Marsh elevation 'flawed': Taylor

Former captain Mark Taylor has labelled Mitch Marsh’s elevation to No.4 in Australia’s one-day side as "flawed", saying the allrounder is not technically equipped to handle the position.

Marsh was out for a golden duck in his maiden innings at second drop today, hitting an easy catch to Imad Wasim at cover from a full, wide ball by left-arm paceman Mohammad Amir.

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Marsh’s dismissal reduced Australia to 3-41 in the ninth over and led Taylor to air his feelings about the allrounder’s promotion up the order.

"(Marsh) made 76 earlier this summer, an explosive 76 at Manuka Oval," Taylor said in his role as a Wide World of Sports commentator.

"He did bat at five in (that) match but he came in at the score of 3-248.

"It was after Warner’s 100, Smith’s 70-odd, and he can do this (hit sixes).

"This is what he does well. He is more just a hitter, a straight hitter.

"But he’s not a technically sound batsman to bat at the top of the order.

"I think Australia’s idea to bat him at No.4 four is flawed at the moment until that technique improves."

Marsh has had the most success batting at No.6 in ODI cricket, the position where he averages 37.81 and scored his maiden ODI century against India 12 months ago.

Former Pakistan paceman Waqar Younis was calling the action alongside Taylor when Marsh was dismissed and agreed that the Western Australian was more suited to the lower order.

"He is no doubt good for one-day cricket and T20 cricket, but batting up the order isn’t really his cup of tea at the moment," Waqar said.

"He might just develop into it later on but at the moment I think No.6 or No.7 is his number."

Marsh was today announced in Australia’s 16-man squad for the four-Test tour of India as one of two allrounders with Victorian Glenn Maxwell.

While Marsh has been predominantly a batting-allrounder during his career, interim Chairman of Selectors Trevor Hohns said the National Selection Panel consider the 25-year-old a bowling-allrounder for the tour.

"This is a selection where we thought we would like a bowling-allrounder and we now consider Mitch in that category," Hohns said.

"His bowling is probably better than most of the other allrounders in that category at the moment."

While Marsh has started off 2017 with scores of 4 and 0 in one-day cricket, he scored 642 runs last year at an average of 42.8 and a strike rate of 96.10. 

He was dropped from the Test team this summer for failing to produce the big score he needed to cement his position, but says he wasn't playing his natural game.

"Reflecting once I got dropped, the one thing that let me down was I was trying to bat like someone I'm not and bat like a traditional batsman," Marsh said. "That's not me.

"I've got to go out there and play my shots and play with freedom. I might get out in an ugly way here and there, but I think that's going to give me the best opportunity to score runs.

"The biggest thing is to not get so down on myself. You're wearing the Baggy Green and you want to do well all the time (but) as cliché as it sounds, I was literally living the dream for a couple of years playing Test cricket.

"So moving forward, I'm just going to enjoy it.

"It was a tough time getting dropped, but it was nice to get back and get out of the spotlight for a little bit and get away from it.

"But I'm wrapped to be back and hopefully I can do a job for the team."