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Rebuilt Mitch Marsh dismantles England

16th December, 2017
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Mitch Marsh has proved a lot of doubters wrong, but can he keep it up? (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
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16th December, 2017
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Mitch Marsh yesterday reaped the benefit of some subtle and not-so-subtle changes to his batting technique as he struck a commanding century to put Australia in a dominant position in the third Ashes Test.

In smashing 181 not out in an Australian total of 4-549, Marsh returned to Test cricket with a technique which, as strange as it may sound, was both tighter and looser.

Looser in that the 26-year-old all-rounder was less rigid in his movements. During his previous stints in Test cricket, in which he averaged 21 with the bat from 21 Tests, Marsh had a robotic batting style.

Often he over-committed on the front foot, planting it straight down the pitch before he could reasonably judge whether or not the delivery demanded he play forward or back.

This made him a prime LBW candidate, similar to Shane Watson, who had a similar premeditated plonk of the front foot.

Marsh’s front leg tended to be stiff and straight, meaning that even when the ball was full and there to be driven, he was playing this stroke from an overly upright stance. The best drivers bend at the knee to get their head down closer to the ball, a movement which also helps to play the delivery later.

This is just what Marsh did brilliantly well yesterday as he unfurled an array of sumptuous drives. His striking down the ground was particularly majestic, with Marsh showing great trust in his timing, rather than trying to bludgeon the ball, as he regularly did earlier in his Test career.

At the same time that he’s became looser in his movements, Marsh has tightened his defence. As well as being susceptible to LBWs previously, Marsh also had a tendency to feed the slips cordon, pushing with hard hands at deliveries outside off stump.

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Mitch Marsh

(Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)

This was, to an extent, a by-product of his stiff movement – he would plant his foot down the line of the stumps and then reach out at deliveries. The downside of this approach was two-fold – Marsh’s bat was well outside his eyeline, exactly what batsmen seek to avoid in defence, and in the process a yawning gap opened up between his blade and his front pad.

Yesterday that gap was closed thanks to Marsh’s later and more exaggerated feet movement. He would wait an extra fraction of a second before either taking a big stride towards the pitch of the ball, or shuffling well back and across to dead bat it right under his nose.

Within his first half hour at the crease, it was clear Marsh now had far greater trust in his defence. From such trust flows the confidence to attack. The moment the England bowlers overpitched, Marsh punished them, maintaining a very stable posture at the crease as he stroked through the line with a still head.

When they dropped short he was right back in his crease to cut or pull, shots which he seemed to have a huge amount of time to play.

Aside from his technical improvements, the most notable aspect of Marsh’s sublime knock was his patience and maturity. Once he passed 100, Marsh had the England attack cowed on a belter of a pitch. At this stage he must have been tempted to tee off and start clearing the boundary as he does so well in the shorter formats.

But Australia still had a lot of work left to do to put themselves into a winning position, and Marsh clearly recognised this. Even while the TV commentators were encouraging him to cut loose, Marsh remained disciplined, waiting for wayward deliveries, rather than trying to manufacture boundaries.

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He was scoring so quickly without risk that there was no need for him to chance his arm.

Steve Smith

(Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)

The manner in which Smith desperately protected his wicket, even once he reached 200, underlined Australia’s desire to bat only once. Clearly they want to build a lead well in excess of 200 before sending England back in and aiming for what would be the most demoralising of innings victories.

By stumps yesterday Australia’s lead was 146 thanks to the brilliance of Marsh and bloody-mindedness of Steve Smith, who finished on 229 not out. It’s a measure of how relentlessly and predictably dominant Smith’s become that this story was all about his batting partner.

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