Aussies Will Sorely Miss Marsh's Magic

Sport can be cruel.

Those rare Hollywood type endings, like afforded to Shane Warne or Glenn McGrath, rarely happen. For Shaun Marsh, his much-maligned international career may have ended in the most luckless fashion.

Marsh, who celebrated his 36th birthday on July 9, had his right wrist broken by fast bowler Pat Cummins while batting in the nets at Old Trafford ahead of Australia’s final pool match against South Africa.

With David Warner and Steve Smith back in the fold, the left-hander was selected as a reserve batsman and – like so often during his frustrating career – Marsh didn’t grab his opportunities when picked. He made just 23 and 3 against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively, and his World Cup appeared over as Australia seemingly found a better balance with the inclusion of allrounder Marcus Stoinis. Then it really was over when he copped Cummins’ friendly fire.

While unfortunate, Marsh’s injury seemed to be a minor blip for Australia even though the veteran is well regarded amongst the group as the consummate teammate. However, in a cruel twist, No.3 Usman Khawaja suffered a hamstring injury against South Africa ruling him out of the tournament and Australia suddenly needed a specialist batsman. Preferably, someone with the experience to handle the high stakes of the knockout stages.

Marsh, who prefers to bat in the top three in limited-overs cricket, would have been an ideal replacement. Quite clearly, it wasn’t meant to be for Marsh who most probably has played the last of his 38 Tests and 73 one-day internationals for Australia.