Captain's call: Marsh on leadership juggling act

Mitch Marsh says he's yet to decide if he'll seek to retake the captaincy of the Perth Scorchers after stepping away from the role for this summer's KFC BBL|10 campaign, offering a cautionary tale that might prick the ears of NSW Blues one-day leader Pat Cummins.

Cummins will be calling the shots for NSW's one-day team in Monday's Marsh One-Day Cup opener against Victoria in what will be his first captaincy gig since the Penrith U16 some 12 years ago.

Western Australian allrounder Marsh is one of the very few top-flight captains in men's cricket that is also a key bowler for their side, having been appointed to the state's top job ahead of the 2017-18 summer.

He took over as leader of the Perth Scorchers the following summer, but this year stepped aside from the Scorchers role to focus on returning to his best while recuperating from a serious ankle injury.

"My experience from last few years of captaining is that you need to be 100 per cent on your game," Marsh said today.

"After a few games I was enjoying not captaining and just playing the game.

"It was a fair set-back with my ankle and I just wanted to get back and play good cricket for the Scorchers, and ultimately I can be a leader in our team without the 'c' next to my name.

"As for next year, not too sure what will happen but I'm really comfortable with call and we had a great tournament as a team."

Much of Marsh's preparedness to hand over the responsibility was his faith in vice-captain Ashton Turner, and even after the Scorchers started the season slowly had confidence his comrade would turn the ship around.

Turner has also been a strong sounding board when Marsh is calling the shots, particularly in the longer formats where the allrounder admits he has been prone to dragging his own spells out an over or two too long.

"I really enjoy that role of trying to figure out who to bowl next and plans to come up with. Certainly in the longer format standing at first slip you've always got guys to bounce ideas off," Marsh said.

"I really love that, talking about the game and learning on the fly with other experienced players in our group.

"No doubt being an allrounder and being someone who always wants to be in the game, I do find it tough at times as to when to bowl myself, but more importantly when to take myself off.

"I used to always ask (former captain) Adam Voges for one more over; now I just tell myself to give myself one more over.

"So I rely heavily on Ashton Turner to tell me when to take myself off.

"It is a juggling act and something I'm learning on the go. But certainly, I love captaining WA and I won't let go of the reins of that one."

And while Cummins will have just 10 overs of his own to worry about in the one-day cup, that juggling act will be something the new captain will have to adapt to quickly.

Thankfully for the 27-year-old, he'll have a couple of very good foils to bounce ideas off, with former Australia captain Steve Smith and experienced NSW and Sydney Sixers leader Moises Henriques both in the side.

The implications for Cummins are well known, but massive, in a clear sign of succession planning for 36-year-old Test skipper Tim Paine.

Cummins says he already puts himself in the shoes of the captain during games, thinking about bowling changes and field placements between bowling spells, but is unsure how he'll go when he's calling the shots for real.

"This opportunity is a huge one to actually give it a crack," Cummins said earlier this week in Sydney.

"I'm just keen to first of all see if I'm any good, or hopeless.

"If I enjoy it, see how it goes and then (I'm) not looking too much further ahead than these few games.

"I think like batting and bowling, captaining can be a skill. You've got to practice. You've got to try and find your own method and I think the best (way to do that) is by giving it a crack."

Australia has not had a bowler as Test captain since Richie Benaud in the 1960s, with Ray Lindwall the last fast bowler to serve as Australia's Test captain, in a one-off Test against India in 1956.