Mitchell Marsh replaces older brother in Cricket Australia national contract list
Having not represented Australia in nine months, veteran batsman Shaun Marsh lost his Cricket Australia contract, his younger brother claiming the vacant spot.
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During the 1990/91 Ashes series, Steve Waugh struggled with the bat against England’s inexperienced bowling attack. In the opening three matches, the legendary New South Wales batsman recorded scores of one, 19, 48 and 14.
Having registered three centuries in his last 42 Tests, selectors dropped Waugh for the fourth match at Adelaide, and in a cruel twist of fate, was replaced by his twin brother.
Steve was tasked with breaking the news to Mark, who went on to score a century in the Adelaide Test, becoming the first Australian debutant to achieve the feat in eight years. It was undoubtedly a bittersweet celebration for the Waugh household.
Almost 30 years later, there was a sense of deja vu as Trevor Hohns announced the Cricket Australia men’s contract list for the 2020/21 season. Veteran Shaun Marsh was a notable omission, making way for his younger brother.
Mitchell Marsh was awarded a contract after establishing himself as a stalwart in the shorter formats. With a T20 World Cup on the horizon, powerful all-rounders are critical to Australia’s pursuit of a maiden title in the men’s competition.
The younger Marsh brother also impressed during the 2019 Ashes series, claiming a maiden Test five-wicket haul in London. However, after foolishly breaking his hand by punching a wall in October, the 28-year-old was unavailable for the Test series against Pakistan in November, Travis Head regaining his spot.
Marsh is unpopular among Australian cricket fans, and not for his character – teammates regularly cite him as the funniest person in the squad, his change room antics during docu-series The Test validating those comments. Rather, the West Australian’s lack of consistency has infuriated selectors and spectators alike. Marsh has been dropped seven times since making his Test debut in 2014.
“He has his critics, but at the end of the day he is a very talented player when he is fit and firing,” Mark Waugh told foxsports.com.au.
“He is a good hard hitter, and he can occupy the crease. When he is fit, his bowling is very dangerous.”
The younger Marsh is arguably in the prime of his professional career – on Thursday, Hohns said, “he has a lot of international cricket ahead of him”.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for Shaun.
Despite an impressive 2019/20 Sheffield Shield season, the 36-year-old is entering the twilight of his career, having been dropped from both Australia’s Test and one-day squad in 2019.
Much like his brother, Shaun struggled to cement his spot in the national team throughout his career, but boasts the uncanny record of scoring a Test century in all positions of the batting order from opener to No. 6.
However, with youngsters Nic Maddinson and Cameron Green knocking on the door for selection, Marsh’s international career is most likely over.
“I'll never say never of course, but I think Shaun … is probably past representing Australia," Hohns said on Thursday.
“We’ve spoken to Shaun regularly over the last 12 months, and he understands the situation. He’s been a wonderful player in domestic cricket, he’s played some very, very good innings for Australia in Test match cricket and he’ll be sorely missed.
“But what is good is that he’s continuing to play the game and as a senior player playing domestic cricket around Australia. He’s got a big role to play and as I suggested it’s great to see players like that continuing to play and put back to state cricket.”
Cricket Australia men’s 2020/21 contract list: Ashton Agar, Joe Burns, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
My top 3 Aus batters outside a couple obvious ones. Stoinis. Khawaja & S.Marsh ðŸ§
— Cameron Boyce (@CaJBoyce) April 30, 2020
Originally published as Mitchell Marsh replaces older brother in Cricket Australia national contract list