Mitchell Marsh has capped off a stellar comeback year by taking home the Allan Border Medal on Wednesday night.
The powerful all-rounder has straddled the highs and lows of professional cricket for over a decade and faced some of the heaviest scrutiny placed on a player in recent memory.
From the moment he walked on stage to collect the award, you could see just how much it meant to him.
He shed a tear as he begun his acceptance speech, thanking his wife Greta for supporting him throughout periods of deep uncertainty.
He candidly admitted the arrival of young all-rounder Cameron Green, touted by many as a future great of the game, meant his Test career was “done and dusted”.
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But a brilliant resurgence in form with the bat saw him muscle his way back into the side and pip national heavyweights Pat Cummins and Steve Smith for the medal.
“Cameron Green is a pretty imposing figure,” he said.
“I thought I was done and dusted, but I often spoke to my wife about, that I just wanted to get one more crack at it – it’s been amazing.”
The 32-year-old collected 223 votes, significantly more than Cummins in second place with 144.
“Dad will be sitting having six stubbies at the Coral Bay pub and he will be telling me stop crying,” he joked.
“I am extremely thankful. I have a beautiful family, they have been so supportive of me throughout my whole career, Dad obviously did what he did and Shaun obviously did what he did, but Shaun’s my brother and Dad’s my Dad and it has never been anything more than that.
“My Mum and sister are amazing. My sister is probably my biggest supporter and anyone who has sprayed me on social media, she will get you at some stage.”
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He thanked his skipper and coach Andrew McDonald for having his back as he fought tooth and nail to return as a regular member of all three formats of the Australian team.
“Greta is an amazing human, I said in my wedding vows eight months ago she gave me the perspective on life I needed and our life is a lot of fun. If I get a duck, or get a hundred, she’s always the same,” Marsh said.
“To Ronny (McDonald) and Patty (Cummins) you believed in me and I can’t thank you enough.
“I’m a bit fat at times and I love a beer but you see the best in me always. You’ve changed my life. This is a huge honour. I’ll see you all on the dancefloor.”
His comeback ton against England in his first Test in four years gave Australia a taste of what was to come.
He went on to scored over fifty in half of his next 10 Test innings, including crucial scores against Pakistan at moments in the series when the tourists clawed back the upper hand.
He also played a significant role in Australia’s victorious World Cup campaign, including a standout partnership with Warner and a matchwinning innings against Bangladesh.
He captained Australia’s ODI side in South Africa and is firming as the favourite to skipper Australia at the T20 World Cup later this year.
Marsh said he didn’t think he was a chance of winning, but said his teammates were gassing him up in the lead-up to the event.
“I really hadn’t thought about it until a few of the boys started getting stuck in to me, I started to think I was a chance,” he said.
“I had four beers at lunch so I had to stop there. Now I’m hoping it’s not live Covid and we look back in three years and think ‘that was a weird time’. It’s a huge honour.”
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