`No excuses for slow over-rates' - Marsh

Rod Marsh has joined Ian Chappell in demanding the ICC crack down on slow Test over-rates. Marsh, the former Australia wicketkeeper and current England selector, said England, South Africa and Pakistan were teams regularly behind their quota and agreed with Chappell's request that captains be suspended if they failed to reach 90 overs in a day.

"They just cannot get through their overs quickly, and Jesus that annoys me," Marsh told The Australian. "I can't see, and this isn't just an old bloke whingeing, there being any excuses for it among the current players. Surely to God, with all the planning that goes on these days, something can be done."

Marsh said the situation had gone unpunished for too long, which made it difficult to change. "I don't know what they [cricket's administrators] are going to do about it now," Marsh, in Melbourne to be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, said. "It's gone on for too long and the solution is there, but no one wants to do anything about it."

With an intimate knowledge of both sides, Marsh also told the newspaper Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath would be crucial to Australia's Ashes campaign. "I don't know what's going to happen next summer in England, but I do know Australia have got two bowlers who have taken over 1000 Test wickets [between them]," Marsh said. "So if you want to talk about a fundamental difference between the two teams, it's Warne and McGrath."