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Daniel Marsh to coach Tasmania

Tasmania's new coach Daniel Marsh has been entrusted with maintaining a dynasty he played a large part in starting when he captained the state

Daniel Brettig
Daniel Marsh will replace Tim Coyle as coach of the reigning Sheffield Shield winners Tasmania  Getty Images

Daniel Marsh, the former Tasmania captain, has been entrusted with maintaining a dynasty he played a large part in starting by taking over from the highly successful Tigers coach Tim Coyle for next summer.

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Sheffield Shield Champions Tasmania named Marsh after he beat other contenders, including the Victoria assistant coach Simon Helmot, for the role of guiding the Tigers in Coyle's wake.

Widely credited with helping Coyle to build the state's successful team culture and consistently high performance levels when he was captain, 39-year-old Marsh has recently worked as an assistant with the Tigers, replacing Michael Di Venuto when he was called up to mentor Australia's batsmen earlier this year.

Marsh has also spent time at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, and was employed on the 2012 Australia A tour of England as a batting coach.

Coyle's decision to retire from the Tasmanian coaching job at the conclusion of the 2012-13 summer ended a fruitful eight-year tenure that reaped three Sheffield Shields, two domestic one day titles and numerous international call-ups - among players and coaches - for a state that was once defined by the batting of David Boon and Ricky Ponting.

While Coyle's exit will leave a considerable gulf, the choice of Marsh to replace him should ensure a continuation of the same sound principles that have guided cricket in the state. Under Marsh's captaincy, Tasmania lifted their first Shield in 2007 and also won domestic limited overs finals in 2006 and 2008.

Marsh gave up the leadership in 2009, and his successor George Bailey has often spoken of his predecessor's influence. "Dan Marsh is someone that has had a profound influence on my cricket," Bailey said last year. "I will forever be trying to emulate how he thought about the game and how he analysed it, and I think I'll fail dismally. But he was someone who I always enjoyed talking with about cricket.

"He made people feel very comfortable about the cricketer they were, understood the game to the nth degree. He was very level-headed and never got ahead of himself, never got too up when we were winning or too down when we lost - all pretty great characteristics."

The appointment maintains the Marsh family's considerable influence over Australian cricket. Daniel Marsh's father Rod Marsh is a national selector and overseer to all domestic coaches, while another son, Paul, is chief executive of the Australian Cricketers Association.

Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here

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