Lehmann justifies Shaun Marsh inclusion

Australia's coach and selector Darren Lehmann has justified the recall of Shaun Marsh ahead of other worthy candidates on the basis that he had nearly been chosen ahead of Usman Khawaja in the first place.

While Marsh has enjoyed only a middling Sheffield Shield return this season, Lehmann said that his standing as a player near the head of the queue for places in the Australian batting order had not changed, and the panel still felt he was a better option than others such as Michael Klinger and Glenn Maxwell for the middle-order spot available in Adelaide.

Marsh's continued selection has drawn wide criticism from the public, and various explanations given by the selection panel in recent times such as Klinger's inferior record to Khawaja and Joe Burns do not stand up in this case. However there remains a strong sense among the selectors that Marsh's talent is worth persevering with for occasional gems like his century against South Africa at Centurion last year.

"He was very close in the first Test selection," Lehmann said. "It was touch and go with Uzzy and Shaun Marsh. And he played really well for us last summer, he got 99 in Melbourne and a got a couple of 50s in Sydney. We thought he played quite well in the West Indies when he got his chance as well. He gets another chance to have a crack at Test cricket. He got some runs in Melbourne, which was pleasing to see. He gets first crack."

Incumbency is a factor in Australian cricket, not only within teams but within squads. Marsh is familiar to all members of the national team, was chosen in the squads for Australia's most recent Test tours - including the postponed trip to Bangladesh - and has those memories in his favour ahead of Klinger in particular, who has never been chosen in an Australian senior squad in any format.

"I think he's younger than [Adam] Voges isn't he? So age doesn't go against him. There's been a lot of speculation, he's made a lot of runs," Lehmann said of Klinger. "At the end of the day Shaun Marsh is more recent in Test match cricket and has made a contribution, so that's the way we decided to go.

"Shaun's proven as in he's made some runs and contributions. He'll still want to prove himself again. I still remember that great hundred he got against South Africa at Centurion. So as a selection panel it was tight for all those guys when you've got to pick a batter."

Maxwell's claims were enhanced by an innings of 98 against Marsh's Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield match at the MCG, but Lehmann spoke mainly of the allrounder's offspin being too similar to Nathan Lyon, with Steve O'Keefe preferred as a second slow bowling option. Currently batting at No. 6 in the Shield team, Maxwell may need a promotion into the top four to be in better contention.

"You've got to work out which way you want to go on a particular wicket," Lehmann said. "I suppose if you were playing two spinners you'd think he'd come into calculations, but with Nathan bowling so well in offspin it's probably not the way we're going to go [to have another offspinner] over there. All you can do is put performances on the board. We're always looking at those guys who have done really well."

Khawaja has already commenced his rehabilitation from a hamstring strain, and will be aiming to be fit in time for the Boxing Day Test against West Indies in Melbourne. Lehmann indicated that the selectors wanted Khawaja to demonstrate his fitness with match-play before he returned to the Test team, meaning once again that the summer schedule will be an obstacle - only the BBL will be available by the time Khawaja is expected to be ready.

"You'd hope so with his two hundreds," Lehmann said when asked whether Khawaja would come straight back in. "But having said that we still want him to play some cricket. He's got to get fit and strong and faster first and make sure we don't have another injury.

"He's had some injuries over the last 12-18 months, now he's got to get back to full fitness and we want him to play some cricket before he comes under selection [consideration] again. We've got no Shield game so it probably does have to be Big Bash."

Australia's inclusion of James Pattinson and O'Keefe, plus the presence of Peter Siddle, affords the selectors plenty of options in lieu of the heavy workloads placed on Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, who both bowled more overs in the Perth Test than they ever had previously.

"They're all a bit sore, so we'll wait until we get to Adelaide [to make a decision]," Lehmann said. "We've got four days off now and we'll sum that up in the next couple of days."