Rising star opts for a English County contract for the good of his development.
Merging cricket talent Mitchell Marsh has shunned the big dollars of the Indian Premier League this season as he looks to represent Australia in the longer forms of the game.
Marsh, who has been earmarked for some time in the Australian system as a player of the future, would have attracted a big money offer at the upcoming IPL Auction.
However, he instead is looking to link up with a county team so as to become more consistent in the first class arena, and hopefully, be selected in the Australian squad for the 2015 Ashes series in England.
Marsh, who could have earned between $300,000 and $400,000 in the IPL this season, is also expected to turn his back on the rich developing Twenty20 leagues in the Caribbean and Bangladesh.
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While he is yet to be offered an English contract, Geoff Marsh confirmed his youngest son is over his hamstring injury issues and wants to play as much four-day cricket as he can in the next 18 months.
“Mitch wants to play Test cricket and he has decided his best chances will be to play a lot more first-class matches than the short forms,” he said.
“He’s had a pretty good Shield season so far and will now look for a county deal to play in England.
“He could earn the big bucks and it’s a great opportunity and there’s heaps of fun and success on offer if he got into the IPL again.
“But it’s going to be important that he plays really good first-class cricket and has a good Shield season with Western Australia next summer to press for Test selection.”
Marsh has scored 307 runs in five first-class Shield games so far this season after making only 303 last summer at an average of 21 across seven matches.
He doubles as an exciting fast-bowling potential with 45 first-class wickets at an average of 27 under his belt in 32 matches.
Playing for the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League this season, Marsh has scored 160 runs at an average of 32 and a strike-rate of 112.
However, he hasn’t been damaging with the ball collecting only four Big Bash wickets from 16 overs at a hefty average of 39 and an economy rate of almost 10 runs an over.
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