NEWS » m with it because it has been happening

Shaun Marsh deserves this Test selection. Those are words that have not always been true. At his lowest, at home to India in 2011-12, Marsh was to Test batting what Eric Moussambani was to Olympic swimming. Yet chances kept coming, and now, at 33, Marsh is repaying that faith. When he replaced the injured Usman Khawaja last summer, he made 182 in Hobart. His next Test innings was 130 when recalled in Colombo. Then came a Sheffield Shield ton this week.So yes, Marsh has earned his opportunity this time. He is David Warners incumbent Test opening partner, and has given the selectors no reason to drop him. At the WACA next week, Marsh will face South Africa in what will be his first Test at his home ground since that miserable 2011-12 summer.And when he does, spare a thought for Joe Burns.In Australias last Test before the tour of Sri Lanka, Burns was Man of the Match, his 170 and 65 in Christchurch having helped secure Australia a series win over New Zealand and the No.1 Test ranking. And he was coming off a home season in which he scored two Test hundreds and averaged 45.70, a very encouraging return in his first summer as a Test opener.But on a selection whim, Burns was axed in Sri Lanka, one of two men - along with Khawaja - who paid the price for Australias collective poor batting in the first two Tests. They were, in Khawajas words, scapegoats.At this point, lets revisit the comments made by chairman of selectors Rod Marsh after Sri Lankas win in the first Test in Pallekele. What else can we do really? Marsh said. We send them off to India, we send them to other parts of the world where the ball turns, we played Australia A series in India last year and they batted well against good spin bowling.That statement is worth dissecting.Who is the they of whom Marsh is speaking? Indeed there was an Australia A tour of India last year, during which two Tests were played. Burns and Khawaja were the only two batsmen from that series who also played in the Tests against Sri Lanka. So they must be the they. Did they indeed bat well against good spin bowling? Khawaja batted four times with a high score of 41*. Burns played just one game and batted only once in it, for 8. He barely had a chance.Perhaps Marsh was referring to the one-day portion of that tour, in which both men scored more freely. But since when has 50-over white-ball cricket been relevant to picking a Test side? It is a game of different tempo, different fields, different attacks. Completely different.In any case, consider the one-day game in which both Burns and Khawaja scored hundreds in Chennai. ESPNcricinfos Alagappan Muthu was at the match, and described the situation thus: An India A bowling attack which relied on medium pace and non-turning spinners proved incredibly appetising, and the two batsmen were ravenous. Hardly valuable preparation for a Test series against Rangana Herath and co.It is true that there were Australia A batsmen who performed strongly in the Tests against India A. Cameron Bancroft scored Australias only century, a fine innings of 150, and was one of five men to also post fifties: Callum Ferguson, Marcus Stoinis, Travis Head and Peter Handscomb were the others. But none of those batsmen were in the Test squad in Sri Lanka. If they were the they of whom Marsh spoke, then they were irrelevant. In fact, Burns embarked on the Sri Lankan tour with just a single first-class match in Asia to his name: the game against India A in which he scored 8 in the first innings and did not bat in the second. Before he was a scapegoat, he was a lamb to the slaughter. Still, he warmed up for the Test series with 72 against a Sri Lanka XI in Colombo, and then made 29 in the second innings of the first Test in Pallekele, which earned praise from Rod Marsh.I thought Joe Burns played really well in that second innings after perhaps not looking too sound in the first innings, Marsh said after the first Test. He went to plan B and he looked really good until he didnt hit one. But in Galle, Burns fell in the first over of both innings - first against pace, then against spin - and was dumped. Could his second-innings method of dismissal - driving Herath in the air to cover - have cost him his place?That would seem especially harsh given the batsmen were told by captain Steven Smith and coach Darren Lehmann not to waste time in their chase of 413. On a Galle wicket that was spinning quite a bit, the skipper and the coach asked the batting group to be a lot more proactive with the way we went about things, Adam Voges recently said of that innings. With those words ringing in his ears, Burns went hard from the first over.In the same innings Khawaja shouldered arms first ball and was bowled, failing to pick a Dilruwan Perera arm ball. Khawaja has now been given quite a few chances in first-class cricket in Asia, including two Tests in Sri Lanka in 2011, yet has passed 50 just once from 15 innings. Burns has just the one fifty, too, but from only six innings. And four of those were in the recent Sri Lankan Tests.But on very scant evidence, Burns was viewed as expendable in Asian conditions. And thanks to Shaun Marshs Colombo century, he remains expendable at home. Like Marsh, Burns made a Shield century this week. Unlike Marsh, he will be playing a Shield game again next week. And probably for most of the summer. Khawaja, meanwhile, is back in the Test team.Yes, spare a thought for Joe Burns, the real scapegoat.Cheap Nike Air Max Outlet . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. Wholesale Nike Air Max From China . Burke is expected to miss two to three months after breaking a finger in the teams third preseason game. Tinsley, a 10-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Utah, where the point guard averaged 3. https://www.wholesalenikeairmaxshoes.com/ . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. Cheap Air Max 270 . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Fake Nike Air Max Replica . Mickelson barely made the cut but had the best round of the day with nine birdies and an eagle coupled with two bogeys to sit two shots behind leader Craig Lee of Scotland. Lee shot a 69 for a 12-under 204 total. "I just love the fact I am in contention and have an opportunity in my first tournament of the year here in Abu Dhabi," Mickelson said.Teams deliberately conceding strings of penalties on their own goal line is just good tactics according to Craig Bellamy, the Melbourne mentor conceding the NRL is powerless to stop the strategy which shapes as crucial in the finals series.The Storm attack was thwarted by the tactic in their 22-8 loss to the Raiders in Canberra in round 23s concluding game on Monday.Bellamy said the practice was now commonplace.it is very common, he said.I have no doubt that happens but that is just good tactics. They were leading 22-8.We were not going to kick penalty goals we were going for tries. Having said that Canberra is not the only side doing it and I dont know what you do about it.To me it was pretty good tactics. When you are worried someone is going to get a quick play the ball, you just slow it down and give a penalty away.At the end of the day I dont have a problem with it because it has been happening ffor a long time.ddddddddddddEven so, its hard to ignore the fact that fans almost certainly do have a problem with it and it is robbing the NRL of good attacking football.Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson is credited with pioneering the tactic in the Tricolours charge to the 2013 premiership.Bellamy conceded he had coached it too.Sometimes but not overly, he said.I am just worried about our defence down there. The experienced players probably can pick when there is a good opportunity to do that.A couple of years ago the Roosters were getting criticised for it but unless they start putting guys in the sinbin after two of them what do you do about it?That is up to the guys that make the rules.But you cant do it all day because you will have your line broken at some stage. ' ' '