Marsh family make history
DNA plays an important role in the characteristics of a person.
Be it someone’s physical demeanor or mental attitude, genes are the most
important aspect. For the Marsh family, cricket is embedded in their genes as
both the Marsh brothers and their father, Geoff Marsh, belong to cricket.
Being the son of a legend is always a pressure for the child—and
when your elder brother is also among the most talented players in the country,
things start getting a little tougher. This is the scenario for Mitchell Marsh,
who is not only a second generation player, but also has an elder brother who
plays for the national team.
However, when given the chance in this Ashes in place of the misfiring Peter Handscomb, the 26-year-old grabbed it with both hands and
scored a brilliant 181—making history for the Marsh family. Right now, with
Mitch’s century, the Marsh family hold the record of having the most Ashes
centurions in the bloodline.
Father Geoff Marsh scored an Ashes ton in 1989 when he
opened the innings to score a well-paced 138 in Nottinghampshire. In the last
Test in Adelaide, elder brother Shaun Marsh scored a brilliant 126 not-out and
now at the WACA, Mitchell Marsh completed the family tradition of scoring
centuries in Ashes.
And he was ecstatic—why wouldn’t he be?—after all, the dream of
every son is to full his father’s boots.
“I will tell dad that I surpassed him,” joked Mitch, but
deep down he knew that his father is extremely proud of him.
The century of Mitchell Marsh played a wonderful role in supporting Steven Smith’s excellence. The duo’s 300-plus runs partnership helped Australia to reach a commendable position in the Test, where they now find themselves needing only 6 wickets on the final day to seal the Test and England’s pitiful fate in this Ashes.
Picture credit: Colin Murty
