Marsh confident after strong net sessions

Shaun Marsh is confident he will be fit for the Boxing Day Test after pulling up well from his net sessions over the past two days in Melbourne. Marsh will play for the Perth Scorchers in Thursday night's Big Bash League match against the Melbourne Renegades at the Docklands Stadium and he believes if he makes it through without a problem, he will be fit for the first Test against India.

The Twenty20 game will be Marsh's first match since severely hurting his back during the Cape Town Test six weeks ago. Early last week, he appeared to have no chance of playing on Boxing Day, but a tweak to his rehab routine and plenty of work with the team physio Alex Kountouris has put Marsh firmly into the frame to bat at No.3 against India.

He has batted without discomfort in the MCG nets over the past two days and was named in a 13-man squad for the first Test, along with the allrounder Daniel Christian. The national selector John Inverarity said on Wednesday that if Marsh could prove his fitness he was likely to play ahead of Christian, and the initial signs have been positive.

"It's actually pulled up fine," Marsh said. "Probably a week and a half ago if you asked me the same question it was a bit stiff and sore, still. But I've worked very hard in the last week and a half to get myself in this position and the last two or three days have been really good. I've had extended net practice and have felt fine. Hopefully I can bat a few overs tonight and dive around and have a catch and run around and field and pull up fine and be ready to go."

It has been a remarkable turnaround for Marsh, who has had back issues several times during his career. During the Cape Town Test, he was struck in the groin by Morne Morkel two balls before lunch on the first day and the sudden movement contributed to his back seizing up. That night, the situation was so bad that Marsh couldn't even get out of bed without assistance.

"The night that I did it I had Michael Beer and [Michael] Hussey and Alex Kountouris picking me up and taking me to the toilet," he said. "It wasn't pleasant. I couldn't move. Every time I did move I was struggling. I couldn't get out of bed. It was tough there for a few days. It was a tough month for me to try and overcome it. In previous times I could move around and do things by myself, still in pain, but I've never had help before to get out of bed.

"It was pretty slow at the start. I was struggling a fair bit for the first month. Every time I tried to increase my training schedule or load I just couldn't do it, I would pull up terrible. I've worked hard with my people back home in Perth and with Alex Kountouris, changed a few things around in the last three weeks which have helped a lot. It has improved a lot in the last week and a bit. I'm confident but we'll have to wait and see."

Marsh has become one of the most important members of Australia's batting order during his short Test career, having scored a century on debut in Sri Lanka, 81 in his second Test and 44 in Cape Town, where he was the only man to offer serious support to the centurion Michael Clarke. He will slot back in at No.3 if he plays against India, with Usman Khawaja having been dropped.