agreed, his form this season has been fantastic but his first class average is only in the high 30s
Whilst I consider a decent batsman to be 40+ average, I can understand selecting a bloke who averages in the 30s if his early career drags it down and he is sustaining great FC batting form.
If a player's average is 33. But he's played for 8 seasons and started out averaged 20, before inching it up to 25, then smashing out successive seasons average in the 80s, there's a good chance that he may bring that average up further in the test arena.
The problem is the selections like Marsh who had 4 good games a decade ago, 2 shit seasons, half a good season again, another shit season, a good season, a couple of shit seasons, a test hundred, another shit season and in their 30's still average 36 and don't look like going anywhere.