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Shaun Marsh and Mitch Marsh together have made 669 runs at an average of 96 in this Ashes.
Anyone who before the series predicted such a return for the much-maligned Marsh brothers would have been mocked mercilessly.
And rightly so, because it is an unfathomable return from two cricketers who were fortunate even to be picked to play in this series.
When the elder Marsh pushed incumbent Glenn Maxwell out of the side for the first Test I was shocked, as were many cricket fans and pundits.
It’s not that Shaun Marsh was an awful choice, rather that it seemed dreadfully unfair on Maxwell, who had comfortably outperformed Shaun in Australia’s recent Tests in Asia.
Awful choice, however, was exactly how I felt about the elevation of Mitch Marsh to the Australian XI for the third Test in Perth.
The all-rounder had averaged just 17 with the bat in Tests over the previous three years, across 18 matches.
Yet here we are now in what seems almost like an alternate universe, one in which everything about life is the same, except that here Mitch Marsh smashes Test runs for fun. In four knocks this series Mitch has made 282 runs. To highlight just how extraordinary that is, consider that it’s as many runs as he made in his previous 16 Test innings combined.
I’ve delved into the technical refinements Mitch has made and also analysed his improved temperament.
Both of those elements of his game were on show yesterday as he continued his rampant form with 63 not out as Australia went to stumps at 4-479, a lead of 133 runs. Mitch’s innings was like a mix of the commanding 181 he struck at Perth and his dour 29no from 166 balls at Melbourne.
He struggled early on, particularly against English leg spinner Mason Crane. But he didn’t throw his wicket away, instead toughing it out as he moved to 5 from 33 balls.
Then, in the space of five minutes, the game changed for Mitch as he clattered three boundaries in as many balls, two off Crane and another from the bowling of Stuart Broad.
By stumps, his last 58 runs had come from just 54 balls. Now, it must be said that the runs Mitch has hoarded in this series have come on three roads against a very ordinary English bowling attack.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
It will be a far different proposition for him in Australia’s next series against South Africa, whose supreme pace unit has routed India in the first Test in Cape Town.
Regardless, Mitch has taken truly enormous strides in this series and given generous reason for optimism about his Test future. So, too, has his brother Shaun who will start today needing just two runs to register his second ton of this Ashes.
That would be his fourth hundred in his past 12 Tests, during which he has piled up 951 runs at 53. Shaun is officially in the form of his life. Most importantly, he’s found the one thing which eluded him for so long in Test cricket – consistency.
Shaun has passed 50 in four of these five Ashes Tests and in the other match, in Perth, he cruised to 28 in his only innings before getting undone by a good ball from Moeen Ali. He has been resolute throughout the series, scoring at a strike rate of just 43 as he’s placed a high price on his wicket.
This is just what Australia needed from Shaun given the flakiness of their middle order in recent years. He has given it some steel.
That is also what will be required next month when Australia head to South Africa, a series which looms as the true litmus test for he and Mitch. But right now there’s cause to believe the Marsh brothers are finally starting to realise their great potential.