Andrew McGlashanDeputy editor, ESPNcricinfoJul 6, 2023, 08:38 PM5 Minute Read

It was one of the more self-deprecating comments in a press conference. "Most of Australia hate me," Mitchell Marsh said at The Oval nearly four years ago after taking a maiden five-wicket haul.

From one of most famous family names in Australian cricket he was being harsh on himself, but it reflected a career that had not hit the heights many thought the talent should have delivered. He has since become a T20 World Cup winner - named Player of the Match in the final against New Zealand - and has sensed a change in perceptions around him. However, for a host of reasons, largely Cameron Green's emergence, but also a broken hand sustained when he punched the dressing room wall at the WACA when he might have played at the start of 2019-20 home summer, that Oval outing was Marsh's last Test appearance until today.

Now he might have played the innings that ensures Australia win the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001. At the very least, it pulled his team out of the mire. In a series that has provided the unexpected more than once, it was another remarkable plot twist. This was just Marsh's fifth first-class match since his previous Test in 2019.

"I'm hopeful to get another opportunity in red-ball cricket but if it doesn't happen I'll keep plugging away and be happy to represent Australia in whatever team I can," Marsh told ESPNcricinfo in March. "At 31 years of the age, we've seen a lot of guys who have hit their peak around that age. Hopefully that's the case for me."

If Joe Root had held the regulation nick at first slip when Marsh had 12, Australia would have been 98 for 5 and the conversation very different. But it was not the first time England had missed an opportunity in this series and Marsh made him pay with one of the crispest displays of strokeplay you could witness. It produced a third Test century, from 102 balls, all coming against England who are, by a distance, Marsh's favourite opponents.

It's credit, also, to the Australia selectors who included Marsh in the squad having seen the value of having the allrounder at No. 6 since Green became a fixture three years ago. They wanted like-for-like cover (or as close as possible) for exactly this scenario having seen how difficult it was to fill in for Green's absence in India when Marsh was unavailable due to an ankle problem that required surgery.

With Green having picked up a minor hamstring injury, they were able to retain the balance of the team. Pat Cummins and Andrew McDonald have frequently referenced how important those extra overs have been in helping the frontline quicks. By the close, Marsh had also chipped in with the wicket of Zak Crawley.

Yet a performance like this was surely beyond anyone's wildest expectations. Marsh had not played a competitive innings since May 13 when he returned home early from a largely underwhelming IPL campaign for Delhi Capitals. He had averaged one first-class appearance a year since last playing a Test, although had not failed to reach 20 in any of his eight innings.

After walking in to replace Steven Smith, caught behind off an inside edge in his 100th Test, he was off the mark with a pleasing drive against Stuart Broad. He looked less assured against Mark Wood in the final over of the morning, wafting at one and beaten by another beauty, but that was understandable with Wood getting them down at 95mph.

After lunch he played a statement shot, pulling Chris Woakes over straight midwicket for six, but Woakes should have had his revenge two balls later.

From there, Marsh became more and more authoritative. He played a magnificent pull into the Western Terrace when Wood, still bowling thunderbolts, attempted to go short at his body. The short ball does not really concern Marsh, given his upbringing at the WACA, but it still takes some playing. "Sink or swim," he said of his approach. His driving was thunderously powerful at times, not least when he dispatched Wood through the covers and straight of mid-off. The ball was making an incredible sound off his bat.

Travis Head is no slouch, and he was basically watching it unfold. When the hundred partnership came up, Marsh had contributed 69 and Head 25. The spin of Moeen Ali, given the almost impossible task of bowling to an extremely short, straight boundary, was too good to resist as Marsh motored through the 80s and 90s, going to 99 with a thumping straight drive for six.

The hundredth run showed his desperation to get there, dabbing the ball into backward point and taking off for a dicey single only for England's substitute fielder Will Luxton to fumble the ball. Marsh sprinted through, leapt in the air, removed his helmet (but didn't throw his bat, Usman Khawaja-style) and stood arms aloft. "I'd have been stuck on 99 and running by mate out," he admitted. "I didn't want to spend long in the 90s."

It can go down as Marsh's finest Test performance, ahead of his 181 against England at the WACA which came on another recall and his 96 against a very strong South Africa in Durban at the start of the infamous 2018 tour. That was part of a five-Test stretch where Marsh averaged 67.28. It felt like it could have been a breakthrough, but as history shows it did not play out this way.

It's difficult to know how the future will play out for Marsh after this innings. If Green is fit again for Old Trafford it would be a big call not to bring him back, but Marsh's innings was the type that is hard to ignore. When he fell moments before tea, inside-edging onto his pad to second slip, he threw his head back in disappointment. But he can rest assured that tonight Australia will love him.