Shaun Marsh retraces childhood footsteps

In 1989, a six-year-old Shaun Marsh proved a pesky presence in the Australian dressing room during the memorable 4-0 Ashes triumph that defined the career of his father, Geoff. At Lord's, he would materialise from behind the nooks and crannies of the pokey little dressing room at the home of cricket. At Old Trafford, amid the team's Ashes celebrations, he threw cheeky volleys of ice cubes.

Through it all, he started to think about coming back one day as a player like his dad.

Twenty-six years later, Shaun Marsh is a bona fide Ashes tourist, baggy green in hand. Not only that, but he has his younger brother Mitchell Marsh for company. Both men find themselves at the fringes of the Test match XI. Shaun Marsh is no certainty to play in the top six once room is found for both Chris Rogers and Adam Voges. But he is here, and that in itself is an achievement.

"I don't remember too much of it but that's when I came over with mum and my sister to come and watch dad," Marsh recalled ahead of his first net session at Lord's with the Ashes squad. "It was pretty special. It's nice to be over here now on an Ashes tour myself. It's my first one and I'm really looking forward to it.

"I'm looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead. It's going to be a tough series. We're all aware of that in our team. We just can't wait to get out there against Kent and Essex, to get ourselves in the best preparation we can before the first Test."

The matches at Canterbury and Chelmsford will be critical to Marsh's chances of squeezing into the line-up, having served as a stand-in opening batsman in the Caribbean. County fixtures on an Ashes tour were also one of Geoff's primary responsibilities as Allan Border's vice-captain, for he inevitably had to be the bleary-eyed stand-in for the coin toss on the morning after the four Test wins. There will be no night-before carousing for Shaun, however.

"A big couple of tour games coming up, not only for me but a few other batters," Marsh said. "We've had a good couple of days here so far. Had a few days off and last few days of preparation's been really good. The boys are looking forward to getting down to Kent and Essex and hopefully getting a few runs and a few wickets.

"When you're playing international cricket there's pressure any game you play in whether it's tour games or Test matches. That's what you expect. It's been good fun and you've just got to deal with that as a player. When we're playing against Kent next week there'll be pressure on not only me, but everyone. That's how we deal with it."

In the West Indies, Marsh looked the part in the second innings at Sabina Park, before squeezing a catch to Jason Holder at a shortish mid-on. Some felt Marsh was unlucky to pick out the tallest man in the West Indies' XI, but he saw it as yet another wasted chance for a hundred - only 14 first-class centuries in 106 matches meant it was a familiar sense of frustration.

"It was disappointing to get out on 69, I threw away 100 there," he said. "I was really disappointed in that. I felt like I was moving pretty well throughout both Test matches. I enjoyed getting out there with Davey [Warner] with the challenges of opening the batting. Hundreds are always the key, for a batter. If you can get a big hundred I'm sure that's going to help your case come first Test."

Early days on an England tour tend to be about both scotching jet lag and getting used to the vagaries of the moving ball. Bowlers must learn to control it, batsmen to control themselves. Marsh has had periods of great judgment around his off stump - his debut hundred in Sri Lanka in 2011 and another at Centurion Park in 2014 spring to mind - but on other occasions he has looked very much a "nicker".

"You've got to adapt," he said. "It's been good to come out here in the last few days to adapt to the different conditions. The ball does swing around a lot more and wickets are a little bit slower here. It's been a good couple of days to get ourselves right and get ourselves prepared for next weekend's tour game.

"The ball was swinging around quite a bit in the West Indies, so I thought I did OK with that over there and felt comfortable. You've just got to be really switched on and making sure you're making all the right decisions out there, early doors, and backing yourself in and just enjoying the challenge."

Marsh's challenge is to earn his way into the Ashes top six. He will hope to do so by the time his dad arrives for the Lord's Test, a time when both father and sons will be able to share the dressing room they did all those years ago. Asked whether Geoff still dined out on the legend of 1989, Shaun grinned.

"He certainly does," he said. "He's looking forward to getting back over here and he's coming over for the second and third Test. He's looking forward to getting back over here and being a part of it again."