Chance for Mitchell Marsh to balance his scales

For an allrounder, everything is balance. Offer something with the bat, offer something with the ball, hopefully all in the same Test. That is Mitchell Marsh's challenge. Marsh turned 24 last month and it seems somehow appropriate that his star sign is Libra, for he has the potential to provide Australia's team with a certain equilibrium. He just hasn't yet got the scales evenly weighted.

Australia's selectors are hoping this will be the season the stars align for Marsh. They are fixated on having an allrounder in their side; they departed from that balance at Trent Bridge during this year's Ashes tour, and the series was lost there. By the time it came to choosing the squad to take on New Zealand at the Gabba, Marsh at No. 6 appeared a fait accompli.

And yet his record is not that of a Test No. 6. In his past four Tests, he has scored only 65 runs at 13.00. Of course, these are still early days in Marsh's Test career: he debuted last October in the UAE against Pakistan and has only seven Tests to his name. His batting promise was displayed in his first series, when he made 87 and 47 in Abu Dhabi.

It took Marsh four Tests to take his first wicket, but once they started coming the runs disappeared. He is coming off five wickets in his most recent Test, against England at The Oval, but he hasn't scored a half-century since Abu Dhabi. But his batting talent is clearly there: he made centuries in tour games against Kent and Essex on the Ashes trip, and has a first-class double-hundred to his name.

For the time being, his first-class average of 32.06 is not a patch on the 41.45 of wicketkeeper Peter Nevill, who will almost certainly bat at No. 7 this summer. Australia's coach Darren Lehmann said while moving Marsh down to No. 7 had been considered, the likely scenario was that he would remain in the top six, given what the selectors believe he is capable of in Test cricket.

"He's young. You look at all the allrounders over the history of the game, they've probably averaged between 30 and 35," Lehmann said. "We think he's got the ability to average higher than that in Test-match cricket. And it's getting the experience to play. International cricket is a tough game. The more opportunities we get to put those younger players under that pressure, the better they'll become."

Marsh has played two Tests at home, both against India last summer, and scored in the 40s in both innings at the Adelaide Oval before having less impact at the Gabba, where he suffered a hamstring injury that hamstrung the rest of his Test summer. In three Tests in England, he scored 12, 27 not out, 0, 6 and 3, and Lehmann conceded that Marsh had to find ways to fit his batting style to different conditions.

"He has to adapt," Lehmann said. "I suppose the big advantage for him is that these wickets will suit him a bit more than say, the English wickets, where they're slow and seam and swing. These wickets are truer wickets, better cricket wickets if that makes sense. I think he'll have success."

Such has been Australia's preference to carry an allrounder in recent years that Marsh may well have the position for as long as he can make contributions, but other men such as James Faulkner will be ready to step in should either side of Marsh's game slip away for an extended period. For the past few years Shane Watson has filled the role, and now it is Marsh's position to lose.

"We'd like that," Lehmann said of committing to an allrounder in most Tests. "Obviously we didn't do it in one of the Test matches and we admitted that mistake. I think the big thing for the allrounder spot is that if one of your quicks break down, you need that extra bowler. We always like to have five bowlers in our line-up.

"Australia in the past, when you had Shane Warne, you could get away with four and some part-timers from some crappy bowlers like Lehmann and Waugh. But when you've got Warne in your side you've got a bowler and a half. For us at this current stage with the Test side, we need that."

What they don't need is for No. 6 to become the next big headache for a side that will already have a new opener and a new No. 3. This summer is a chance for Marsh to balance the scales.