Australia's chairman of selectors, George Bailey, has made it clear that Mitchell Marsh's heroic innings in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 against New Zealand will not be given much priority for selection for the upcoming Ashes 2021-22 against England at home.
Marsh played a match-winning knock of 50-ball 77* to help Australia beat New Zealand by 8 wickets in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 final to win their maiden T20 World Cup title on November 14 in Dubai.
Marsh scored 185 runs at an average of 62 in five appearances in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2021– his performance, particularly in the final, prompted former Australian cricketers such as Ian Healy to call for his selection for the upcoming Ashes.
However, Bailey didn’t shut the doors on Marsh's Test recall but insisted that his incredible T20 WC-winning knock "will carry little weight" when it comes to Test selection for the Ashes 2021-22 because both Test and T20I are different formats of the game.
Bailey told SEN’s Dwayne’s World: “Not much, to be honest. They’re (T20s and Tests) about as far removed, we joke internally that they’re different sports in many respects.”
He continued, “There’s not much flow on, (but) you love to see players perform well internationally because you know it gives them great confidence going forward, and there’s no better time to pick someone than when they are up and about and confident.
I don’t think necessarily that individual form in one format flows into another, and I don’t necessarily think that winning the T20 World Cup gives us any great advantage heading into the Ashes.”
The chief selector further said of Marsh, who has played 32 Tests so far, “We’re 12 hours since he played the innings of his life in T20 (World Cup), there will be lots of time to talk Ashes going forward. I think it’s really important that we celebrate the tournament and the role he’s played in that team, and celebrate the fact that he’s an Australian hero for a day and he’s very much a catalyst behind us holding the trophy above our heads. As I said, I think the formats are so completely different.”
However, Bailey said that Marsh has a good three-four years of cricket ahead of him and hope to see him playing all three formats for Australia.
He signed off by saying, “We know Mitch is a very, very good player and he’s played Test cricket in the past, so we know he’s capable of it. What I can say about Mitch is that we have full confidence that the next two, three, and hopefully four years are going to be the best cricketing years of his career, so hopefully, we get to see him playing all three formats for Australia.”
(With PTI Inputs)
