Door is certainly not closed for Shaun Marsh, says Trevor Hohns

Australia’s national selector Trevor Hohns has insisted that Shaun Marsh still has a career in Tests despite the latter facing the axe for the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka at home. The veteran batsman was one of the three players who paid the price for their poor show in the recently-concluded series against India. Australia suffered their first-ever Test series defeat against India at home and the under-pressure selectors did not hesitate in taking some bold calls.

Along with Marsh, his younger brother Mitch and Peter Handscomb were also dropped for the series while uncapped Will Pucovski, Matt Renshaw and Joe Burns were called. The latest setback might be a big blow for Marsh who had earned a recall to the Test side during the last Ashes.

The last year was anything but good for Marsh in whites. The 35-year old averages 18 in 10 Tests over the past 12 months. He managed to score just 183 runs in the series against India with one-half-century. With age also not on his side, it feels like this could be it for a Test career that has occasionally promised so much.

However, Hohns insisted that there is still hope left for the left-handed batsman. Hohns said that Marsh could return to the Test side by scoring runs. “Shaun hasn’t, certainly, done what we’d like him to have done over the last period and I am sure he would say the same thing,” Hohns said.

“As far as the Ashes go that’s a long way off, he now has the opportunity in one-day cricket to get some form back and we’ll worry about that when the time comes. But the door is certainly not closed,” he added.

Marsh’s struggles

Marsh has struggled to perform consistently since the impressive return to Tests in the Ashes 12 months ago. Since playing the 156-run knock in the last Ashes Test, Marsh has scored just one half-century in 19 innings.

He was severely criticised for his performance in the two-Test series against Pakistan in the UAE, wherein four innings he managed just 14 runs in the 1-0 series loss. There were speculations that he might be dropped for the series against India. However, he managed to retain his spot after scoring 443 runs in three Sheffield Shield matches for Western Australia.

But the form deserted him when he was up against the world number one Test side. He could score at a modest average of 26 as Australia lost the series 2-1.

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