Australian all-rounder Mitch Marsh is hopeful his hamstring issues are behind him as he gears up to take on the might of England.
Marsh and his brother Shaun have been plagued by hamstring injuries throughout their careers.
Mitch’s latest setback happened nine weeks ago when he tore his hamstring while doing running drills for the Warriors.
The 22-year-old is confident he has recovered sufficiently to take his place in the WA Chairman’s XI squad to face England in a three-day tour match, starting at the WACA Ground on Thursday.
Marsh will play purely as a batsman in that match, but hopes he can wreak havoc with the ball later in the summer.
“I feel like I have done a lot of hard work over the last nine weeks to get both of my hamstrings to a point where I am certainly not at a big risk of re-tearing them,” Marsh said on Monday.
“My bowling will be coming along over the next three to four weeks, but I certainly won’t be rushing back into that.
“I have started bowling in the nets off a short run. If all goes to plan, I hope to be playing as an all-rounder in a few weeks.”
Two-Test spinner Michael Beer will captain the WA Chairman’s XI, which will be missing a host of its best players due to WA’s Sheffield Shield commitments and Australia’s one-day tour of India.
With Adam Voges, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Mitchell Johnson all on international duty, and batsman Liam Davis (finger) and paceman Joel Paris (quad) nursing injuries, Queensland’s Chris Lynn has been drafted in to bolster the WA side.
Lynn enters the match on a high after hitting the winning runs in Sunday’s one-day cup final against NSW.
Marsh has played four one-dayers and three Twenty20s for Australia, but injuries have hampered his chances of breaking through for his Test debut.
The hard-hitting right-hander said he needed to focus on staying injury-free before daring to dream of a Test call-up.
“If I can stay on the park, then hopefully other things will happen for me,” Marsh said.
“The only currency for me is scoring runs and taking wickets.”
Western Australia Chairman’s XI: Michael Beer (capt), James Allenby, Burt Cockley, Matt Dixon, Ryan Duffield, Marcus Harris, Chris Lynn, Mitch Marsh, Luke Towers, Tom Triffitt, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye. (12th man to be named)