SYDNEY: Australian cricketer Mitchell Marsh will retire from the Sheffield Shield at the end of this season, meaning in all likelihood he has played his final first-class match for Western Australia, but the door is ajar to add to his 46 Test caps in the Ashes.
Additionally, Marsh made a rare Shield appearance for WA last week against Victoria at the MCG where he scored 4 and 9. But his involvement in the T20 World Cup, where he will captain Australia through February and the start of March, will overlap with the resumption of the competition after the BBL, then he will be part of the IPL with Lucknow Super Giants.
“It has been an honour to play Sheffield Shield cricket for WA,” Marsh, who made his Shield debut as an 18-year-old said in a statement. “Right now I am deeply committed to the group and the [Perth] Scorchers. Playing for WA has been a huge part of my life and I plan to give back in any way possible long into the future.”
As per details, Marsh was an outside chance of featuring in the Ashes if there had been injuries or loss of form, particularly if things had started badly for Australia, on the back of an impressive run of performances in recent ODI and T20I series with the selectors valuing his skills against pace bowling.
The final part of the WA Cricket statement said: “The Australian white-ball captain remains open to the prospect of playing Test cricket.”
Furthermore, Australia coach Andrew McDonald has previously said they would be willing to pick Marsh for Tests without him playing red-ball cricket and confirmed on Tuesday that Marsh remained available for this season although suggested it would not be the case beyond that.
“He is available for Test match selection, which is exciting for us,” McDonald said. “I don’t want to put words in Mitch’s mouth, but I assume that if he’s retired from first-class cricket, that he would potentially look at Test cricket retirement, also at the end of the season. But as I said, I can’t speak for him, but that would be my assumption.”
Having been out of Test cricket for four years, Marsh made an outstanding return during the 2023 Ashes when he scored a century in his comeback match at Headingley and went on to average 46.87 in a 10-game stretch, during which he won the Allan Border Medal.
However, he lost form during last summer’s series against India and was dropped for the final match at the SCG. His bowling has also taken a backseat as he manages his body.
