Marsh plans to focus efforts on bowling

Mitchell Marsh says he needs to focus on his bowling as he tries to nail down an ICC Cricket World Cup spot in an Australian squad stacked with allrounders.

The squad for the Carlton Mid ODI Tri-Series against England and India – which starts this week – and the subsequent World Cup contains four allrounders in Marsh, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner.

The hard-hitting Western Australia batsman and fast-medium bowler is likely to have fewer tri-series games to push his World Cup claims than the other three, with a hamstring injury expected to keep him out of Australia's first two matches.

The 23-year-old Marsh is very much the junior of the quartet in terms of ODI experience.

He has played just 12, compared to Watson (178), Maxwell (36) and Faulkner (33).

In only two of Marsh's 12 matches did Australia field all four allrounders.

The experiment was hardly a success, as Australia recorded a loss and a no result in the two matches, with none of the allrounders scoring above 40 or taking more than one wicket in either game.

Marsh lags behind the others in the bowling department with his average of 50 per wicket, appreciably higher than the other three, though his economy rate is only bettered by Watson.

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"If you're making enough runs or taking wickets, you're going to be picked anyway, but my bowling hopefully adds something to our team," Marsh said.

"It's something I really need to focus on and hopefully I can play a role as a batter and a bowler in this team."

Asked about the competition between the allrounders, Marsh said "there probably is, there's no beating around the bush there.

"But I think the balance in this squad with so many allrounders gives us great depth and if we get an opportunity we'll all be putting our hands up."

Marsh said the plan was for him to make his return as a batsman only in Australia's third game on January 23 against England in Hobart.

"Obviously I have got a few things to get past first," Marsh said.

"At this stage I will be playing the first few games as a batter while I build my workloads up and go from there.

"If it all goes to plan, I can start playing as an allrounder at the back half of this series."

Marsh said he hadn't been given a fitness deadline like captain Michael Clarke.

"If we didn't have the World Cup, I probably wouldn't be out for this long," Marsh said.

"The last few weeks I have worked really hard at the WACA and we have great support there so the hammy is feeling good at the moment."

Marsh has batted twice at No.3 but is not fussed about staking a regular claim for a top order spot.

"I did have a bit of a taste and I did enjoy batting up there, but I think this one-day team's pretty settled with our top order and I'm happy to slot in anywhere I fit."