Marshy blow adds to Oz woes

Rod Marsh and Steve Smith of Australia talk during the Ashes Test between England and Australia at Trent Bridge on August 8, 2015 in Nottingham, UK. Pic/Getty Images

Rodney Marsh has decided to spank a juicy half volley right at the entrance of Cricket Australia's headquarters at Jolimont Street in Melbourne. Earlier this week, former chief selector Marsh, 70, reckoned Australia's cricket culture has a "toxic" element to it and attacked Cricket Australia for taking things a bit too far with their win-at-all-costs policy; something he said was spoken about at every meeting he attended as a selection committee member.

Marsh's claims will not be sweet music to the ears of those who run Australian cricket and the wounds of their recent loss to Pakistan in the Gulf could still be fresh by the time Virat Kohli's Indians arrive Down Under for the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Make no mistake, Australian cricket is in the doldrums and India must cash in on this unrest.

Marsh's new book hits the stands later this month and will dwell on the system he was part of since 2011 as selector and then as chief selector since 2014. Marsh, in a way, without condoning their silly ball tampering antics in South Africa earlier this year, reckoned the punishment meted out to Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft was too harsh. Some experts will believe that Marsh is being unfair in his criticism. They will question his public silence, and justifiably so, over the "toxic" culture which was prevalent on his watch.

However, there is no reason to believe that he is not aware of how cricket should be played and run in Australia. It must be remembered that Marsh headed the Australian Cricket Academy that nurtured some of the country's most enduring players in their youth - Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Ricky Ponting. The story goes that he took one look at a 16-year-old Ricky Ponting at the Academy and predicted that he'll be a quality Test player for Australia. Big Paul Wilson, who is now an international umpire, was keen to impress Marsh at the Academy and so was given the ball to test young Ponting. The Tasmanian hooked it over square leg. Next ball, same result but by then Marsh had already predicted Ponting's bright future while talking to his colleague Richard Done.

'Bacchus' Marsh also contributed to England's progress in the 2000s by heading the centre of excellence at Loughborough. He was included as a selector in 2002 and helped lay the foundation for England's famous 2005 Ashes win; an honour that eluded them for 18 years. So, despite being a few years shy of becoming a golden oldie, Marsh knows a bit about the modern-day game - old enough to convince players that the current way of doing things need not be right and young enough to chart the revival of Australian cricket.

Getting back to his comment about the Cricket Australia-triggered obsession to win each game, Marsh was never known to go to extremes for success. From behind the stumps, he was witness to some of the most colossal, controversial and curious incidents in Australian cricket. What's more controversial than the underarm episode at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the summer of 1980-81? Firstly, as vice-captain, he convinced his exhausted skipper Greg Chappell that he had to stay on the field as both teams closed in on a thrilling end of a triangular series game.

Then, as Trevor Chappell got set to bowl the grubber to New Zealander Brian McKechnie, Marsh yelled, "No, don't do it." But Trevor - acting on elder brother Greg's instructions - did, and Marsh could do nothing about it. Marsh played in an era when his team came to be known as the Ugly Australians, but there was nothing crass about him when it came to sportsmanship. In the keenly-contested Centenary Test at Melbourne in 1977, Marsh collected a nick that came off centurion Derek Randall's pad and not his bat. Umpire Tom Brooks declared the Englishman out, but Randall was recalled by Marsh and went on to score 174, albeit in a losing cause.

Marsh didn't make too much of it, similar to when his first Test captain Bill Lawry declared the innings closed with Marsh on 92 in Melbourne during the 1970-71 Ashes. Eight more runs and he would have become the first Australian wicketkeeper to score a Test hundred. The media got after Lawry for denying the youngster a century, but Marsh was not bitter. In fact, he said that he expected Lawry to declare long before he got into the 90s.

Having been a fine sounding board for Ian and Greg Chappell during their captaincy stints, Marsh was regarded highly for his sharp cricketing brain. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to captain his country. It was one of the reasons why he decided to call time on his career, soon after Greg and Dennis Lillee decided to retire. Had he got the job instead of perennial caretaker captain Kim Hughes after Greg retired in 1983, he would have carried on till 1985 and Hughes's career would have lasted longer without the cares of captaincy.

Australian cricket endured one of its worst crises after Chappell, Lillee and Marsh bid goodbye. Allan Border took the blows and led the revival. He made things easier for captains who came in next, like Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh. Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke had their share of highs and lows and just when Smith looked like he would become Australia's finest captain to lead by example, Sandpapergate happened. There are choppy seas to conquer again and the waves will get higher. If Australia is to sail smoothly into the future, the voice of Marsh and men like him must be heard.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

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