Magnificent Marsh eyes Shield title after award recognition

When word came through to Shaun Marsh that he had been voted the men's domestic player of the year for a second successive summer, he had to interrupt batting practice to take the call.  

But Marsh wasn't at the WACA, where he's spent so much of his 37 years. Instead he was on the grass in his own backyard, delivering gentle throwdowns to his eldest son Austin, who has taken to the game.  

"He loves it, mate. It's all we do at the moment, just throwing balls out the back," says Marsh, who last month became a father of three. 

"He's gravitated towards the Big Bash, he knows every player, ever shot, every bowler. 

"It's amazing, crazy really. He's a Renegades supporter, but every now and then he reverts back to the Scorchers." 

Cricket, and Western Australia, is in the Marsh blood. Austin is not yet even five but between his father, uncle Mitch and Grandpa Swampy, the former opener Geoff Marsh, he's not short of spare Baggy Green caps to try on. 

Shaun Marsh has hung up his Baggy Green cap now and concedes coming to terms with the end of his international career has helped him focus on pushing his game to new heights on the domestic scene.  

"It's been nice to be able to do well over the last few years in the Sheffield Shield and be really consistent in it," Marsh tells cricket.com.au between throwdowns with Austin. 

"What's helped with that as well is not worrying about playing at higher honours anymore. 

"I know that's passed me, and it's just allowed me to focus on playing for WA and that's it. 

"I was very fortunate to be able to represent my country, no doubt about that. My Test career had its ups and downs. There was some really good stuff amongst some really bad stuff.

"To be able to say I've played 38 Tests for my country, 70-odd one-dayers and a handful of T20s … I'm really proud to have been a part of that."

Marsh, at 37, was the only man to score more than 1,000 runs across the two domestic formats played in the voting period for his latest award, which ran between 11 December 2019 and 9 December 2020.

Marsh hit 1,058 runs – comprising of the 449 for the Melbourne Renegades in BBL|09 before adding 124 at the backend of last summer's Marsh Sheffield Shield season before coronavirus ground the competition to a halt. 

That was a disappointing end to the campaign for Western Australia, but Marsh started the new season in brilliant touch, hitting 485 in four Shield games this summer, with three centuries and an average of 97 again raising his name among those looking to plug holes in the Australian batting order.

With that stage of his career behind him, Marsh has eyes firmly set on ending the 21-year drought since WA last won the Sheffield Shield competition. 

Marsh was just a 15-year-old when the state last lifted the Shield trophy with a team boasting names like Katich, Martyn, Hussey, Gilchrist and Moody. 

Now 22 years later, he hopes to play a key role in ending their barren run. 

"It's something that really drives me," Marsh says.

"And not just me, but every player in WA cricket. It's the pinnacle for us. We'd all dearly want one, and something we're really working hard to try and achieve.

"Everyone's very aware of it but we don't want to be just focussing on that. If you focus too much on that you can lose focus on what's actually important, and that's playing well in each and every game to try and get us there at the backend of the season. 

"It's important to focus on each game and stay in the present.

"I know I'm nearer the end of my career than the start but I haven't once thought about retirement. Once you start thinking about it, you're probably already there. 

"At this stage I just want to keep playing well for WA. I've got another year (contracted) with WA and we'll see where that gets me. 

"I just want to keep moving this group in WA forward. I'm enjoying that role at the moment."

Men's Domestic Player Award winners

2000: Darren Lehmann

2001: Darren Lehmann

2002: Darren Lehmann

2003: Martin Love

2004: Simon Katich

2005: Andy Bichel

2006: Phil Jaques

2007: Chris Rogers

2008: Ashley Noffke

2009: Michael Klinger

2010:  Michael Klinger

2011:  Usman Khawaja

2012:  Rob Quiney

2013: Phillip Hughes

2014: Cameron White

2015: Jason Behrendorff

2016: Adam Voges

2017: Cameron White

2018: George Bailey

2019: Matthew Wade

2020: Shaun Marsh

2021: Shaun Marsh