Marsh the enforcer holds the Eden key

There must be something karmic about Mitchell Marsh turning up for a World Cup semi-final at the ground his father Geoff was an intrinsic part of Australia’s first World Cup win 36 years ago. What a way to check in too. Scoring 177 off 132 balls against Bangladesh in Australia’s highest successful World Cup chase — also only the second instance of a team chasing more than 300 in this World Cup — this was a hundred unlike his previous ones, coming in circumstances deeply emotional after bidding adieu to his beloved ‘Pop’, grandfather Ross.

- Somshuvra Laha

That hundred must mean something to Marsh, beyond the usual degree of satisfaction such feats usually invoke. Equally ominous is how it has also aligned itself perfectly with the plucky message Marsh had left with Marcus Stoinis when he had to dash home to deal with his loss. “He sent me a message last night saying, ‘I’ll be home for a little bit and then I'm coming back to win this World Cup' so that speaks to his mindset I think,” Stoinis said later. By Sunday night, we will know if this was deja vu of Steve Waugh proportions but for now, let’s just decode the phenomenon that is Mitchell Marsh.

Thrust into the sport as a son, then as a brother, trying to live up to the immeasurable stature of one of the most famous cricket surnames in Australia while trying to fine tune an allrounder’s role, Mitchell was probably nudged into biting off more than he could chew. In the pecking order of allrounder pedigree, Marsh figures in the mid-tier despite bowling pretty quick.