Agence France-Presse
Melbourne, Dec 25: Very rarely you make 182 and then get dropped from the national side. However, selectors dropped Shaun Marsh from the Australian side Friday to make way for the return of Usman Khawaja ahead of the second Boxing Day Test against the West Indies in Melbourne. Marsh had scored 182 in the the Hobart Test which Australia won by an innings and 212 runs.
Pakistan-born Khawaja returns to the Australia side, reclaiming his No.3 spot after he was sidelined for the last two Tests against New Zealand with hamstring trouble. He scored 174 and 121 in the first two Tests last month and proved his fitness with an explosive 109 off 70 balls in the Big Bash League Twenty20 series last weekend.
It will otherwise be an unchanged side for Saturday’s Test at the MCG, where Australia are favoured to retain the Frank Worrell trophy against the struggling tourists. The only thing is whether the West Indies can last the full five days.
Khawaja’s recovery from injury created a selection showdown between Marsh and opener Joe Burns. The selectors opted for Burns, valuing continuity at the top of the order over Marsh’s fantastic form in the first Test.
“That was a big part of it,” skipper Steve Smith said Friday, while confirming he will drop down to No. 4 in the batting order to make way for Khawaja.
“Joe’s been playing quite good cricket, he scored a hundred only a couple of Tests ago. They (Burns and David Warner) average 80 as a pair and it’s pretty important to have a good opening stand. So the selectors though that was the right way to go,” Smith added.
Smith, who has been troubled by knee and hip soreness, had an extended hit in the nets Christmas Day and rubbished talks of being unfit. “My knee is probably feeling as good as it’s felt all summer so that’s all good and the hip has settled down,” the 26-year-old said. “I’m good to go.”