Cape Town - Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh will be heading to South Africa for the Test series in good bowling form having come through a first-class game for Western Australia.
Marsh made a stirring comeback to Test cricket from a shoulder injury late last year, scoring 181 against England in the third Ashes in Perth before hitting another ton in the final game of the series in Sydney.
His bowling during the Ashes was rather limited as Australia's pace attack and spinner Nathan Lyon took care of England in a 4-0 thrashing.
With a four-match Test series in South Africa starting on March 1, Marsh took four wickets against New South Wales in what was the last chance for Australia's Test squad members to impress before going on tour.
In quotes published on Cricket Australia's website, Marsh said: "It's good for my confidence that's for sure.
"I've been building for most of the season with my bowling and playing Test cricket with the big four that we've got, I don't necessarily have to bowl a lot of overs.
"But it's nice to know that I am capable of getting through 26 overs. I thought my pace has been up the last couple of weeks which has been really good and I'm happy with the way it's coming out."
Australia Test squad to SA:
Steve Smith (captain), David Warner (vice-captain), Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc
Australia fixtures in South Africa:
Warm-up match v SA Invitational XI, Sahara Park, Benoni, February 22-24
1st Test - Kingsmead, Durban, March 1-5
2nd Test - St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, March 9-13
3rd Test - Newlands, Cape Town, March 22-26
4th Test - Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3
India may be ranked No 1 in the ICC Test rankings, but after their series defeat to the Proteas, do they really deserve the mantle as world's best?
