Mitchell Marsh snubs IPL; wants to play county cricket in England

Mitchell Marsh

Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has decided to skip the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) in a bid to represent Australia in the longer forms of the game.

Marsh, who has been touted as a player of the future for Australia, would have attracted a big money offer at the upcoming IPL Auction.

The 22-year old, however, has opted to spend time playing county cricket in England as he looks to stake a claim for a spot in the Australian Test squad for the 2015 Ashes series in England.

While he is yet to be offered an English contract, Geoff Marsh confirmed his youngest son has overcome his hamstring injury issues and wants to play as much four-day cricket as he can in the next 18 months.

“Mitch wants to play Test cricket and he has decided his best chances will be to play a lot more first-class matches than the short forms,” he said. “He’s had a pretty good Shield season so far and will now look for a county deal to play in England. He could earn the big bucks and it’s a great opportunity and there’s heaps of fun and success on offer if he got into the IPL again.”

“But it’s going to be important that he plays really good first-class cricket and has a good Shield season with Western Australia next summer to press for Test selection,” he added.

Marsh has had an impressive outing in the Sheffield Shield this season scoring 307 runs in five games after having made just 303 last summer across seven matches at an average of 21. Marsh’s bowling is also a huge asset for any team, and the Western Australian has scalped 45 first-class wickets at an average of 27 under his belt in 32 matches.

Marsh had previously played for the Deccan chargers and the Pune Warriors in the IPL.