Batting with the hunger that comes with being an old man in cricket years, Brad Haddin expects Shaun Marsh to prosper if given a chance in the opening Test against South Africa.
Marsh, Alex Doolan, Phillip Hughes and Moises Henriques are vying for two vacant spots in a team that went unchanged throughout a 5-0 Ashes sweep of England.
Marsh was included in the original 15-man touring party, scratched due to a calf injury, then reinstated when he regained full fitness ahead of schedule and Shane Watson was ruled out of the first clash with the Proteas.
On Monday, just over 24 hours after landing in Johannesburg, the 30-year-old will have the first of two training sessions at Centurion to convince selectors he is ready for the first Test.
Marsh is the oldest of the quartet and, according to Haddin, it’s reflected in his recent form.
“He’s probably getting to the age where it’s his last crack,” Haddin said before the start of the three-Test series on Wednesday.
“He seems more settled in his game.
“During the one-day series, he seemed pretty comfortable with where he was at.
“There’s no better arena to test himself against these blokes to see how far he has come in his game.”
Marsh made a mad dash to Perth Airport on Saturday night and has had little time to acclimatise, but Haddin didn’t think jetlag would affect him in the nets on Monday.
“He only had to come from Perth. He didn’t have to come from Sydney like the rest of us. He’ll be fine,” Haddin said.
Doolan is expected to make his Test debut at first drop.
Marsh, who played seven Tests in 2011-12, was selected ahead of Hughes in the initial squad.
But Hughes scored 83 in an intra-squad match on what was essentially a day-four Wanderers pitch, and has an impressive Test record in South Africa.
“Who knows? Both of them might play; none of them might play,” Haddin said.
The wicketkeeper suggested Henriques’ chances should not be discounted, but that the side’s three pacemen are capable of shouldering the extra workload should selectors opt against picking an allrounder.
“They’ve done that during the summer. Watto didn’t bowl that much during the summer,” he said.
“This is a three-Test series, not a five-Test series, so they won’t be holding anything back.”