Mitchell Marsh picks Surrey over push for IPL deal

Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh has chosen a full season of county cricket ahead of chasing an IPL deal, signing on as Surrey's overseas player for 2018.

Marsh, 26, who has played 21 Tests, 48 ODIs and nine T20Is, is set to be available for the start of the next English summer following the conclusion of the Australian domestic season with Western Australia and Perth Scorchers.

In terms of run-scoring, Marsh will have considerable boots to full, especially in the County Championship and the 50-over Royal London Cup, following Kumar Sangakkara's prolific final season where he averaged over 100 in first-class and 77.85 in the one-day format.

"The opportunity to challenge myself in English conditions is something I can't wait for," Marsh said. "I have followed the team closely this year and hopefully I'll be able to contribute to some silverware, along with helping a young squad grow and improve."

Marsh was forced to pull out of the 2017 IPL having secured a deal with Rising Pune Supergiant after injuring his shoulder in the Bengaluru Test against India in March 2017. He returned to action in the JLT Cup at the start of the Australian season and has shown encouraging form with the bat, scoring a century and a fifty, but is not expected to return to bowling until the end of the year.

"It obviously gives me a chance to work on my batting, which has been great," Marsh said earlier this month. "As soon as I'm right to go I'll always be an allrounder as long as I play cricket.

"But at the end of the day if I'm going to play cricket for Australia I have to be the sixth best batsman for Australia batting at No 6. So I understand that."