Brisbane/Sydney: The cricketing world lost two of the game’s all-time greats on Friday; One who clipped a distinctive, moustache figure to the back of the stumps for Australia, while the other was arguably the greatest leggy ever to ever step on a cricket pitch.
74-year-old Rodney Marsh, who played 96 Tests and later remained a national selector, was in an induced coma and died peacefully at a hospital in Adelaide on Friday morning, his family confirmed. He suffered a heart attack last week during a fundraising event in Queensland.
But hours after Twitter mourned the death of the Australian wicketkeeper, Shane Keith Warne – a larger-than-life character whose 708 Test wickets tally has only been surpassed by Muttiah Muralitharan – was found unresponsive at his villa on the Thai island of Koh. Why Samui?
Caught Marsh, bowled to Lily
Marsh made his Test debut in November 1970 against England and scored 3,633 Test runs during a career spanning over 13 years. He, along with Western Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee, took 95 wickets during the pair’s Test career.
Australian PM Scott Morrison recalled, “He was my childhood hero who really made me try to be the wicketkeeper in primary school.” “Everybody wanted to be Rod Marsh.”
Nicknamed “Iron Gloves”, Marsh played in the first One Day International at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 5 January 1971. He played a total of 92 ODIs and was the first Australian wicketkeeper to score a Test century against Pakistan in 1982 as a left-arm fast bowler.
He was also involved in Kerry Packer’s World Series of Cricket, which polarized international cricket in the late 1970s before revolutionizing the game for professional players and fans.
Following his playing career, he remained closely associated with the game as head of the Australian Cricket Academy, helping to nurture dozens of players including Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer before becoming chairman of selectors.
“He was a legend of our great sport and an inspiration to many young boys and girls. Rod cared deeply about cricket and gave a lot – especially to the players of Australia and England,” Australian great passed away But Warne had words of condolence.
Warne was found unconscious by three friends living in the same villa who made an unsuccessful attempt to revive him after the tweet late Friday evening, a local official said.
Warne was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where medical personnel could not revive him. There was no sign of disturbance, the official said.
ball of the century
With a flexion of his right wrist early in the summer at Old Trafford in 1993, Warne not only troubled England batsman Mike Gatting with the so-called ‘Ball of the Century’, but also revived the great art of leg spin .
The bleached blond-haired Warne was relatively unknown outside Australia on that tour of England and arrived with quite unexpected figures from his first 11 Tests.
The beautifully flown delivery initially appeared to go straight but began to flow through the air towards the right-hander Gatting – known for his expertise against spin bowling. The ball was pitching a foot outside the line of Gatting’s leg-stump and as the batsman threw his left pad forward with his bat, it got stuck in the dust. It then spits up and bounces back at a 45-degree angle, ripping the edge of Gatting’s bat and hitting it over the off-stump.
Legendary umpire Dickie Bird, who was on the bowler’s end as Warne falsely sent the ball down, called it “one of the best deliveries I’ve ever made”.
Named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, along with Donald Bradman, Garfield Sobers, Jack Hobbs and Viv Richards, Warne’s influence was enormous.
He was also known to lead a colorful life away from cricket and both he and teammate Mark Waugh were fined for taking money from a bookie. Then, Warne was suspended for 12 months after failing a drugs test on the eve of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. He became the first bowler to take 700 test wickets
Australian Test captain Pat Cummins, who is currently leading his team on a tour of Pakistan, said legendary spinner Shane Warne was “a hero” to the current generation of cricketers.
“We are all trying to wrap our heads around that the loss is huge. The game has never been the same since Warney emerged and the game will never be the same after he is gone.”
“We have lost one of the greatest players of all time!” Legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara said.
Published in Dawn, March 5, 2022