Rod Marsh has died aged 74. Before Adam Gilchrist he was the first of his type: an Australian wicketkeeper who could turn a cricket match on his head with his belligerent and entertaining batting.
As a teenager in the early 1980s I owned a Gray Nichols Powerspot autographed by Rod Marsh. It was a chunky piece of wood packed with power much like the man himself. There were no airs and graces about Marsh either; the autograph on the bat was not “R W Marsh” or “Rodney Marsh” but simply “Rod Marsh”.
In the past week as Marsh has been laid in a coma in a critical condition following a massive heart attack, I have devoured what I can about the man and the cricketer. Paul Sheahan, the former Test batsman in the 1970s likened him to a giant oak tree which had somehow been cut down and as “the smallest giant I ever met”.
The late Dean Jones recalled before his death the tough love Marsh had for newcomers in the Australian dressing room. Deano remembered the injured Marsh handing out beers after a day’s play. Marsh then handed young Deano a Coke and told him to sit in a corner and “shut the f… up”.
Marsh was the first Australian wicketkeeper to score a Test hundred when he hit 118 in the first Test against Pakistan in Adelaide in 1972-73. He is also widely regarded as unlucky not to have captained Australia. Indeed, he would have made a better fist of it than Graham Yallop in the World Series Cricket interlude, or Kim Hughes when the cricket war was over.
Statistics often don’t always tell the full story of a player’s impact. Marsh’s read impressively nonetheless…
96 Tests (1970-84)
355 dismissals (95 times the scoresheet read caught Marsh bowled Lillee)
3,633 runs at an average of 26.51
Marsh’s batting tapered off dramatically after WSC but in his prime he was a destructive batsman who averaged in the high 30s (unheard of numbers for an Australian wicketkeeper at the time).
He had in fact made his first class debut for Western Australia as a specialist batsman (another similarity with Gilchrist who debuted for New South Wales as a number three batsman).
A hugely successful post-career stint as national selector and elite coach was a natural progression for the man known in his playing days as Bacchus. A constant theme in the tributes to Marsh on Twitter and the like is his ability to draw the best out of young cricketers from Shane Watson to Pat Cummins to Ryan Campbell.
Vale Rod Marsh. An excellent innings.
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Remember him as a kid and always excited to see him bat in the one dayers, as he was always going to go the slog.
Devoted his life to cricket with probably close to 30 years service for Australia as player selector and academy coach. Doubt would be close to that maybe Bob Simpson. Add the service to England to make them competitive for the good of cricket
Just about as popular as they came by fans and teamates
A sad loss. The death of S K Warne has overshadowed this tragedy, though it’s a huge tragedy.
Growing up in the 70’s he was the Australian wicket keeper we related to. Keeping to ‘Thommo’s’ thunderbolts, the Lillee ‘ Marsh combination, the leadership/support behind the stumps capped off by his explosive batting was pivotal in Australian cricket in that era.
As Dan pointed out he was the first Australian wicket keeper to score a ton, one of three he scored. He should have scored on in his first test season, only for Bill Lawry to declare when Marsh was 92 NO @ the MCG during an Ashes test. He eventually scored an Ashes century on the MCG in the 1977 Centenary test.
Speaking of centuries he made a ton on debut for Western Australia, also a duck in that match.
Vale Rod Marsh.
Glen!