ODI Cricket loves flair players. In a limited bandwidth of time, it’s a novelty for fans to see a batsman collect runs albeit with a dash of style.
Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke and Mark Waugh were notable adversaries who stamped a signature of class on the ODI game. With Watson, you felt he had that extra bit of time to adjust his feet movement with every delivery. It didn’t matter which position he scored runs off.
Michael Hussey’s gleaming cover drives compensating for the agony of seeing a great batsman bat a little late down the order. Ponting, of course, was eye-candy material.
Where would you place Shaun Marsh vis-a-vis his famous compatriots?
Batting in a side that, lest it is forgotten, is playing to stay afloat in the current game, instead of competing for top honours, is Shaun Marsh’s dogged determination his trump card for Australian cricket?
Responsible for striking a bittersweet Cardiff ton, one that held a struggling batting order together in pursuit of a mighty run-chase, Shaun Marsh brought Australia within fighting distance of England. “It was nice to score a few runs, but disappointing we couldn’t finish it off,” exclaimed Marsh using a familiar economy of expression.
You identify a touch of class in even the most stubborn Amla defence. You are moved in awe by Kohli’s flick off the pads. But if you were an Aussie fan, desperately fighting with the team to seek a turnaround, you beamed in joy with Marsh plundering runs while others hardly seemed in the contest.
The 10 boundaries and 3 sixes somewhere prodded Australia to not throw their weapons away in forthcoming games, rather hold them firmer. Surprisingly, even when Marsh’s had the fortune of being on the winning edge, he’s quietly forgone the honours.
Kings XI Punjab 2011 Heroics
During his most successful King’s XI stint, where a proliferation of T20 strikes was auguring well for Marsh, he seldom wore garlands of self-praise.
For a side that had Glenn Maxwell and David Miller as pillars of brute-batting, it was Marsh’s 2011 heroics that proved who really was the king.
504 runs, 4 fifties at a strike rate of 146- he didn’t need to prove himself to anyone.
Career-Defining Hundred
For the pure quietness of his heroism, there are chances, the 131 at Cardiff may soon be forgotten quite like his sterling 156 at Sydney (Ashes of 2017), where it crowd roared to the flair of the ebullience of the other, fancier Marsh, brother Mitchell.
But in a split-second, if you were to understand the importance of Shaun Marsh’s effort in the previous Australia vs England match at Cardiff, you’d quite simply remove the 131 runs from the 304 they eventually secured and there you’d have it.
Had it not been for the 34-year-old’s class and ability to fight fire with fire, where would’ve Ashton Agar- 46 and, Glenn Maxwell- 31 taken the side?
A cricketer who has a characteristic flair of getting under the skin of an opponent, Shaun Marsh prefers operating silently. So rare, if not few, are the episodes with Marsh reconstructing a broken inning that it almost feels like a draining surgical operation with relief coming only with the doctor stating, “the patient’s fine.”
His 131 may not have ended up in a winning cause for Australia. At the most, it brought up the most important three-figure mark a batsman seeks regardless of the format.
With 3 more games to go and a deciding third in the next few days, Marsh will be intelligent to not throw it away. His fans as will his captain want him to build up from the impressive Cardiff strike, a world of a difference away from the ordinary showing at the Kennington Oval.
But can Shaun Marsh expect his team to stand up with him in the middle now? How far can single-handed valiance take the Aussies?