“All in the family but no hundreds”, such is a love affair of Marsh family with the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).With Father Geoff Marsh being dismissed on 86 and brother Shaun Marsh agonizingly closed run out on 99, it was the turn of youngster Mitchell Marsh to score 100 during his innings vs Pakistan on Day 3 of the ongoing Boxing Day test match. But as destiny destined Mitchell Marsh agonizingly fell short by 4 runs being the second highest scorer with 96 runs in the Marsh family history at MCG.
Marsh was dismissed for the second time in the series in the 90s, walking back for 96 as left-arm seamer Mir Hamza made a massive strike, with Agha Salman for a Pakistani surprise took a sensational one-handed catch at slip. Before being dismissed Marsh who was dropped on 20 by Abdullah Shafique stitched a 153 run partnership with Steve Smith to grant Australia some respectability after being precariously down to 17 for 4 in the second innings of the match.
The 32-year-old’s entire family was present at the venue as he missed out on a well-deserved ton and a chance to be the first Marsh to score 100 at iconic MCG in a Boxing Day test.
Australian Allrounder Mitchell Marsh felt amusingly surprised by this unique feat and took to the press conference to express his views on the same after Day 3 at Stumps.
Obviously disappointing- Mitchell Marsh on missing out on a well deserving ton
Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh recalled his brother Shaun and father Geoff also narrowly missing out on a hundred at MCG after he suffered the same fate on Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan. The West Australian wishes to have one more crack at scoring a Boxing Day hundred.
Speaking after Day 3, Marsh admitted that he was eager to get his name on the MCG honors board. He said, as quoted by Perth Now:
“Obviously disappointing … I thought we navigated our way out of a tricky situation to get a partnership with Smudge, and I guess there’s a lot of history at this ground, the Boxing Day Test, and a bloody big honors board that I was close to getting on, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“Shaun got run out for 99 and Dad got 86 here, so Shaun’s technically still got me… hopefully, I get one more crack at it.” he added.
The 32-year-old walked out at 16-4, with Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mir Hamza breathing fire with the ball. However, he was the aggressor in the 153-run partnership with Steve Smith, pouncing on any delivery short and wide.
“I don’t necessarily want to put a number on it for our bowlers” -Mitchell Marsh
Mitchell Marsh admitted that the pitch made it hard for Australia to score runs and reckons that a lead of nearly 300 will be enough for them to win. He explained:
“It felt like really hard work, the ball was swinging around and Shaheen had his tail up – we know that he’s world-class. I still felt even on 96 that I could nick one, and I did – there’s still plenty in the wicket… for us to get in a position where we’re 240 ahead, we’re very happy.
“I think that if we were all out now we’d feel very much in the game… I don’t necessarily want to put a number on it for our bowlers but we know that they can certainly hold a bat so a couple of good partnerships with some tired bowlers now, hopefully, we can get up towards the 300 mark.”
With the hosts already holding a lead of 241, Alex Carey will be hoping to take his side over 300 and then it will be onus on the bowlers to dismiss Pakistan and guide Australia to Boxing day Test match as well as series win in the on going 3 match test series vs Pakistan.