Geoff Marsh and son to play against Zimbabwe

Geoff Marsh could be excused for being more than a little pre-occupied with other events while batting in this year's Lilac Hill festival match at the start of Zimbabwe's tour of Australia. Marsh, the Zimbabwe coach, is to play in the Cricket Australia Chairman's XI alongside his son Shaun, who is a regular for Western Australia and who has been an Australian Youth international.

The Invitation side for the 50-over game was announced today by Cricket Australia. The game is to be played at Lilac Hill on October 1.

The captain and vice-captain for the side will be named later while Western Warriors' batsman Chris Roger will be 13th man. Among the others in the side is Colin Miller, who retired from all cricket in July last year.

Bob Merriman, chairman of Cricket Australia, said: "The match will act as a stage to showcase Australia's depth of cricket talent, which will be challenged by a quality international opponent. It will also provide cricket fans of Western Australia with the chance to watch the match, which has earned a reputation for producing top-class entertainment, in a relaxed and friendly setting."

Zimbabwe are on a two-Test tour with the first Test at Perth from October 9-13 and the second at Sydney from October 17-21. They will return for the VB Series against Australia and India in the New Year.

The Western Australia Cricket Association are using the match to honour Australia's three World Cup-winning teams. Bruce Reid, Geoff Marsh and Michael Veletta have been invited from the 1987 side while Tom Moody, Adam Gilchrist and Brendon Julian will represent the 1999 team and Brad Hogg and Damien Martyn will represent the 2003 squad.

The World Cup will be paraded at the Lilac Hill ground along with the players in a pre-match motorcade. Other celebrity guests include: Western Australian legend Ken Meuleman, John Rutherford, the first Western Australian born player to play a Test for Australia, and the Camp Quality Youth guest of honour, Scott Richards. Match organisers are again confident of a near-capacity attendance of about 10,000. All corporate marquees and hospitality packages are sold out, with public sales rapidly gathering momentum.

Team
Jo Angel, Ryan Campbell, Adam Gilchrist, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Justin Langer, Geoff Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Damien Martyn, Colin Miller, Brad Williams, Peter Worthington.