Australia v India 2014: Shaun and Mitchell Marsh follow in footsteps of past Aussie Test brothers

THE differences between Shaun and Mitchell are as conspicuous as the contrasts between the Chappells, the Waughs and Dave and Mike Hussey.

Methode Byline Headshots. Staff. News Queensland. Robert Craddock

JUST because you come from the same womb does not mean you are cut from the same cloth.

It’s a moral that has echoed through the Australian cricket scene for more than a century and the truth of it could be spelled out again at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.

If Michael Clarke falters in his fitness battle for the Adelaide Test, Shaun and Mitchell Marsh would become the seventh set of Australian brothers to play together in a Test.

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They would join old-timers the Gregorys, the Giffens, the Bannermans, the Trotts and, more recently, Greg and Ian Chappell, and Steve and Mark Waugh in a baggy green brotherhood of the purest kind.

The differences between Shaun and Mitchell are as conspicuous as the contrasts between the Chappells, the Waughs and Dave and Mike Hussey who played short form cricket together for their country.

And that is the joy of watching their journey.

Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh have played together in the shorter forms of the game at international level.

Of course there are common threads but in looking forensically for them we often find light and shade and odd and even aspects as well.

Shaun, the quieter of the two Marshs, once spotlighted this when he said of Mitchell “he’s the outgoing bloke and you can always see his big head standing out at parties.’’

Father Geoff, Australia’s batting rock of the mid-80s, made a similar observation.

“Shaun is very quiet,’’ Geoff said recently.

“Mitchell is a bit of the old school cricketer. That has been kicked out of him a bit but I hope he doesn’t change too much. You don’t need those sorts of characters who like to have a bit of fun being knocked down.

Mitchell and Shaun Marsh have both had off-field issues in the past.

“You don’t want robots. You want people who enjoy it.’’

Both the Marsh boys have had off-field issues they have had to overcome on their journey to Adelaide but have toned down in recent times.

History tells us batting brothers are rarely clones on or off the field.

Steve Waugh had no interesting in punting. Mark loves it.

To Steve a horse is something you hang your clothes on whereas Mark, who married horse trainer Kim, lives for them.

Steve has thousands of photos of his career. Mark never bothered buying a camera for most of his career.

Mark Waugh and Steve Waugh barely seemed to talk to each other between overs when they batted together.

These days the twins catch up around Christmas and at a few functions but as Mark points out “we spent 17 years sharing the same room so we both deserved a bit of space.’’

Similarities between the Waughs were they both talk in clipped tones, had no love of the gym and were dynamic leg side players after honing their games in a backyard with a slope that made the ball cut into their pads.

Coaches of David and Mike Hussey in Perth said they were different from the time they picked up their first cricket bats.

David just wanted to grab a bat and hit the ball.

Mike, from the start, was consumed by technical perfection and even took his own set of scales on tour to make sure his bat was the perfect weight.

Michael Hussey and David Hussey were different from the time they picked up their first cricket bats.

John and Richie Benaud, who never played together, are similar in some ways — both are charismatic characters with strong opinions and share a love of leg-spin which stretches all the way back to their late father who used to bowl it in district cricket.

But where Richie is the master of subtle understatement, John, a former no-nonsense newspaper editor and colourful columnist, is fearlessly direct in his opinions.

When he was a national selector, John might be heard saying “fair dinkum, does this captain know he has a spin bowler in his team?’’

Selector Benaud pushed hard for leg-spin bowlers until finally he found one — a chubby kid with blond hair who gave elder brother Richie plenty to talk about in the commentary box.

Originally published as Australia v India 2014: Shaun and Mitchell Marsh follow in footsteps of past Aussie Test brothers