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It occurs to us that people are far more likely to say “Shaun Marsh is back” than use the contraction “Shaun Marsh’s back” when referring to his return. This rather undermines an excellent joke we were going to make. Never mind. We’re sure we’ll one day get an opportunity to deploy it using someone else’s surname.
In any case, the headline should more accurately read “Shaun Marsh is rumoured to be back” because it’s one of those news stories that’s based on the word of “a source”. Apparently Tim Paine is also back – utterly bizarre as he hasn’t scored a first-class hundred in over a decade and hardly ever keeps wicket.
Marsh’s inclusion in an Australia team is always welcome from this website’s perspective. We’ve described it as ‘heart-warming’ before now.
The heart-warmth is brought by the innocence and naivety behind such a decision. In the face of all that has happened, these gnarled, wisened selectors still retain extraordinary optimism. It’s rather inspiring.
Like us, you may have something in the back of your mind that says Marsh’s lifelong efforts to try and ensure all his averages remain in the high 30s could end up undermined should he get to play more matches on Australia’s straightforward unchallenging Test pitches.
History disagrees. Marsh’s spectacularly Marshish Test average of 36 from 23 Tests actually drops to 34.23 for his 10 Tests in home conditions.
We’re really looking forward to a spectacular hundred in the first Test followed by extended payment of his duck tax throughout the remainder of the series.
The ‘s back joke’s back! I guess it never really went away…
In other news, it looks like Shiv Thakor has fallen foul of that gap between bat and pad once again: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-41996952
I for one did not expect it to stand up in court.
Aah, I see this has been covered… sadly the same cannot be said of a certain member.
Issues around middle stump. There you go. Got there.
What’s the opposite of Ashton Agar?
Ashton Turner.
All but confirmed. Excellent. Hopefully this will compensate for them launching in someone in Sangakkara-esque form at the top.
It would appear His Highness has fallen on hard times and has been forced into a spot of freelancing….
http://road.cc/content/news/232269-surrey-school-says-students-can-only-cycle-school-if-they-fit-number-plate-their
The following one has a tell-tale hover caption too, which is more than can be said for the Shaun Marsh piece above:
http://road.cc/content/news/232236-potholes-position-road-important-its-size-says-cycling-uk-councils-claim-some
Even Ashton Agar could get turn on that road.
Newshound!
http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8616/scorecard/1125954/Bangladesh-Under-19s-vs-Pakistan-Under-19s-1st-Semi-final-Asian-Cricket-Council-Under-19s-Asia-Cup-2017-18/
For those following the U-19 Asia Cup… Pakistan beat Bangladesh by just 2 runs in the first semifinal. Afghanistan vs Nepal in Malaysia tomorrow.
Why couldn’t they have recalled Shane Watson instead? I miss him.
The Aussie press came up with the stat that coach Darren Lehmann has scored a first class century more recently than Paine, which I quite liked.
Despite the absence of a hover caption, I did notice that it is a picture of Shaun Marsh’s back, which is a sort-of pictorial joke.
Some of us do take pleasure in such things, KC, thank you.
Also helpful to know that Shaun Marsh is number 43, so we can call out, “come in number 43, your time is up” in the direction of the radio before turning over again and going back to sleep.
My Ogblog project has found its way to mid April 2014. This very short piece is basically a link to a King Cricket piece which I enjoyed re-reading and (who knows) others might enjoy revisiting too:
http://ianlouisharris.com/2014/04/15/middlesex-v-nottinghamshire-day-three-lords-15-april-2014/
Charley The Gent and Stentor Baritone both feature in this one.
Why drop Nevill? It has to be something off the field. His first class batting average is almost 10 higher than Paine. Did he do anything to piss off the selectors recently?
My understanding is that he is simply isn’t Australian enough. The selectors pretty much admitted that Wade wasnt as good at batting or keeping, but he had Nevill easily beaten in “being a mouthy prick”