A new talent was unleashed on the world a few days ago, and after a fabulous ODI debut, it seems he may have the ability to go all the way at the top level.
That talent is Shaun Marsh, son of renowned Australian stonewaller Geoff Marsh, who played for Australia from 1985 to 1992. His nickname around WA and in the Australian team is SOS: Son of Swampy.
Marsh has been playing first class cricket for a few years now, and only recently has his name become better known. He was a bright talent when first spotted all those years ago, when he charmed then retiring captain Steve Waugh with his maiden first class century.
He became, however, something of an enigma over the next few seasons, unable to hold a secure place in the side and inconsistent in the first class arena. Then along came Tom Moody.
In the 07-08 domestic season, he blossomed as a class batsman. In the Pura Cup, he managed 663 runs from the difficult no.3 position at the healthy average of 60.27. In the Ford Ranger Cup he was his state’s leading run scorer with 318 runs at 39.75. In the frenzied 20/20 competition, he was devastating, scoring 290 runs at the superb average of 58.
It was a sign of things to come for the junior Swampy.
The Chennai Superkings, in arguably the most genius purchases of the comp, bought Marsh and powerful teammate Luke Pomersbach for very little and from there Marsh proceeded to lead his team’s charge towards the final, winning the coveted Orange Cap for highest run scorer with his 616 runs at 68.44. More significantly, he was 83 runs clear of Gautum Gambhir, who had played three more games.
That tournament launched his name. It seemed he had come out of nowhere and dominated a competition with some of the finest international cricketers playing with and against him. Now he has excelled on his ODI debut to score 81, the second highest score by an Australian on ODI debut.
For those who saw him when he first started all those years ago, would they ever have doubted he would reach this peak?
No comments:
Post a Comment