Shaun Marsh has called time on his marathon 24-season professional cricket career, telling Melbourne Renegades teammates he will not play on next summer.
Marsh confirmed on Sunday that Wednesday’s clash with the Sydney Thunder will be his last in the BBL, ending a domestic career that began in 2000-01 for Western Australia.
Marsh’s announcement comes in a week of retirements for the Renegades, with the 40-year-old having opened alongside Aaron Finch in Finch’s farewell match on Saturday night.
When Marsh walks off Sydney Showground on Wednesday night, he will have completed his 576th and final game of elite cricket.
Included in that tally of matches is Marsh’s century on Test debut in Sri Lanka in 2011, as well as his famous ton alongside brother Mitch in the 2017-18 Ashes in Sydney.
Having walked away from all other aspects of the game at the end of last summer, the BBL was Marsh’s sole remaining cricket this season.
“I have loved playing for the Renegades, I’ve met some great people over the last five years and the friendships I’ve made will last a lifetime,” Marsh said.
“I owe a lot to the Scorchers, I’ve got some fond memories of playing in Perth and really enjoyed my time there.
“The back-to-back titles (with the Scorchers) are up there for me as the most enjoyable moments I’ve experienced on a cricket field.”
After debuting as a middle-order batsman for Western Australia at age 17, Marsh overcame the weight of expectation that came with his surname to became one of the country’s most formidable domestic players.
He was forced to wait 10 years for his Test debut in Sri Lanka, and played 38 Tests in total for Australia while averaging 34.81.
The left-hander also played 73 ODIs and 15 T20Is, with his 50-over returns often underrated given he scored a century one in every 10 innings.
By the time of his retirement from first-class cricket last season, Marsh was Western Australia’s third leading run-scorer behind Justin Langer and Tom Moody.
And though he celebrated his 40th birthday in Bali this year, while brother Mitch was scoring an Ashes century, the veteran’s form has still not fallen away.
After battling a calf injury at the start of the BBL season, Marsh has hit three half-centuries in five innings this season, including an unbeaten 64 from 49 balls in a win over the Melbourne Stars on Saturday.
“If I could have any batter in Australia to help plot and chase down a total, it’d be SOS (Marsh),” Renegades coach David Saker said.
“He has raw power and he has the experience to wait for the right shot at the right time which is critical in T20 cricket.”
The Bush
Roar Guru
I think that's right, he's had a good career and he should be proud, but yeah, the word great (unless limited to 'great domestic West Australian) can't be used, as it really needs to be reserved for the Pontings, Warnes and Clarke's of the world.
matth
Roar Guru
Or you could just not comment at all
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
"delicate sensibilities." Pot - kettle. Enjoy your evening.
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
Or maybe those acronyms are just a structure of your own. I don't think they are written in stone anywhere.
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
You’ve made a couple of interesting statements, Tufanoo. 1. “…criticise who you want Barb” and 2. you think I might prefer to live in a country where you can’t say what you want … And yet when I do what you’ve asked me to do, (when you have chosen to be more personal than I have), then the slurs come out even further. You are tying yourself in knots there and it is getting a little confusing for you. You might need to think through your persuasive techniques. PS: If you use the following words: disingenuous (highly overused), bette noire or hagiographical (you really killed that one) it doesn’t actually add any further weight to your argument.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Yeah fair. Middling probably a tad harsh. Good, at best. I'd say congrats on a good career. All the best. Anything else would be quite disingenuous.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Ok, Samwise
jammel
Roar Rookie
I rank G S & M Marsh all pretty evenly actually.... :)
jammel
Roar Rookie
SOS "Rambo" Marsh was a superb cricketer. I loved watching him play!
jammel
Roar Rookie
like the use of "bête noire" :) not often read these days....
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
Again, calling it as you see it is highly overrated. Interesting that you say I am brow beating and yet you want to inform me that people should be allowed to 'tell it like it is.' I'm hoping the irony of your statement has not been lost on you.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
But you can't compare Marsh to the park cricketer. That's absurd. He can only be compared to the professional elite. Professionals are benchmarked against their professional peers, not the general public. Saying Marsh is a great because he's better than 99.9% of all cricketers of all levels is nonsense. That's like saying a doctor is better at medicine than 99.9% of the public and thus is a great doctor. You want to call him a great, go for gold. But grow up and accept others can disagree and would prefer a different assessment that clearly offends your delicate sensibilities.
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
I haven't made any false platitudes. "Telling it like it is", (effectively brutal honesty) is one of the most overrated character traits. Anyone can do it, it requires little nuance or reflection. I tend to think things are more complex than that. I think we like sport for different reasons.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Great supercedes outstanding. It's why we have the GOAT acronym and not the OOAT one. And even then, Ponting is still not the best. Smith? Bradman? Weekes?
The Bush
Roar Guru
I agree he’s not a great, unless you limit it to “domestic West Australia”. But in the end I don’t think you can call his FC statistics “middling”. Few players in the last decade or more have averaged 41 over such a long FC career. Only Smith, Warner and Khawaja has. The reality is that bar Green, guys average either in the 30s now, there’s no mature batsman getting around the Shield now that averages 41 like he does…
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
I'd describe Ricky Ponting as outstanding.
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
But at no stage have I said Shaun Marsh is better / not better than any other player - that's the point. I'm not sure why you have to move immediately into ranking players as a default, particularly when they retire. My comparison is that 99.9% of cricketers haven't achieved what Shaun Marsh has. So yeah, I'm comfortable with great. I think the cheap clichés stuff just isn't relevant; if anything, immediately ranking players is an even bigger cliché
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
You’re happy at your retirement from work if people get up and choose to talk about how they didn’t rate you? I’m pretty sure that’s a solid ‘no.’ I wouldn't be happy. But I wouldn't force everyone to say nice things for the sake of it either. People can think what they want about me. I prefer the honesty of people than the false platitudes. Can sniff that manure out a mile away. You do strike me as one of those "never speak ill of the dead. especially if I really like them no matter what you think" type of people. Take the Mike Carlton approach. You know what he said when he was asked whether he would go to Stan Zemanek's funeral? "only to check if he is dead. I loathed the man". Offensive, but honest.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Right, and therein lies the flaw in your whole argument. Because you like Marsh you will not counter a bad word against him, but because you don't like Palmer, you have no objection to others also disliking him. It's very disingenuous behaviour by you. Almost like the behaviour of your bête noire on this website. You'll be happier if you allow others to call it as they see it, and you call it as you see it, without your incessant need to browbeat everyone into being dishonest about someone just because they are retiring.
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
You're happy at your retirement from work if people get up and choose to talk about how they didn't rate you? I'm pretty sure that's a solid 'no.' That's exactly what you are doing now. Have a good one.