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 run-makers in the country. It also gave him a taste of what he could expect on his first trips with the national team. He made a successful start to his ODI career when he opened in the West Indies in 2008, and then scored a superb century on Test debut in Sri Lanka.

The recognition came after at consistent domestic summer, which 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 2007. He fought back to finish the summer as the Warriors' leading one-day run scorer with 318 at 39.75 and a solid Pura Cup contributor with 663 at 60.27. The top Twenty20 batsman in the country with 290 at 58, he came to international prominence in the inaugural Indian Premier League, where he was the competition's leading scorer with 616 at 68.44.

While he didn't play in India with Australia later that year, he did get a handful of opportunities in the one-day side despite a subdued domestic campaign - his highest score in 10 matches for the Warriors was 74. He opened with back-to-back half-centuries against South Africa and tailed off before tearing his hamstring while fielding at the WACA. A lengthy recovery included a visit to the US, where he traded hitting tips with the baseballer Manny Ramirez, but when he came back into the Australian set-up in Dubai he hurt his leg again.

Having regained his fitness, he scored a run-a-ball 112 for Australia in Hyderabad, an innings quickly overshadowed by Sachin Tendulkar's 175. In Australia's home summer he was steady and consistent, scoring between 12 and 83 in seven games, before succumbing to a bulging disc. He missed the New Zealand tour but regained fitness to play in the IPL and picked up an aggressive 59 in an ODI against England at Lord's.

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 hundred 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 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.
Cricinfo staff