Biography

Geoffrey Marsh was a right-handed top order opening batsman from Australia. He represented Western Australia in first-class cricket. Marsh was on the periphery of the national team for a number of years until December 1985, when he made his Test debut against India. The following year, he made his ODI debut against New Zealand and established himself as a solid opening batsman alongside Mark Taylor and David Boon. He played an important role in the 1987 World Cup, which Australia won. His unbeaten 126 against New Zealand was the highlight of his contribution, along with captaining the side in four games.

Marsh retired from all forms of cricket in 1994 and took up coaching as his profession. In 1996, he was named coach of the Australian ODI and Test sides, helping the team become world champions, especially in the ODI format. The team won the 1999 World Cup in England under his coaching. He switched from coaching to being a selector for the Australian Cricket Board, but soon left that position when he was chosen as the coach of the Zimbabwe cricket team in 2001. His contract expired in 2004 and he did not renew it owing to the politicisation of the national side. In 2011, he was selected as the coach for that year's new IPL franchise, Pune Warriors India. Later that year, he was named coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team, only to be replaced by Graham Ford in early 2012.