AUS All-Rounder To Retire From Domestic Red-Ball Cricket, But Can Still Play Tests | Cricket News

Mitchell Marsh (left) and Travis Head. (AP Photo)

Mitchell Marsh has reportedly decided to call time on his domestic red-ball career. According to the Nine newspapers in Australia, he recently informed his Western Australia teammates that he would step away from the Sheffield Shield — the prime domestic red-ball tournament of the country — after the current season.

The decision came after Marsh recorded scores of 9 and 4 against Victoria in Melbourne in the latest match. However, interestingly, the all-rounder hasn’t closed the door on his Test career.

It’s not usual for players retired from domestic red-ball cricket to continue in the Test arena, but Marsh has played more Tests than first-class matches for his state (nine) since 2019. He has usually been used as a plug-and-play in the Aussie middle-order thanks to his ability on the bouncy tracks at home.

His numbers at home aren’t bad either: 1025 runs in 22 Tests at 34.16.

Marsh has always been part of Australia’s plans for the ongoing Ashes against England.

“He’s got a game that could provide an injection, a different look at how he might attack it,” chief selector George Bailey said of Marsh in November. “It’s not the path we’re going down to start the series, but what it looks like later on, we’ll see.”

Even head coach Andrew McDonald name-dropped him before the series.

“We would be comfortable picking someone, and if you want to put a name to it, Mitch Marsh, out of white-ball cricket if we felt like that was going to benefit the Test team. He’s the captain of the white-ball team. It’s very hard for him to vacate and balance out Test preparation, if he was to be in the window for that. We still haven’t given up on Mitch Marsh’s Test career.”

Last year, Marsh lost the battle for a spot in the team to Beau Webster, who’s quicker with the ball and was more in-form in domestic cricket before India came to the shores for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Currently, it’s hard to see where Marsh could fit into the team. Even Webster hasn’t played in either of the Ashes Tests, and when a middle-order position opened when Travis Head shifted to the top of the order for Brisbane, Josh Inglis was chosen to replace him.

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