Marsh could prove fitness in BBL

Shaun Marsh could play for the Perth Scorchers in Thursday night's Big Bash League match in Melbourne as he aims to prove his fitness for the Boxing Day Test. Marsh has made a surprisingly good recovery from his back injury and was named in a 13-man squad for the first Test against India, his fitness the one question-mark still surrounding Australia's batting line-up.

If he is declared ready for his return he will bat at No.3, with the allrounder Daniel Christian to miss out, but if Australia decide against risking Marsh, Christian will play at No.6 and the rest of the order will be adjusted. It is a difficult call for John Inverarity's panel, with Marsh having played no cricket since hurting his back during the first Test in South Africa six weeks ago.

The problem was so severe that Marsh needed help to get dressed during the Cape Town Test, and last week he was described as "unlikely" to play on Boxing Day by Cricket Australia's performance manager, Pat Howard. But Marsh has impressed the team management with his work at the batting camp in Melbourne this week and the captain Michael Clarke said he was a chance of playing against India.

"I think the next few days are important for Shaun," Clarke said. "Today was a really good test. He batted really well in the nets, I watched that. Then when we left he was still doing the back end of his fielding session with our physios. The next few days are really important for him, to see how he pulls up.

"I know there's a possible chance he could play in the Big Bash game, I think it's tomorrow, for the Scorchers. He will be assessed by Alex [Kountouris, team physio] this afternoon and they'll make a plan for that. Really good batting wise, but as we know there's a lot more that goes with playing a Test match than having a hit in the nets so we'll have to wait and see."

If Marsh plays for the Scorchers against the Melbourne Renegades at the Docklands Stadium on Thursday, it will be his first match back since the Cape Town Test. Australia have missed his presence at No.3 over the past three matches and, if fit, he would add some stability to a batting line-up that was skittled by New Zealand earlier this month in Hobart.

The Australians have also missed Shane Watson at the top of the order and will again be without him on Boxing Day after he was ruled out due to his ongoing hamstring problem. He suffered the injury while bowling in the second Test in South Africa last month and missed both games against New Zealand, but Clarke is hopeful his vice-captain might be back for the second Test against India.

"He's certainly on the mend, which is a positive, but unfortunately he's not right to go in this Test," Clarke said. "I'm really hoping that he's right for the Sydney Test. He's going to spend some more time in Melbourne with Alex our physio to make sure he's getting the best treatment and we try to get him right for Sydney.

"He didn't bat yesterday or today, so I guess we still don't really know how close he was. At the end of the day we didn't feel like he was fit enough to bat yesterday and today in preparation for this Test. Hopefully he'll do some batting and bowling over the weekend though, and throughout the Boxing Day Test in preparation for Sydney."

One man who is not in doubt for the Melbourne Test is Ricky Ponting, who suffered a blow to the hand while batting against James Pattinson in the nets on Wednesday. Ponting ended his net session after the incident but Clarke said there was no question over his fitness for the Boxing Day Test.

"He's 100% fine," Clarke said. "I've already heard there was a bit of talk over the radio that Ricky has busted his hand but that's completely false. He's fine."