Former Test opener Geoff Marsh is confident his son Shaun will make the most of his demotion to Sheffield Shield cricket to retain his Test spot.

Shaun Marsh was dropped from Australia’s one-day international squad to find form in the Shield with Western Australia after a disastrous Test series against India where he made 17 runs in six innings at 2.83.

If he cannot make a big score at state level it seems highly likely Marsh will not be on the plane for Australia’s three-Test tour of the West Indies in April.

But father Geoff believes missing out on the one-dayers is exactly what’s needed if his son is to rebuild his confidence.

“He’s going along OK,” Marsh Snr told Melbourne radio station SEN.

“Unfortunately for Shaun he had that back problem, couldn’t train for six weeks and busted his gut to get back for Boxing Day.

“Knowing Shaun, if he had got off to a good start he would have been right, but he struggled with his confidence.

“They have given him the opportunity to go back and play Shield cricket which is the best thing for him to find his form.”

Geoff himself was hoping to be a part of the triangular one-day series as coach of Sri Lanka but was unceremoniously sacked after the recent tour of South Africa, just a few months into the position.

He said he still had to have the decision to replace him with South African Graham Ford fully explained.

“Not really, I have not had a reason yet – we will see how that all pans out,” Marsh said on the same day Sri Lanka slumped to defeat in a warm-up one-day match against a Victorian 2nd XI at Melbourne’s Junction Oval.

“I really enjoyed getting back into coaching, I thought I was coaching well at the time.

“The most important thing is getting the respect of the players, and I believe I had that in the first couple of months.

“I was looking forward to moving on.”