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Message: [QUOTE="1910, post: 2644097, member: 8272"] [B]THERE are not many times when a table of five cricket scribes falls silent over lunch, but it happened at the Gabba on Friday.[/B][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]Someone asked a provocative question no-one could answer.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]“So if Mitchell Marsh’s hamstring rules him out of the third Test, who is Australia’s new number six batsman?’’[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]Eyebrows narrowed. Heads were lowered. Shoulders shrugged. Vegetables were pushed aimlessly around plates. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]Silence ensued for several seconds before the discussion trickled on and intensified later in the afternoon when Steve Smith required treatment for a sore leg muscle.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]Eventually there was not one batsman’s named floated but nine or 10 of them.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]Names flew like confetti but that’s the issue. There is no standout Australian batting reserve now, simply an array of options.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]The death of Phillip Hughes and the severe knee injury to Usman Khawaja has changed Australia’s batting landscape.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]Suddenly there is no pecking order, no heartbreak kids. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]There are some reasonable options but no batsman in the country could miss out on Test selection and say, with any sort of conviction, “I can’t believe it … what do I have to do?’’[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]If Marsh cannot play in Melbourne, Australia’s selectors have an intriguing choice on their hands in which they must choose between youth, experience, an investment or a short-term hit.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans]The field, as open as a Melbourne Cup on a bog track, includes the following players:[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Guardian Sans][B]ADAM VOGES (Western Australia): With three centuries and a Sheffield Shield average of 50 he is in career-best form. But he is also 35 and never played a Test. Time may have beaten him but he does have a calm temperament and an excellent one-day record. [B]JOE BURNS (Queensland): With 439 Shield runs at 54 this season and an average in the low-40s, solid for a Brisbane-based batsman, he is building a worthy case. Will be spoken about. [B]CALLUM FERGUSON (South Australia): Has decent Shield statistics this season (382 runs at 54). Seems to be blossoming but the statistical shadow over his career is that he has played first-class cricket for a decade an averages 38.5 at the batting heaven of the Adelaide Oval where true Test batsmen should be averaging 50. Worth thought though. [B]GEORGE BAILEY (Tasmania): He looked gone for good after failing in last year’s Ashes series and has averaged just 30 this year. Needs to do more. [B]ED COWAN (Tasmania): With four Sheffield Shield centuries this season he is a man on fire but is more top than middle order. When he was dropped after averaging 31 in his 18 Tests it was thought his Test career was over. [B]JAMES FAULKNER (Tasmania): Fine all-rounder who would never let you down but it is difficult to chose a player in your top six who has never scored a first-class century in his 45-match career. He’s tough though. [B]ALEX DOOLAN (Tasmania): After being dropped from the Test team recently he needed to do more than average 16 in his opening matches of the season. Not this time. [B]NIC MADDINSON (NSW): Very promising but probably too soon. [B]DAN CHRISTIAN (Victoria): In imposing form in the Sheffield Shield and at age 31 is certainly not a spent force but seen as more of a short form player. [B]MOISES HENRIQUES (NSW): Played just one Shield match this season due to injury. Not now. http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/australia-v-india-2014-who-should-replace-mitch-marsh-if-hes-injured-for-next-test/story-fn67xawe-1227162533104 Was going to write a detailed insight on who should be considered and why based on the Shield I've watched this year- but Crash has done it already today. [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/FONT][/COLOR] [/QUOTE]

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