As a child Shaun Marsh spent a lot of time in the Australian set-up travelling with his father Geoff, the former opening batsman. The international grounding and a backyard net helped develop Marsh into one of the finest young batsmen in the country. It also gave him a taste of what he could expect on his first trip with the national team when he was picked in the one-day squad to tour the West Indies in 2008. That selection came after his most consistent domestic summer that also earned him his first Cricket Australia contract - the selectors view him as a long-term top-order prospect - and the title as Western Australia's Player of the Year. It was quite a response after Marsh was suspended by the state for two games following a drinking session in November. He fought back to finish the summer as the Warriors' leading one-day run scorer with 318 at 39.75, the top Twenty20 batsman in the country with 290 at 58, and a solid Pura Cup contributor with 663 at 60.27.

More gifted than his father - "He's got a few more shots than me," Geoff once said - Marsh is a left-hander who impressed the tough judges of Steve and Mark Waugh while scoring his maiden first-class century in 2003. The milestone arrived with two sixes in a row over midwicket off Mark Waugh's offspin and a rash of compliments. "It's a pretty good feeling when the Australia captain comes up to you and says well done, mate," Marsh said. The second century had to wait until 2004-05 as he struggled with concentration, the finest trait of his father's batting, and was in and out of the state side. However, he picked up 503 runs with two centuries that summer and in 2005-06 continued to show his consistency with five fifties in a collection of 676 at 37.55. In the one-day game he was even more entertaining with 296 runs at 49.33. His next summer was quieter, with a top score of 50 from his six Pura Cup outings as he collected 226 runs at 20.54. An Australia A representative, Marsh attended the Academy before making his first-class debut in 2000-01 and was part of the Australia Under-19 squad that won the World Cup in 2002.
Peter English April 2008

First-class Debut: Western Australia v South Australia at Perth, 2000/01

• Marsh sets up 84-run win for Australia (Jun 24, 2008)
  
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Jun 27, 2008 Shaun Marsh departs, dismissed by Daren Powell for 12 © AFP

Jun 27, 2008 Luke Ronchi and Shaun Marsh, WA-turned-Australian team-mates, leave the field © AFP

Jun 24, 2008 Shaun Marsh tries to sweep © AFP

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