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Shaun Marsh's hall of mirrors

19th January, 2014
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Shaun Marsh is a different man in the canary yellow. (AFP/Ian Macnicol)
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19th January, 2014
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You’ve seen Shaun Marsh stride out to bat in a coloured Australian uniform. You’ve heard the commentators’ repeated assurances Marsh is a man of tremendous talent who is “showing signs of having finally matured”, with the reliability of a moustache-sporting car salesman presenting his ‘best’ vehicle.

You’ve heard the rumblings he is ready to be a successful Test match batsmen.

Hell, at one stage or another, you’ve probably thought all of this yourself.

Like a film in which Owen Wilson plays a misled though well-meaning character, who through ‘comedic’ antics learns a very simple message – you’ve seen this before.

But unlike that one character Owen Wilson will continue to play for as long as it brings in the cheques, Shaun doesn’t learn.

And neither do we.

Tomorrow you’ll open the paper and see an article imploring the swift return of Marsh to the Test team. Or maybe it will be the day after, or the day after that.

Because every season Shaun is spoken of as if he is a 20-year-old upstart threatening to usurp the incumbents.

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Lots of talent. Only a good Shield season away. Just needs to figure it out.

We live in constant hope it seems, because we’ve seen him when what he does works.

Part of the confusion surrounding Marsh stems from the fact that in the one day arena he hints at a certain prowess for the white clothed format.

He accumulates, plays himself in, waits for the bad ball and rotates the strike. Once set, he can shift gears and propel himself from the accumulator to the hitter, capable of dispatching bowlers well into the crowd.

Yet we linger on the supposed principles of his batting; patience and timing.

These are certainly the qualities often found in successful Test match batsmen.

But what is not realised often enough, is the differences between the intensity of one day cricket and Test match cricket.

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Sustaining concentration in ODIs is not particularly difficult.

For much of the innings, singles are on offer and encouraged, good bowling comes in shorter spells and is undermined by defensive field settings, while swing is merely an obstacle dealt with inside the first ten overs.

Test matches are far more stingy with singles, leaving batsmen in far more danger of being worked over by a bowler for six deliveries straight. Swing sticks around for longer. Reverse arrives just as you’re set.

And of course, Marsh has his moments.

At the beginning of this season for Australia A against a pre-imploded England team, Marsh battled a difficult pitch for less than a session to remain not out.

Many thought this was just another sign Marsh had finally come good on his promise. Yet still, he has not capitalized on the faith.

Across nine innings in five Sheffield Shield matches, Marsh has amassed scores of 42, four, four, 13, 127 not out, six, 47, one and four.

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Do these numbers make you want to open up a new tab, jump onto Flightcentre and buy Marsh a ticket to South Africa?

Marsh still has a lot of work to do. It’s naive to imagine he doesn’t work hard as many undoubtedly would.

But fortunately for him, he has the part outside of his control down – he has talent.

Where he must improve is in playing four day cricket as if he is playing in an ODI. He must work to accumulate, put away the bad ball and put pressure on the bowler.

For if he doesn’t, Marsh will remain the attractive but flaky ex-girlfriend of Australian cricket.

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