Geoff Marsh to play Lilac Hill match against Zimbabwe

Geoff Marsh, former Australian opening batsman and currently Zimbabwe's coach, has agreed to be part of the Cricket Australia Chairman's XI team which will take on Zimbabwe in the annual Lilac Hill festival match in October. It will be the first instance of a member of a touring team playing for the Chairman's invitation line-up.

Also part of the Chairman's XI will be his 20-year-old son Shaun, who is one of the emerging batsmen for Western Australia. This continues the tradition of father-son duos playing the festival match: Dennis Lillee and his son Adam have played for the Chairman's XI in the past, while last year Wayne Clark, former Australian fast bowler, and his son Michael were in the line-up.

Speaking to the media at the WACA ground in Perth after accepting the offer, Marsh said: "It's a great honour to be asked to play in the Lilac Hill game. Every year you watch and see the likes of Dennis Lillee out there and you still have the urge to think that's one game you'd like to play in.

"It's a great day and a great occasion. I'm looking forward to it and also obviously looking forward to playing with Shaun, especially with the amount of time that I've spent away from home of the past 18 months.

"It will also be a great honour to play against Zimbabwe. The boys are always trying to get me into the nets to have a go at me, so now they get their chance. It will be a lot of fun and games."

Marsh played 50 Tests for Australia, scoring 2854 runs at an average of 33.18. He had more success in one-day internationals, aggregating 4357 runs at 39.97. Marsh's first-class career lasted 112 games, in which he scored 7731 runs at 42.25, inclusive of 24 hundreds. Marsh was a member of West Australia's `Team of the Century', and also had a successful four-year stint as coach of the national team, during which time Australia won the 1999 World Cup.