MELBOURNE: Four years after being dropped as a test player for Australia due to a run of poor results, allrounder Mitchell Marsh made a telling return to form with a run-a-ball century against England at Headingly during the Ashes series in July.
His resurgence as a batter — and bowler — continues.
In the first cricket test against Pakistan in Perth, Marsh scored 90 and 63 not out to be named man of the match in the home side’s 360-run win inside four days. The 32-year-old Marsh also claimed the crucial wicket of former captain and star batter Babar Azam in the first innings to further highlight his overall value to the team.
Marsh was dropped by selectors in December 2018 after a run of 11 innings saw him score single figures seven times – including two ducks. His highest score during that streak was 45 runs.
Australia captain Pat Cummins says one key difference in the new-look Marsh is his willingness to play to his strengths, rather than try to imitate the batting style of others.
“I think he’s just got a really clear process at the moment in whatever format it is,” Cummins said. “He knows how to score runs, and you know he doesn’t really care what it looks like.
“I think in the past you can get caught up in, ‘There’s a template of how you’re meant to play test cricket or supposed to play test cricket and you’ve got to have a good forward defense’. I think Mitch has found a really good game plan.”
Australia has won 15 tests in a row against Pakistan in Australia, and Cummins and Co. will hope to extend that streak in the Boxing Day test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground beginning Dec. 26. It’s the second of three in the series, with the third set to start Jan. 3 in Sydney.
Off-spin bowler Nathan Lyon will enter the MCG match having taken test wicket No. 500 during the win in Perth.
“He’s a star. He’s so good,” Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne said of Lyon, who joined Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath as Australians with 500 test wickets.
“He’s got a natural ability, very gifted ability of bowling a very good off-spin ball. The amount of revs he gets — it’s almost impossible for anyone else to get that amount of revs . . . that skill alone is almost unteachable.”
Lyon reached the 500-wicket landmark when he successfully went for a leg before wicket referral against Faheem Ashraf and was embraced by his teammates. The off-spinner raised the ball to the applause of the Perth crowd.
Lyon then clean bowled Aamer Jamal in the same over off a delivery which bounced no higher than ankle height to finish with 2-18 in his memorable test match.
Mitchell Marsh excels in test cricket comeback after four years, stars against Pakistan
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Mitchell Marsh excels in test cricket comeback after four years, stars against Pakistan
- Marsh was dropped in 2018 after he scored single figures seven times and was dismissed twice for a duck
- The 32-year-old became man of the match in the first test against Pakistan after great batting performance
Undefeated boxing great Terence Crawford announces retirement
- Crawford, (42-0, 31 knockouts), retires as the reigning WBA, IBF and WBO supermiddleweight champion after defeating Alvarez by unanimous decision in a masterful performance
- Crawford’s career straddled three different decades, with the southpaw making his professional debut in 2008 and rapidly becoming one of boxing’s brightest talents
LOS ANGELES: Undefeated world super middleweight champion Terence Crawford announced his retirement from boxing on Tuesday, hanging up his gloves three months after a career-defining victory over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
The 38-year-old from Nebraska, who dominated Mexican legend Alvarez in Las Vegas in September to claim the undisputed super middleweight crown, announced his decision in a video posted on social media.
“I’m stepping away from competition, not because I’m done fighting, but because I’ve won a different type of battle,” Crawford said in his retirement message. “The one where you walk away on your own terms.”
Crawford, (42-0, 31 knockouts), retires as the reigning WBA, IBF and WBO supermiddleweight champion after defeating Alvarez by unanimous decision in a masterful performance.
Crawford had also held the WBC super middleweight belt, but was stripped of it earlier this month following a dispute over sanctioning fees.
Speaking in his video, Crawford said his career had been driven by a desire to keep “proving everyone wrong.”
“Every fighter knows this moment will come, we just never know when,” Crawford said.
“I spent my whole life chasing something. Not belts, not money, not headlines. But that feeling, the one you get when the world doubts you but you keep showing up and you keep proving everyone wrong.”
“I fought for my family. I fought for my city. I fought for the kid I used to be, the one who had nothing but a dream and a pair of gloves. And I did it all my way. I gave this sport every breath I had.”
Crawford’s career straddled three different decades, with the southpaw making his professional debut in 2008 and rapidly becoming one of boxing’s brightest talents.
He won his maiden world title, the WBO lightweight crown, with victory over Scotland’s Ricky Burns in 2014.
Crawford won 18 world titles in five weight classes, culminating in his win over Alvarez.
He retires having never been officially knocked down in a fight.
All of his 42 victories have come by way of unanimous decision or stoppage, with no judge ever scoring in favor of an opponent during his career.
