Geoff Marsh

Geoff Marsh

Marsh at Victoria University, Wellington in 1986.
Personal information
Full name	Geoffrey Robert Marsh
Born	(1958-12-31) 31 December 1958 Northam, Western Australia, Australia
Nickname	Swampy[1]
Batting style	Right-handed batsman
Bowling style	Right arm off-spin
Role	Opening Batsman
Relations	Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh (sons), Melissa Marsh (daughter)
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 333)	13–17 December 1985 v India
Last Test	25–29 January 1992 v India
ODI debut (cap 91)	14 January 1986 v New Zealand
Last ODI	1 March 1992 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1977–1994	Western Australia
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs Matches 50 117 Runs scored 2854 4357 Batting average 33.18 39.98 100s/50s 4/15 9/22 Top score 138 126* Balls bowled 0 1 Wickets 0 0 Bowling average N/A N/A 5 wickets in innings 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 n/a Best bowling N/A N/A Catches/stumpings 38c 31c
Source: , 7 May 2005

Geoffrey Robert Marsh (born 31 December 1958, in Northam, Western Australia) is a former Australian cricketer, coach and selector. He played 50 Test matches and 117 One Day Internationals for Australia as an opening batsman. As the coach of Australia he was in charge when Australia won the 1999 Cricket World Cup in England. He later coached Zimbabwe (2001–2004) and Sri Lanka (2011–12).

Playing career

Marsh was a steady, solid right-handed opening batsman and capable fielder, making his first-class debut for Western Australia as a nineteen-year-old in the 1977–1978 Sheffield Shield season. In 1978 he played five games of Australian rules football for South Fremantle in the West Australian National Football League before concentrating only on cricket.

Marsh established himself as a solid competitor on the domestic front and was on the fringes of the national team for a number of years before winning selection in the Australian Test team. He made his debut in December 1985 against India and took part of the tours of New Zealand and India the following year. However, his domestic debut was less than impressive, scoring a golden pair for Western Australia on debut at Sydney Cricket Ground, which was recorded in hand-written form on a storing cabinet inside the away team's dressing room as a symbolic "domestic honours board".

He soon made the opening position his own, batting alongside the likes of Mark Taylor and David Boon, and became an integral part of the Australian One Day International team.He along with David Boon became the first pair of openers to notch hundreds in a same ODI innings for the team^[2]

Marsh played international cricket over a seven-year period, ending in 1992.

He is best remembered for his part in the Australian team that won the 1987 World Cup in India, including an unbeaten 126 against New Zealand in Chandigarh, while he also captained his country in four matches. Over his career Marsh was a solid performer in One Day International cricket, with a batting average of nearly 40 but had a very low strike rate compared to more recent opening batsman.

Geoff Marsh's Test career batting performance.

Coaching career

Marsh retired from playing cricket in 1994 before taking up coaching. In July 1996 he was chosen as coach of the Australian national Test and One Day International teams, playing a vital part in continuing his country's positions as the top cricketing nation of the time. He was the coach of the Australian team that won the 1999 World Cup in England, guiding the team to seven consecutive victories to help them win the tournament.

He left the Australian coaching job and soon became a selector for the Australian Cricket Board (now Cricket Australia), although he left this position in 2001 to become coach of the Zimbabwean national teams. Marsh continued in this position until 2004 when his contract expired; many considered this decision was made due to the political circumstances of Zimbabwe's government under Robert Mugabe, although he has never commented publicly on the matter.

In Mid 2009 Geoff was appointed Head Coach of the Fremantle District Cricket Club, a club which Geoff spend most of his senior playing career with.

He was appointed as the head coach for the team Pune Warriors India which made its IPL debut in 2011.

In September 2011, he was appointed as the head coach of the Sri Lanka national team. However, his tenure lasted barely four months. After Sri Lanka lost the Test and ODI series of their tour of South Africa in December 2011 and January 2012, he was dismissed and replaced by Graham Ford.^[3]

Family

Geoff Marsh is only the third test player - after Walter Hadlee and Lala Amarnath - to have two sons play test cricket:^[4] Shaun Marsh, who made his test debut against Sri Lanka in 2011; and Mitchell Marsh, who made his test debut against Pakistan in 2014.

Marsh's daughter Melissa Marsh played basketball in the WNBL.

He is not related to Rod Marsh.

Career highlights

Tests

Test Debut: vs India, Adelaide, 1985–1986
Last Test: vs India, Adelaide, 1991–1992

• Marsh's best Test batting score of 138 was made against England, Nottingham, 1989

One-day internationals

ODI Debut: vs New Zealand, Sydney, 1985–1986
Last ODI: vs Pakistan, Perth, 1991–1992

• Marsh's best ODI batting score of 126 not out was made against New Zealand, Chandigarh, 1987 World Cup
• He captained Australia in four ODIs, winning three and losing one

First class cricket

Marsh scored 11,760 runs at 39.46, with 33 centuries.

• His 355* for WA v SA in Dec 1989 is the 28th highest score in first class history, and the 10th highest by an Australian.

International centuries

Test centuries

Test centuries of Geoff Marsh
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Start date	Result
[1]	118	6	New Zealand	Auckland, New Zealand	Eden Park	12 March 1986	Lost
[2]	101	9	India	Bombay, India	Wankhede Stadium	15 October 1986	Drawn
[3]	110	10	England	Brisbane, Australia	The Gabba	14 November 1986	Lost
[4]	138	32	England	Nottingham, England	Trent Bridge	10 August 1989	Won

ODI centuries

One Day International centuries of Geoff Marsh
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Date	Result
[1]	125	4	India	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	21 January 1986	Won
[2]	104	16	India	Jaipur, India	Sawai Mansingh Stadium	7 September 1986	Lost
[3]	110	38	India	Madras, India	MA Chidambaram Stadium	9 October 1987	Won
[4]	126*	42	New Zealand	Chandigarh, India	Sector 16 Stadium	27 October 1987	Won
[5]	101	53	New Zealand	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	20 January 1988	Won
[6]	125*	64	Pakistan	Melbourne, Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground	10 January 1989	Won
[7]	111*	71	England	London, England	Lord's	29 May 1989	Won
[8]	113	101	West Indies	Bridgetown, Barbados	Kensington Oval	13 March 1991	Won
[9]	106*	102	West Indies	Georgetown, Guyana	Bourda	20 March 1991	Won

International awards

One Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

S No	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	India	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	21 January 1986	15 (145 balls: 11x4) ; 1-0-4-1	Australia won by 100 runs.[5]
2	West Indies	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	25 January 1987	DNB ; 94 (137 balls: 3x4, 1x6)	Australia won by 16 runs.[6]
3	India	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Madras	9 October 1987	110 (141 balls: 7x4, 1x6) ; DNB	Australia won by 1 run.[7]
4	New Zealand	Sector 16 Stadium, Chandigarh	27 October 1987	126 (149 balls: 12x4, 3x6) ; DNB	Australia won by 17 runs.[8]
5	New Zealand	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	20 January 1988	101 (148 balls: 5x4) ; DNB	Australia won by 78 runs.[9]
6	England	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	4 February 1988	87 (122 balls: 5x4) ; DNB	Australia won by 22 runs.[10]
7	Pakistan	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	10 January 1989	125* (121 balls: 9x4) ; DNB	Australia won by 6 runs.[11]
8	England	Lord's, London	29 May 1989	DNB ; 111* (162 balls: 7x4, 1x6)	Australia won by 6 wickets.[12]
9	Sri Lanka	WACA Ground, Perth	30 December 1989	DNB ; 80* (136 balls: 5x4)	Australia won by 9 wickets.[13]
10	India	Seddon Park, Hamilton	8 March 1990	DNB ; 86 (144 balls: 10x4, 1x6)	Australia won by 7 wickets.[14]
11	West Indies	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown	13 March 1991	113 (136 balls: 8x4, 3x6) ; DNB	Australia won by 37 runs.[15]
12	West Indies	Bourda, Georgetown	20 March 1991	DNB ; 106* (158 balls: 8x4)	Australia won by 6 wickets.[16]
13	West Indies	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	18 December 1991	82 (146 balls: 4x4, 2x6) ; DNB	Australia won by 51 runs.[17]

See also

• CricInfo Player Profile : Geoff Marsh
• HowSTAT! statistical profile of Geoff Marsh

Notes

References

• Benaud, Richie (1991). Border & Co: A Tribute To Cricket's World Champions. Hamlyn Australia. ISBN 0-947334-31-9. 

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