It will be happy times for the Marsh family when brothers Shaun and Mitchell play together for the first time in a Test.
The 31-year-old Shaun “cannot wait for the second Test to begin.”
The left-handed Shaun, who has 493 runs at 32.88 with two centuries in his nine Tests, said, “I was pretty excited to get an opportunity to play Test cricket again and to be out there with my brother is pretty special.”
Shaun added, “It’s huge. Growing up and playing with him (Mitchell) in the backyard, we talked about it as a joke back then, maybe to have it as a reality. It’s unbelievable.”
Still on the ‘growing up’ days with Mitchell, Shaun said, “I used to bat a bit, I never used to give Mitch a hit, hence he’s such a good bowler. We used to have a lot of fun out there, we also played our own little battles of cricket out on the tennis court.”
Shaun said, “We are really close. I’m a little bit older than Mitch, so I try and keep an eye out for him and make sure he’s doing all the right things.”
Proud father
On the reaction of their father, Geoff Marsh, when he got the news of the two playing together at the ’Gabba, Shaun said, “I’ve spoken to dad, obviously he’s very excited and proud of me and Mitch. He was over in Adelaide and he had a pretty good week over there, so he’s had to rest his liver. That’s why he’s not coming up here for this Test. He’s very proud and very happy that we’ve both been given an opportunity to play Test cricket together.”
Mitchell, only three Tests old, said, “I spent most of my years in the backyard bowling to him (Shaun). ”
The younger Marsh revealed, “I didn’t get much sympathy from Shaun. I usually had to pretty much beg him to play and then I’d just bowl and once he’d had enough he’d hit the ball into the bushes and that was it. That was generally how it played out.”
He said, “As we’ve both got older, we’ve become closer as brothers and had more things in common once I’ve matured a bit. He (Shaun) has always stood up for me when we’ve played together for Western Australia, which is always nice.”
Mitchell, however, said he and Shaun were different cricketers. “I think as an older brother I’ve always looked up to him and wanted to be like him. But in terms of cricket, I’ve always just done my own thing and had Dad there to support us.”
