Marsh deserves a Test spot: Hussey

Former Test batsman Mike Hussey believes Shaun Marsh deserves to be handed a recall for the first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba.

Marsh did his Test chances no harm with a superb 186 in Western Australia's thumping of the CA XI on Thursday, his second century in four matches of the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup.

Australia are seeking long-term replacements for Chris Rogers and Michael Clarke and with fitness concerns around David Warner, there's a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the Test line-up for the opening match of the summer.

Watch: Marsh torches CA XI for 186

Marsh repeatedly deflected questions about his Test chances after play at North Sydney Oval, preferring to center his focus on WA's title defence.

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But his former state and Test teammate Hussey was keen to sing his praises.

"I personally thinks he deserves a chance (for the first Test)," Hussey told cricket.com.au, who watched Marsh’s innings from the Wide World of Sports commentary box.

"I think he's an experienced guy who knows his own game really well, he's putting performances on the board and he's at the top of his game.

"He's at a nice stage of his career where he's on top of his game so he's got the best chance to perform consistently.

"He's phenomenal (when he gets going). We've always known how good a player he is and that's all he can do; keep plundering runs and keep putting his name in front of the selectors.

"And when or if he gets his opportunity - probably when - whether it's in the first Test or later, it's about trying to grab it and make it his own. It's tough but that's the reality of international cricket."

For a player with a middling Test record of two centuries from 15 Tests, it's easy to forget that Marsh has produced two of the best innings by an Australian on foreign soil in the past five years.

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His 141 against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on debut in 2011 and 148 against South Africa in Centurion two-and-a-half years later were both memorable performances that contributed to rare series victories on foreign soil.

He also fell just short of a maiden Test century in front of his own fans last summer, run out for 99 in the Boxing Day Test.

Watch: Marsh run out for 99

But his 2011-12 summer against India, when he averaged just 2.83 from four Tests, plus twin failures in crucial Tests in Port Elizabeth and Nottingham also linger in the memory.

His record of 11 single figure scores from 27 Test innings, including seven ducks, as well as injury have seen him drop out of the side four times in his career.

He played just one Test in the recent Ashes series, registering scores of 0 and 2 at Trent Bridge to drop his career average to 33 and see him squeezed out of the side again for the final match of the series.

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He came in at No.4 in Nottingham having opened for two Tests on the tour of the West Indies and batted at No.5 during last summer's series against India.

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Having started his career at first drop, Marsh has now batted in all positions from 1 to 5 and Hussey says being moved up and down the batting order may have made it difficult for Marsh to find any consistency.

"I'm sure any player is just happy to be in the Australian team, happy to be getting a game and you don't care where you bat," Hussey said.

"But it is a lot more settling when you can settle into one place and feel comfortable there and know that you have the backing of the selectors and the team.

"And certainly he hasn't had that. He's been moved around a bit and he's had injury problems as well so it's been hard for him to get much continuity.

"But I think he's at a stage in his game and hopefully his body where he can get a good run at it.

"And everyone in the country knows he's a class player."

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For his part, Marsh batted away any questions about the possibility of what would be a sixth call-up to the Test side.

"I haven't really thought about it too much. My sole focus at the moment is playing well for WA," Marsh said.

"We haven't started this tournament well and we've been really disappointed with our first three games so I've got a lot of things to worry about here.

"I just want to win games of cricket for WA, score some runs here and if I score enough runs I'll see what happens."