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Travis Head has leapt to the defence of his much-maligned teammate Mitch Marsh, who was booed by the MCG crowd during a sluggish first day of the Boxing Day Test.
Marsh was brought into the side in place of Victorian batsman Peter Handscomb, angering the home crowd despite Handscomb having failed with the bat so far this series, recording scores of 34, 14, 7 and 13 coming in at number five.
Some in the MCG crowd though were unhappy with Marsh being given the nod after the 27-year-old recorded just one score above 50 in seven Sheffield Shield innings since being dropped from the Test side after a disappointing tour to the UAE against Pakistan.
Despite that, Head was disappointed with the crowd's response.
"I don't think it's great," Head said of the booing Marsh was subjected to.
"Obviously we've seen a bit with [Virat] Kohli as well, but for Mitch, who worked his bum off today … I thought he bowled exceptionally well. He created great pressure in tough conditions, fought really hard."
Marsh's inclusion to the Test team has always struck a nerve with some supporters, who believe he benefits from preferential treatment in regards to selection, particularly.
However, Head said that no matter what the circumstances, the Australian vice-captain deserves respect from his home supporters.
"I don't think any Australian cricketer, in Australia, deserves to be booed," Head said.
"I understand, a Victorian crowd and Petey [Handscomb] obviously missing out but I think it was pretty poor for Mitchy to cop that."
"I think the way [Mitch] showed today, [he's a] great team man, great fellow … I think he did a wonderful job so, disappointing. So hopefully that won't be the case for the next couple of days."
Despite suffering the ignominy of receiving the same treatment normally reserved for some of Australia's fiercest opponents over the years, Head said Marsh let the criticism wash straight over him and got on with the job at hand.
"I think Mitch is the character to get on with it. As he showed, he did the business, he bowled exceptionally well, did the job that was needed for the team, and that's what Mitch has always done.
"He's been someone to get the energy around he group, lead from the front. And he did that in tough conditions, he grabbed the ball and bowled the way he did, which was really good."
Marsh was brought into the team to help ease the burden on Australia's overworked trio of fast bowlers — and he more than played his part, bowling a disciplined line throughout the say to help restrict India's scoring rate to just 2.41 for the day.
Marsh ended the day as Australia's most economical bowler, sending down 15 overs for just 23 runs, with three maidens, but remained wicketless on another lifeless MCG pitch that only showed signs of life late in the day with the second new ball.
All the talk leading up to the game had focused on the pitch, with Head admitting the Australians found it tough going.
"It was grinding Test cricket," Head said.
"I thought they batted well, I thought we created pressure. We've seen it for the whole series that there wasn't a high run rate throughout the day, but it was tough cricket."
"I thought [the pitch] would offer a little bit more than what it did in the first couple of hours.
"It was a tough day of cricket, but you never know [how things will turn out], as the four days continues, the game moves, but yeah, today was tough work."
Topics: cricket, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
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