Coming back into the side after a fine, Mitchell Marsh showed his class right away on the first day of the Test. The flamboyant cricketer bagged 4 wickets to his name on Day 1 thus dismantling the batting lineup of England. Meanwhile, following the conclusion of the match, Marsh quoted that Australians hate him very much.
Marsh celebrated his recall to the side for the first time since last year’s Boxing Day Test against India by taking 4-35 as Australia turned the screws on England in the fifth and final Ashes Test at the Oval on Thursday.
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The hosts were 271-8 at stumps on day one after Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 64 rescued their innings. Having been in the team’s leadership group last year before he was dumped and lost his central contract, Marsh acknowledged his see-sawing form had made it difficult for home fans to be warm to him.
I love playing for Australia – Mitchell Marsh
However, he hopes that the performance against England would help him to garner some respect back home. Further, the all-rounder added that he eats too much but follows his fitness to be agile all the time.
“Yeah, most of Australia hate me,” Marsh said before laughing. Australians are very passionate, they love their cricket, they want people to do well,” said Marsh, who averaged 25.39 with the bat and 43.91 with the ball from his 31 previous Tests.
“There’s no doubt I’ve had a lot of opportunity at Test level. I haven’t quite nailed it. “But hopefully they can respect me for the fact I keep coming back. I love playing for Australia. I love the baggy green cap and I’ll keep trying and hopefully I’ll win them over one day.”
At 17, Mitchell Marsh became the youngest Australian ever to play in their domestic one-day competition and was also Western Australia’s youngest debutant for above 70 years. After being recognised in the Indian Premier League, Cricket Australia gave him an international call-up. However, he used to be in-and-out like a person of the team.