Mitchell Marsh has reportedly told teammates he is retiring from red-ball cricket at state level.
However despite making the declaration on his Sheffield Shield career, the Nine newspapers report Marsh has “not closed the door completely” on featuring in Tests, including the possibility of playing in this Ashes series.
It would be unusual for a player not participating at Shield level to be selected for the Test side.
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The 34-year-old told his WA teammates he would step away from the red-ball game after this Shield season, following two single-digit scores against Melbourne at the MCG, according to the report.
He has only featured nine times for his state since 2019, after debuting back in 2009.
But while Marsh is “resigned to the fact he may not play another Test” he would be willing to do so should the selectors call on him, even with a lack of recent red-ball cricket experience.
Previous reports stated Marsh was part of Australia’s selection plans for later in the Ashes series.
“He’s got a game that could provide an injection, a different look at how he might attack it,” chief of selectors George Bailey said of Marsh in November.
“It’s not the path we’re going down to start the series, but what it looks like later on, we’ll see.”
Even coming into the series, Australia coach Andrew McDonald had flagged the possibility, declaring: “We would be comfortable picking someone, and if you want to put a name to it, Mitch Marsh, out of white-ball cricket if we felt like that was going to benefit the Test team.
“He’s the captain of the white-ball team. It’s very hard for him to vacate and balance out Test preparation, if he was to be in the window for that.
“We still haven’t given up on Mitch Marsh’s Test career.”
Since his Test debut in 2014, Marsh has played 46 matches, but was dropped during the 2024-25 summer heading into the Sydney Test for Beau Webster.
The all-rounder’s rollercoaster career arguably peaked in 2023, when he starred in the Ashes including a famous 118 at Headingley before dominating the ensuing summer, on route to a famous Allan Border Medal triumph.
In Tests he has scored 2083 runs at 28.53 and taken 51 wickets at 40.41.
He remains Australia’s ODI and T20 captain.
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