England and play a little bit of cricket (for Gloucestershire) in the lead up to that.

"Along with Sam, we've also seen Beau Webster, Josh Inglis perform really well when they've had opportunities as well. So we'll work through that over the coming months.

"We've got a lot of guys playing cricket in India. We've got an extended squad, and some guys that will be prepping and doing a bit of work here in Australia, with some camps in Brisbane in the lead up to that as well. So we've got options.

"The way we've viewed the World Test Championship (final) … is that they're one-off games. They're quite specific, and obviously in England, to those conditions.

"The way we frame that and potentially look at how we structure up that team may be different to (the team) that flows directly into the West Indies Test tour. They may look different."

Kuhnemann looks set to go the Caribbean as the second spinner behind Nathan Lyon after Bailey praised the left-armer's resolve through his recent passing of a suspect action test. 

"He's shown an incredible amount of resilience, performing as well he did as he did in Sri Lanka, then having the scrutiny around his action, and having to go through that process, to bouncing back and finishing the year really well with Tassie (Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield)," said Bailey.

"Looking at what's coming up. We don't have any subcontinent tours, but we think his skill set could be useful in the West Indies."