Australia's foremost Test allrounder of recent times, Shane Watson, has backed battling incumbent Mitchell Marsh to come good with the bat and has praised his bowling.
Marsh has had a lean time of late with the bat in Tests, averaging just 12 across the Ashes tour and 13.80 in the recently completed home series against New Zealand.
He was more productive in both series with his fast-medium bowling.
"He's got a couple of key wickets every time he has bowled, so I think he's still doing a great job and contributing where he needs to at his point of time," Watson said on Monday.
"There's no doubt his batting will turn around, he's a very talented young batter," added Watson, who retired from Test cricket after the Ashes tour.
With Usman Khawaja a chance of returning from injury for the Boxing Day Test, Marsh's brother Shaun could be battling to retain his spot despite scoring a big century in the crushing first Test over the West Indies.
Watson said Shaun Marsh batted beautifully in both Adelaide and Hobart and would get another chance even if he was dropped for the Boxing Day Test.
"If it works out that way that he doesn't get picked, he's scored a huge amount of runs," Watson said.
"So if there's another injury or someone loses form, he'll be the first one picked again."
With Khawaja almost ready to return and the Australian batsmen prospering, apart from in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, Watson felt the selectors had some good headaches, for once.
"They have a really good dilemma, which is a nice thing," Watson said.
Still keen to represent Australia in the two shorter forms, Watson isn't really missing Tests after retiring from that format after the Ashes series.
"The first couple of Tests, the buildup to Brisbane, I certainly missed that sort of side of it (though) not as much as I thought I would," Watson said.
"As well, West Indies probably didn't put up much of a fight, so if I was in the team and batting at No.6 potentially, I wouldn't have had much of a hit during the summer."
Watson has played a little cricket since the domestic one-day series concluded and stressed he was now ready to resume bowling.
"Of course my main goal, no question, is to be able to play the shorter forms for Australia but, in the end, it's totally out of my control," Watson said.
"I still feel I've got a lot to give in any team I play in."
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