Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor believes World Cup hero Mitch Marsh may have batted himself into Ashes contention after his match-winning knock in the final.
After years of being Australian cricket’s whipping boy, Marsh delivered on the biggest stage, guiding his side to its first T20 World Cup with an unbeaten 77 off 50 deliveries.
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Marsh has enjoyed the most prolific year of his career with the bat in the T20 format, scoring over 600 runs at an average of 36.88 and a strike rate of 129.81 in 2021.
A combination of injuries and poor stretches of form have resulted in the 30-year-old having a stop-start international career, but Taylor believes his play in the last 12 months could be a sign of him being a late bloomer.
“What you might see from Mitch Marsh is now he’s 31, he’s matured and you might see a bit of a late bloomer,” Taylor told 2GB’s Wide World of Sports Radio.
“Everyone assumed 10 years ago that Mitch Marsh would come into the side having captained our Under-19s side about 12 years ago and become a fixture … and he hasn’t nailed it down.
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“There’s still an opportunity for him to do that. I have no doubt that on the back of his performance last night and the way that he’s maturing all the time, that maybe his Test days aren’t over.
“We’ve talked about who might bat No.5 for Australia in a couple of weeks’ time, I’ll bet you the selectors are sitting down and talking about Usman Khawaja and Travis Head, but Mitch Marsh is back in the equation.”
Taylor also hit back at Marsh’s now-famous quote from 2019 where he claimed that Australia “hated” him.
“He’s wrong, I don’t think Australia has hated him at all,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that Australia loves to see our side and our individuals play the best possible cricket and unfortunately for Mitch we haven’t seen that at Test level, so there’s been a bit of disappointment around his performances.
“I’ve known Mitch Marsh since he was born, he’s a terrific kid and just hasn’t performed at that Test match level.”
While England’s touring party has been practicing together in Australia during the T20 World Cup, Taylor believes the confidence the likes of David Warner have gained from the World Cup will stand the home side in good stead for the Ashes series.
“I think confidence is as important, if not more important, than momentum,” he said.
“That win will silence the critics, and will give people like David Warner [confidence] … he’s proven everyone wrong as well, he’s ready to go again.
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“Mitch Marsh believes he’s an international cricketer again, even Matthew Wade, who was dropped from the Australian side after last summer for the tour that never happened in South Africa, he now probably believes he’s not finished anymore.
“So look out, the Australians will be full of confidence. They may not be quite as Test match prepared, but they are confident now.”