Shaun Marsh

Shaun Edward Marsh (born 9 July 1983) is an Australian cricketer who previously played for the Western Australia cricket team in Australian domestic cricket and has represented Australia in all three formats.

Nicknamed SOS ("Son of Swampy"), he is a left-handed top-order batsman.

On 10 March 2023, Marsh announced his retirement from first-class cricket.

He is set to continue in the BBL with Melbourne Renegades.

Marsh is the first son of Geoff Marsh and elder brother of Mitchell Marsh, both of whom have played for the Australian national side.

Marsh is married to Channel 7 journalist Rebecca O'Donovan, now Rebecca Marsh.

They have three children.

His brother-in-law is animator and internet personality Ross O'Donovan.

He attended Wesley College in South Perth.

Off the field, Marsh has suffered from occasional lapses of discipline.

In 1998, Shaun set the record, which was broken ten years later, for the highest average (210) in the Public Schools Association's Darlot Cup cricket competition.

After representing Western Australia at Under 17 and Under 19 level, Marsh represented Australia at both the 1999–2000 and 2001–02 ICC Under-19 World Cups.

In the 1999–2000 tournament, held in Sri Lanka, he was the second highest run scorer for Australia behind Shane Watson, and other notable teammates included played alongside Michael Clarke, Nathan Hauritz and Mitchell Johnson.

During this time, Marsh made his first-class cricket debut in 2000–01, against South Australia at the WACA Ground in March 2001.

At the 2001–02 tournament in New Zealand, which Australia won, he scored the fourth most runs for the tournament, with the captain of the Australian side, Cameron White being the leading run scorer.

He played as a middle order batsman, and played the final three games of the season, before continuing to represent both the Australian Under 19 side and the Australian Cricket Academy throughout 2001 in the lead-up to the World Cup in New Zealand in January to February 2002.

In October 2002, Marsh was named to play for Western Australia against the touring English XI in a two-day practice match (not classified as first-class) prior to the 2002–03 Ashes.

Marsh top scored in the match as he made 92 runs against an English bowling attack consisting of Matthew Hoggard, Stephen Harmison, Andy Caddick and Ashley Giles.

He was not selected for the three-day match held soon after, but was selected to make his List A debut for the Warriors in an ING Cup match against South Australian Redbacks in November 2002.

He went on to play nine ING Cup games and three Pura Cup during the 2002–03 season and he made his maiden first-class hundred against a NSW side featuring Steve and Mark Waugh in 2003.

Over the next few years, he cemented his position in the Warriors middle order, averaging over 35 in first class cricket in 2004–05 and 2005–06.

He was named in the Australia-A side for a mid-year tournament in Cairns in July 2006.

After a relatively poor 2006–07 season, he returned to top form in 2007–08 in all forms of the game.

In November 2007, he was suspended for two matches by the WACA for drinking alcohol to excess with teammate Luke Pomersbach.

In first-class cricket, he made his highest career score of 166 not out (as part of a 268 run 4th-wicket partnership with Luke Pomersbach and averaged over 60 runs per completed innings. In the 2007–08 Ford Ranger Cup 50-over competition, Marsh made his debut century and was the Warriors' top run scorer. In Twenty20 cricket, he was the competition's leading run scorer with the highest average and the highest individual score.

Partway through the 2007–08 season, with the retirement of Justin Langer and the move of Chris Rogers to the Victorian Bushrangers, Marsh switched batting positions to become an opening batsman like his father Geoff.

At the end of the season, he was named the Lawrie Sawle Medallist for being the best player in the Western Australian state cricket team for the 2007–08 season.

He was highly sought after for the Big Bash League due to being regarded as one of the top domestic Twenty20 players in the world.

He ultimately chose to stay in WA and play for the Perth Scorchers.

After missing the first game due to a troublesome back, which played up in the recent Australian tour of South Africa, he played in the second match against the Melbourne Renegades and made 99* stating his case to join the Test team for the Boxing Day Test against India and missed the next few games.

In October 2012, during the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in South Africa, Marsh was dropped from the Scorchers last game, along with brother Mitchell, after a night of partying to celebrate Mitchell's 21st birthday.

In October 2012, compounding a lean run of form, Marsh was dropped from the Perth Scorchers, and subsequently the Western Australian team, following an off-field indiscretion during the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in South Africa.

A frank discussion with former teammate and new Western Australian coach Justin Langer helped Marsh regain his confidence and eventually his place in the state team:

"He laid down the laws for me. It was a good chat. I knew exactly where I stood with him, and I went away with a new belief, in terms of where I wanted to head. It gave me a lot of confidence to know that if I went back and scored runs in grade cricket and 2nd XI, I could get back into the team straight away."

Marsh has excelled in the Twenty20 format of cricket, and during the 2012–13 Big Bash League, he scored five half-centuries in nine innings, ending the tournament as the leading run scorer, and helping the Scorchers reach the final.

He carried this form upon his return to the Western Australian state team.

In 2017, Marsh had an eye test, which showed he was short-sighted, a condition with which he had been batting and fielding for a considerable time.

He started wearing contact lenses.

This caused surprise in the cricket community, for whom Test match contracts normally include sight tests as a routine requirement.

Marsh and his younger brother Mitchell attended Wesley College in Perth where they excelled in cricket.