WA Athletes of the Year: WA captain Mitch Marsh’s breakout year wins hearts of the nation... finally

From maligned to match-winner. Booed by the Australian public to national hero. This was Mitch Marsh’s year. It’s not often a player turning 30 with 100-plus games for Australia and 100-plus first-class, list-A and T20 appearances around the world has a breakout year, but that’s exactly how it panned out for one of WA’s favourite sons. The State captain has always been much loved this side of the Nullarbor but never quite won the hearts of the nation, with recall after recall being plagued by injuries and inconsistencies, as he described after his maiden five-wicket haul during the 2019 Ashes in England. “Most of Australia hate me,” he said. “There’s no doubt that I’ve had a lot of opportunity and haven’t quite nailed it, but hopefully they can respect me for the fact I keep coming back… hopefully I’ll win them over one day.” And win them over he did last month with his T20 World Cup final heroics in the UAE to help Australia claim the elusive silverware for the first time. There’s something different about the 2021 version of Marsh, oozing confidence and self-belief in his new role as Australia’s number three just like he’d done for WA and Perth Scorchers for a long time. It all started with the mid-year West Indies tour, where the powerful allrounder topped the team’s run-scoring (219) and wicket-taking (eight) to be one of few shining lights in a 4-1 T20 series loss. Then it was off to Bangladesh and a similar story with Australia going down 4-1 again and Marsh continuing to cement his spot at first drop with a series-high 156 runs. The T20 World Cup, and his player-of-the-final performance in particular, was the icing on the cake. From the moment he walked out to bat, Marsh looked on. He whacked a six off his hips and into the 20th row off speedster Adam Milne first ball on his way to a match-winning 77 not out off 50. That pure ball striking has continued in the Big Bash, belting his maiden T20 century off 60 balls in his first game back for the Scorchers. Even his coaches are fearful giving him throwdowns in the nets right now. “He’s obviously done an incredible amount of work on his own, away from the four walls at the WACA but also in the WACA for a long period of time,” WA and Scorchers batting coach Beau Casson said on SportFM. “It’s just great to see someone getting all of those rewards for the effort he’s put in, the World Cup is just a snapshot of that. “The great thing about it, the big smile and enjoyment he has when he plays for the Perth Scorchers. All the players love playing with him and all the staff love having him around. “He brings an energy that only Mitch can create. His batting at the moment is second to none in world cricket I think. “His T20 space and the way he’s going about it is just phenomenal, long may it continue because I know when I’m throwing him balls I’m fearing for my life. “I’ve got a helmet on and a glove to catch the ball so hopefully some opposition bowlers and feeling the same and not getting injured at the same time.” Casson is “very optimistic” Marsh can translate his T20 form into the 50-over and Test arenas and become a three-format player for Australia. “We’re very optimistic, I know he is as well,” Casson said. “You can just see the enjoyment in terms of just being really comfortable in his skin and happy to present himself every time he walks out onto the cauldron to play. “I have no doubt that, the way he’s playing in terms of his form, that can crossover into every format and we’re very optimistic that will be the case. “And then he’s going to be able to bowl some overs for the side so that creates some nice selection dilemmas or options for the Australian cricket team, they might be able to play two spinners.” Former Australian batter and Channel 7 cricket commentator Brad Hodge has noticed the change in Marsh’s confidence and belief this year and felt he would “100 per cent flourish” if given another Test chance. “His confidence comes from belief and it looks like he’s got 100 per cent belief in his ability,” Hodge told The West Australian. “I remember watching him walk out to bat at the MCG against India (in the 2018-19 Boxing Day Test) and it looked like his decision-making process wasn’t quite right. “If you put this Mitch Marsh now into that same environment, he would 100 per cent flourish. “I watched him closely in the West Indies and loved the fact that he batted at number three, I reckon that was a good move from the Australian unit to promote him to that spot. “I think that gave him a lot of confidence as well and he was out best player, then he went to Bangladesh and he was our best player. “Then he went to the World Cup and I can’t believe the fact that he got dropped, and then he came back and dominated. “He had such a fantastic year and he’s just carrying on that momentum and belief, and his confidence is there and it’s also rubbing off on everyone else in the team.” Fellow West Aussie Cameron Green is keeping Marsh out of the Test side at the moment with his bowling getting better by the game and a recent unbeaten knock of 33 helping his cause batting-wise. Green’s extra bounce and pace has troubled England captain Joe Root, getting the world’s top-rank Test batter out twice in four innings. “It’s a hard one, obviously Cam’s bowling is high class,” Hodge said. “I’m not saying that Mitch’s isn’t but Cam is also an extremely talented batter and Mitch also. “So where do I see him? I think that if he continues his white-ball cricket and does really well for Australia, that might be an option for him to bat at number three for Australia in the 50-over game and change it up. “That might present something different, if you go out at number three and start getting hundreds in one-day cricket then that changes the thought process around what you are as a player as well. “At the moment he’s probably that lower-order all-rounder, batting at six or seven, but if he gets an opportunity at number three and starting making big runs, that will elevate him to a new level. “Fingers crossed that can happen for him because he’s a great guy and a wonderful player.” Legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne echoed those ‘watch this space’ words with Marsh. “I think Mitchell Marsh is hammering the door down because he’s in such great form but he has to keep doing it,” Warne said on Fox Cricket about Marsh’s Test hopes.