Birthday special: Mitchell Marsh – Talented all-rounder who is yet to fulfill his potential

He is a cricketer with plenty of talent and there is no doubting that. When Mitchell Marsh made his debut for the Australian side way back in the year 2011, he was rated highly. In fact, Aussie cricketing great Michael Clarke was of the opinion that Marsh can even go on to lead the Australian side in the future.

And now, 10 years down the line, Marsh might not have done complete justice to his innate talent. The Aussie all-rounder has played 32 Tests, 63 ODIs and 30 T20Is for the kangaroos. And, his record with both bat and ball have been moderate.

Marsh averages 25.20 with the bat in Tests and has scalped only 42 wickets in the whites as well. In ODIs, Marsh has scored 1672 runs at 33.44 and has picked up 50 wickets. In T20Is Marsh averages 28.00 with the bat and has scalped only 15 wickets. And surely, after a decade into international cricket, these are not numbers that do complete justice to the talent of Marsh.

But then, Marsh’s career has also been filled with moments of brilliance. His excellent five-wicket haul against England in the 2015 World Cup helped Australia wallop their opposition by 111 runs.

And, Marsh’s excellent 75 off just 44 deliveries enabled the kangaroos to beat the West Indies by a slender margin of 4 runs in a T20I match on 14th July 2021. The brightest moment of Marsh’s career came in December 2017, against the England side in The Ashes series.

England batted first in this match and posted a total of 403 on the board. In reply, Australia piled up a colossal total of 662/9, and it was the duo of Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh who made it happen. While Smith scored 239, Marsh scored a superb 236-ball 181 with the willow in hand. The right-hander also struck 29 fours in his innings as well and helped Australia wallop England by an innings and 41 runs.

Marsh was also the lone shining light with the bat in Australia’s series loss against Bangladesh in August this year. In a five-match T20I series where run-scoring was a challenge, he emerged as the top run-scorer and plundered 156 runs at an average of 31.20. In fact, the right-hander scored in excess of 40 in 3 out of the 5 that he played in that series.

Marsh is celebrating his 30th birthday today. He has loads of talent, and also has a lot of cricket left in him. And, the Aussie all-rounder can definitely carve a niche for himself with both bat and ball in the years to come