Marsh: Aussie all-rounder primed to take T20 World Cup by storm
BY THE NUMBERST20Is
219 runs at 43.80 with a strike rate of 152.08. Three fifties. High sore of 75
Eight wickets at 11.00 with an economy of 6.76. Best figures of 3/24
Shining with the bat
Before the tour of the West Indies commenced, Marsh had not made a 50+ score in his T20I career, with a high score of 45.
By the end of the five-match series he had three fifties to his name, notching his first T20I half-century in the series opener – a 31-ball 51 – and backing it up with a second in the next match, making 54 off 42.
Despite Marsh’s best efforts, Australia still suffered three straight defeats to lose the series with two games to go, but in match four he finally notched a half-century in a victory. The right-hander belted six sixes and four fours as he smashed 75 off 44 as Australia won the match by four runs. He rounded out his series with the bat with a quickfire 30 off 15, hitting five fours and a six.
The all-rounder finished the series as its top-scorer with 219 runs at 43.80 with a strike rate of 152.08.
Shining with the ball
Alongside his efforts with the bat, Marsh also had a campaign to remember with the ball, finishing with eight wickets at 11 runs apiece with an economy of just 6.76. No Australian took more wickets or boasted a better average or economy.
Among both teams, only Hayden Walsh Jr (12 wickets at 11.66, econ. 7.00) took more wickets than Marsh, and Andre Russell (six at 22.16, econ. 9.50) was the only other bowler to take more than five wickets.
The eight-wicket haul is comfortably the most Marsh has taken in a T20I series, and fittingly it featured career-best figures of 3/24 in Australia’s lone victory of the campaign – a match he also made 75 in. That made him one of just three Australians to post a 50+ score and take three wickets in a men’s T20I, after Shane Watson (once in 2011, twice in 2012) and Glenn Maxwell (2018).
Shooting up the rankings
With career-best form comes a career-best ranking and Marsh currently sits ninth on the ICC T20I all-rounder rankings.
The all-rounder surged up 59 spots on the July 14 rankings update after his impressive start to the tour of the West Indies.
He skyrocketed again the following week, climbing 32 spots to enter the top 10 of the all-rounder rankings for the first time in his career.
He finished the month in ninth position and will be hoping to climb further in August after impressing against Bangladesh.