Australia give Marsh chance to show worth
AUSTRALIA have recalled all-rounder Mitch Marsh as they aim to win the Ashes in style with a “grand final” at The Oval, writes Rory Dollard.
The tourists already know they will be lifting the urn aloft at the end of the Test series, but are fully focused on turning their 2-1 lead into a 3-1 victory.
Marsh will have the chance to help them finish the job, with his ability to bolster the seam attack earning him a first appearance of the series today in place of batsman Travis Head.
“We’re very hungry for this, we’ve already spoken about the fact that we came here to win the Ashes, not just retain them,” Australia’s captain, Tim Paine, said.
“Last week’s result [an emphatic victory at Old Trafford] was brilliant and we played very well, but all our guys are fully aware that this Test is bigger than that one. This is our grand final.”
Head drops out of the side after one half-century in eight innings, with Marsh back to face a side against whom he scored two hundreds in the 2017-18 Ashes.
His output tailed off after the highs of Perth and Sydney, but Australia have been impressed by his reaction to time out of the team.
“Mitch has worked his backside off for the last six or seven months,” Paine added. “He got some pretty honest feedback when he was dropped during the India series, about where he was at both physically and with his cricket.
“He had a choice to make either to sulk about it, or to do something about it, and Mitch at the moment is as fit as we’ve seen him.
“Watching [England all-rounder] Ben Stokes go about it during this Ashes, we’ve constantly spoken to him about him being at that level of fitness where you can bowl 25 to 30 overs and then come out and score a hundred.
“That’s something that Mitch has watched up close, and something that he’s aspiring to. He has always worked very hard on his cricket and we know the talent that he has got, so we’re looking forward to seeing him put all his hard work into action this week.”