“Shaun is obviously extremely unlucky to miss out “

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Australia have decided to drop batsman Shaun Marsh for the Boxing Day Test against the West Indies in Melbourne.

Marsh scored a career-best 182 in the first Test in Hobart, but the national selectors decided to retain opener Joe Burns as they believe he and his opening partner David Warner will continue to excel after they posted three successive century stands in the recent Test series against New Zealand.

Furthermore, with Usman Khawaja having made a full recovery from the hamstring injury he suffered while playing against New Zealand in the second Test in Perth, the selectors were left with no choice but to drop Marsh.

“That was a big part of it,” Australia captain Steven Smith said. “Joe has been playing quite good cricket. He scored a hundred only a couple of Tests ago so that was a big part of it. They average 80 as a pair and it’s pretty important to have a good opening stand. They’ve been doing a very good job so the selectors thought that was the right way to go.

“We’re always talking about what’s coming up as well. There were a lot of conversations around it. Shaun is obviously extremely unlucky to miss out after scoring a brilliant 180 in the last Test match, and 49 under a bit of pressure in the Test before that. There were lots of talks about it but they believe that’s the best way to go, going forward.”

Meanwhile, Smith also revealed that his decision to skip the first week of the Big Bash League (BBL) paid off as he has virtually recovered from the knee and hip niggles he complained about during the first Test in Hobart.

“It’s been good, actually,” Smith said. “My knee is probably feeling as good as it has all summer. That’s all good. The hip has settled down. I’m good to go.”