The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>, which claimed Marsh will be part of the selectors\u2019 plans for the \u201cpointy end\u201d of the series.<\/p>\nMarsh\u2019s selection would effectively serve as a counter from Australia to England\u2019s all-out pace attack of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson, while he could also offer a versatile option in the middle of the batting order. <\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763806450_225_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
That, in turn, could be a problem for Khawaja as it would allow Australia to then permanently shift Travis Head to open after his heroics at Perth. <\/p>\n
If Marsh isn\u2019t selected for Brisbane, The Herald reported he will be included in Western Australia\u2019s team to play Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, marking his first Sheffield Shield appearance since October last year. <\/p>\n
Marsh, who has not played a first-class match since being dropped after the Boxing Day Test against India last year, was floated as a genuine left-field option by both Greg Chappell and Michael Vaughan ahead of the first Test against England.<\/p>\n
\u201cMitch Marsh is the choice I would have preferred,\u201d Chappell wrote in a column. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been a left-field choice, but this is a venue where he has an advantage over all other candidates. He grew up in Perth so the bounce would not worry him; he is one of the best players of pace in the country, and he could have bowled some meaningful overs to support the frontline quicks.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘They are absolutely stupid!’ | 01:06<\/p>\n
Vaughan, meanwhile, called Marsh\u2019s century at the 2023 Headingley Test \u201cexceptional\u201d and said \u201cthe way that he plays pace bowling\u201d is why he would have gone with the West Australian at the top of the order.<\/p>\n
Chair of selectors George Bailey hinted earlier in the month that Marsh could factor in Australia\u2019s plans later in the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a game that could provide an injection, a different look at how he might attack it,\u201d Bailey said of Marsh.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the path we\u2019re going down to start the series, but what it looks like later on, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
FORMER AUSSIE TEST COACH SAYS ENGLAND FANS \u2018SHOULD BE BETTER\u2019<\/p>\n
Darren Lehmann has taken aim at England fans, declaring they \u201cshould be better\u201d than the \u201cabuse\u201d directed at Steve Smith over the ball-tampering scandal. <\/p>\n
Lehmann was the coach of the Australian side when the incident took place in 2018 and later stepped down from his role at the end of the series against South Africa, while Smith was banned for 12 months for his involvement in \u2018Sandpapergate\u2019.<\/p>\n
Speaking on ABC Sport after the first Test, Lehmann said the abuse he receives is \u201cdaily\u201d and added that he could only imagine how much worse it would be for someone like Smith who was at the centre of it and is still playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unbelievable. He (Smith) is playing every day. It would be worse for him,\u201d Lehmann said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn England they just don\u2019t forget. It is like they have never done anything wrong in their life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is only the ones that drink too much and carry on like pork chops.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just borders on abuse, but we did the wrong thing, you\u2019ve got to accept it. It\u2019s not great for your mental health, to be completely honest.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lehmann did acknowledge that \u201cmost of\u201d the Barmy Army are \u201cvery supportive\u201d of the sport, but called on those who do continue to sledge Smith to consider the impact of constantly reminding Australia\u2019s stand-in skipper of his past.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did the wrong thing, accept it and move on,\u201d Lehmann said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou try to move on the best you can. You get reminded every day and that is part and parcel.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteve Smith can hold his head high with how he handles everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Barmy Army should be better than that. Most of them are and are very supportive of what goes on in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Captain Cummins firing with pink ball | 01:19<\/p>\n
SILVER LINING BEHIND TWO-WAY TEST<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, while the first Test may have left some fans with tickets for later days disappointed, there was one silver lining to come from England\u2019s collapse. <\/p>\n
Western Australia\u2019s Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti revealed on Instagram that the early finish allowed Perth Stadium to make the most of all its leftover food, providing the \u201cbiggest\u201d donation in its history to charities, schools, women\u2019s refuges and \u201cindividuals in need\u201d across Perth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to the fast-finishing Ashes Test at Optus Stadium, hundreds of kilos of fresh food have been donated to Western Australians in need,\u201d Saffioti wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it became clear the match would wrap up early, the Optus Stadium team moved quickly to minimise waste. <\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the size of the donation – the biggest provided by the stadium to date – OzHarvest has partnered with two other local organisations, SecondBite and Foodbank WA to distribute the products to charities, schools, women\u2019s refuges and individuals in need across Perth. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom stacked pallets of fruit and veg, to sandwiches, dairy and bread – even 450kg of tomatoes now being turned into passata – this is community spirit at its best.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018FED UP\u2019 ENGLISH GREAT\u2019S DIRE 5-0 WARNING<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Lord Ian Botham has sent an Ashes whitewash warning to England while also challenging two of their best players to lift or risk their legacies being affected. <\/p>\n
Joe Root and Ben Stokes have not won a Test in Australia and after the collapse in the first Test, the pair are already on the back foot if they want to change it this time around.<\/p>\n
This may be their last chance too given both are 34 years old and to be considered among \u201cthe very best\u201d, Botham said both Root and Stokes \u201cneed to win in Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople remember you for what you\u2019ve done over here,\u201d he told the PA news agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Joe and Ben we\u2019ve got two world-class players \u2013 Joe\u2019s got 39 hundreds for goodness sake \u2013 but they are desperate to make an impression here. You can only do that by winning. They need to get the monkey off their back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are the two who will want this the most because a lot of the others will get another bite at the cherry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you from experience, winning over here feels really, really good and it means absolute respect. I don\u2019t have a favourite time because every time you beat Australia is a great day. That alone should drive England.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vaughan tips Head to remain opener | 01:42<\/p>\n
As for England\u2019s chances of turning it around after the disaster at Perth, Botham said they \u201cneed to fire up quickly\u201d and that means adapting from the overly aggressive approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was horrendous, there\u2019s no other word for it,\u201d Botham said. <\/p>\n
\u201cEngland need to fire up and fire up quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fed up of hearing, \u2018this is the way we play\u2019. If I hear it once more, I think I\u2019ll throw something at the television.\u201d<\/p>\n
Botham then went on to warn that if England continue to play that way, they may as well \u201cgo home now\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it\u2019s going to be 5-0,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia could make a surprise selection call for the second Test, with Mitchell Marsh reportedly a chance of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-310854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}