It’s said that first impression is a lasting impression.
Shaun Marsh, would disagree with the saying. He made a good impression on both
his ODI debut and Test debut, but finds himself out of reckoning in both the
formats.
Making his ODI debut after a successful IPL season, he acquitted
himself well. He scored a polished 81 in that match. That the debut came 5
years after Steve Waugh picked him to be a special player is a surprise. After that match, he went through a normal run in the Sheffield
Shield and didn’t come into the collective notice of the selectors till the
breakthrough IPL performance
Looking at his career, one thing is prominent. He finds it
difficult to maintain good form over a period of time. In fact, every good
innings of his is a microcosm of his career. His knock of 85 (against Melbourne
Renegades), spread over 52 balls showed us the reluctant starter, the team man,
the excellent reader of the match situation and also, at times, a man who can’t
will himself on for the long run.
At the beginning of the innings, he was happy to stand at
the non-striker’s end and let Gibbs handle the task of providing an aggressive
start to the innings. When Finch, Renegades captain, brought himself into the
attack, he was all at sea against him. He struggled to get bat onto the balls
that were speared onto his pads.
When each and every aspect of that innings is dissected, you
would find that he played shots that were hit straight down the ground. The
first boundary of Sheridan, the sixes off Samuels and Finch and the way he
rotated the strike, everything pointed to a man who was at the top of his game.
In fact, he was hitting Finch off the deliveries that he found difficult to put
a bat on early in the innings
Australian supporters of cricket know better, because they
didn’t hype the innings. They knew that Shaun was bound to fizzle out after an
effervescent performance. And he did live up to their expectations. They have
multiple examples of this phenomena that they simply stopped bothering
If one saw him in his first two innings in Sri Lanka (Tests)
and that resolute 44 in the first innings at Cape Town, it would have difficult
to believe that his career would careen to the depths that it inhabits now.
With two slots opening up in the middle order, it was indeed
pitiable that the name of Shaun Marsh didn’t figure in the discussions. He has
himself to blame for this. His record of indiscipline and an injury prone back
are held up against him every time a good knock of his surfaces.
If he wants to retain a spot in the Australian team, his
brief is simple; do something that he hasn’t been able to do for the last 12
years: be consistent
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