Mitchell Marsh is likely ending his first-class cricket career with Western Australia, raising questions about his Test future, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The 34-year-old informed his WA teammates after Sunday’s Sheffield Shield match against Victoria about his plans to step away from state-level red-ball cricket. While he plans to officially retire at the season’s end, he is not expected to play any more first-class matches for WA.
Marsh has played nine Sheffield Shield matches for his state since 2019. In his recent Melbourne game, where he was considered for the Ashes, he scored just 9 and 4. The all-rounder, who started his WA career against NSW in 2009, has indicated to teammates he remains open to Test cricket if selected.His potential Test selection without Shield cricket participation presents challenges. Australia has no remaining Shield fixtures this year, and Marsh will be occupied with the national T20 team before the T20 World Cup when domestic red-ball cricket resumes.“We would be comfortable picking someone, and if you want to put a name to it, Mitch (Mitchell) Marsh, out of white-ball cricket if we felt like that was going to benefit the Test team,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said in October, as quoted from The Sydney Morning Herald.“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,” McDonald added. “We still haven’t given up on Mitch Marsh’s Test career.”Marsh, who has faced multiple injuries, seems to be accepting that his Test career might be over. Since his 2014 debut, he has played 46 Tests, with his last appearance against India in Melbourne in 2024. Beau Webster replaced him for the Sydney Test this year.His last red-ball cricket experience was during the 2024 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he managed only one double-digit score of 47. This followed his successful 2023 Ashes comeback featuring a memorable century. However, 2025 proved difficult with 283 runs in 15 innings, averaging 18.60 across nine Tests.His overall Test career includes 2,083 runs in 80 innings at 28.53, with three centuries and nine fifties. His highest score is 181, along with 51 wickets at 40.41. His unbeaten 118 at Headingley in the 2023 Ashes remains his career highlight.Australia’s next Test match after this summer’s Ashes will be against Bangladesh in August next year.In his first-class career spanning 122 matches, Marsh has scored 6,415 runs, including 13 hundreds and 29 fifties, while taking 171 wickets.
