Perth (Australia), July 31: Zimbabwe cricket coach Geoff Marsh will play against his own team when they launch their Australian tour with a one-day carnival match near here early October. Marsh, a former Australia Test opener, vice-captain and coach, said today he had accepted an invitation to play for an Australian Cricket Board Chairman's XI against the tourists in a tour-opening one-day clash October 1.
The 50-overs game is staged at Lilac Hill Park, just outside Perth, on the banks of the Swan River, in Western Australia's oldest grape-growing district, drawing a crowd of about 10,000.
It will be the first time a member of a visiting team has played for the Chairman's XI. "It's a great honour to be asked to play in this match," said Marsh, a Western Australian who is here on holiday before returning to Zimbabwe to prepare his side for the tough Australian tour. "I am looking forward to it."
Marsh played in 50 Tests for his country, making 2,854 runs at an average of 33.18, with four centuries.
He also played in 117 one-day internationals, hitting 4,357 runs (average 39.97), with nine centuries. He coached Australia to their World Cup one-day victory in England in 1999.
Marsh said in the festival match he would be playing alongside his 20-year-old son Shaun, a batsman who is making a mark in the Western Australian Sheffield Shield side.
Many experts have tipped a Test future for the talented left-hander. Bureau Report