Rod Marsh to resign as Australia's national selector
Former Australian Cricketer Rod Marsh has announced that he is going to resign as the national selector for his nation when his contract ends next year. The Aussies just completed the 5-match ODI series in South Africa where they were outplayed and lost each and every game to the Proteas.
The former wicket-keeper was assigned the role of a selector back in 2014 and the team has achieved many feats during his tenure including the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup triumph. Apart from Marsh, the four-man selection panel also features Trevor Hohns, National team coach Darren Lehmann and former batsman Mark Waugh.
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As per the reports of the Guardian, a spokesperson of the AAP said, “We can confirm that Rod Marsh has decided not to continue on in his role as national selector once his contract expires in June, 2017. At this stage, no decision has been made on a replacement.”
It was also learnt that Australian captain Steve Smith was quite unaware of the fact of this development as explained by him when he was asked following Australia’s last ODI match against South Africa at Cape Town.
Yet, Smith feels that the 68-year old has done a ‘great job’ for a long period and if he wants to quit, the decision should be honoured. “Rod’s done a great job for a long period of time and if he feels it’s time to step away from the role then so be it,” said the Aussie skipper.
Also read: South Africa vs Australia 5th ODI Stats: Australia whitewashed 5-0 for the first time in ODIs
Earlier, Marsh was under the scanner and asked questions regarding the omission of Usman Khawaja for the limited over matches in spite of having a healthy average in all formats prior to that period. The way he dealt with wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin was also criticised. Haddin was left out from the 2015 Ashes squad as he missed a game to spend some time with his sick daughter in a hospital, and was replaced by Peter Nevill.
Australia fared poorly in the Tests during the tour of Sri Lanka and lost the 3-match series 0-3 to the hosts but came back strongly in the ODIs winning it 4-1. With a busy summer ahead, the team from ‘Down Under’ would definitely hope to turn the tides in their favour after a disastrous outing to the African nation.