Geoffrey Robert Marsh (born 31 December 1958) is an Australian former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, coach and selector. He played 50 Test matches and 117

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

as an

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

. Marsh was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the

1987 Cricket World Cup The 1987 Cricket World Cup (officially known as the Reliance Cup 1987 for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth Cricket World Cup. It was held from 8 October to 8 November 1987 in India and Pakistan – the first such tournament to be held outsid ...

. As the coach of Australia he was in charge when Australia won the

1999 Cricket World Cup The 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, also branded as England '99, was the seventh edition of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted primarily by England, with selected matches also played in Wales, ...

in England. He later coached

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

(2001–2004) and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(2011–12).

Playing career

Marsh was a steady, solid right-handed opening

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and capable fielder, making his first-class debut for

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

as a nineteen-year-old in the 1977–1978

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

season. In 1978 he played five games of

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

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 Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

team. He made his debut in December 1985 against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and took part of the tours of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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 The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

, 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 (despite his mediocre batting average of 33.18), batting alongside the likes of Mark Taylor and

David Boon David Clarence Boon (born 29 December 1960) is an Australian cricket match referee, former cricket commentator and Australian cricket team, international cricketer whose international playing career spanned the years 1984–1996. A right-han ...

, and became an integral part of the Australian

team. He along with

became the first pair of openers to notch hundreds in a same ODI innings for the team 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

, including an unbeaten 126 against

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

, 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 Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of nearly 40 but had a very low strike rate compared to more recent opening batsman. Geoff Marsh graph

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, 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 Cricket Australia (CA) is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Cricket'. It is incorporated as an Australian Public Company ...

(now

Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA) is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Cricket'. It is incorporated as an Australian Public Company ...

), 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

's government under

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

, 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.

Family

Geoff Marsh is only the third Test player - after Walter Hadlee and Lala Amarnath - to have two sons play Test cricket:Geoff Marsh and sons make history

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

, 22 October 2014

Shaun Marsh Shaun Edward Marsh (born 9 July 1983) is an Australian cricketer who previously played for the Western Australia cricket team in Australian domestic cricket and has represented Australian national cricket team, Australia in all three formats. Ni ...

, who made his test debut against Sri Lanka in 2011; and

Mitchell Marsh Mitchell Ross Marsh (born 20 October 1991) is an Australian international cricketer who represents Australia in all three formats. Marsh is the current Australian T20I captain, and has served as vice captain in all formats. Marsh currently plays ...

, who made his test debut against Pakistan in 2014. The Marsh family took in the family of England cricketer Tom Curran in Zimbabwe after the Curran family were evicted from their farm. Curran made his England Test debut in the 4th Ashes Test of 2017 playing against Shaun and Mitchell who played for Australia in the same game. Geoff Marsh's daughter Melissa Marsh played state basketball in the WNBL and was captain of the Perth Lynx.

Career highlights

Tests

Test Debut: vs

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, 1985–1986
Last Test: vs India, Adelaide, 1991–1992 *Marsh's best Test batting score of 138 was made against

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, 1989

One-day internationals

ODI Debut: vs

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, 1985–1986
Last ODI: vs

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, 1991–1992 *Marsh's best ODI batting score of 126 not out was made against

, 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. *As of June 2018, his score of 355

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

for Western Australia against Southern Australia in December 1989 is the 31st highest score in first-class cricket history, and the 10th highest by an Australian.

Notes

References

External links

*
HowSTAT! statistical profile of Geoff Marsh
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Geoff 1958 births Living people Australia One Day International cricketers Australia Test cricketers Australian cricket captains Australian cricket coaches Western Australia cricketers Western Australian Sports Star of the Year winners People educated at Hale School Sportspeople from Northam, Western Australia South Fremantle Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Australian cricketers Coaches of the Australia national cricket team Coaches of the Zimbabwe national cricket team Coaches of the Sri Lanka national cricket team Cricketers from Western Australia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Zimbabwe Australian expatriate sportspeople in Sri Lanka G 20th-century Australian sportsmen