From zero to hero

It would probably have been a sensible investment to bet on an Australian being top run-scorer in the Indian Premier League, even if some of the bigger names left the tournament halfway through for their tour to the West Indies. but the identity of the Aussie who holds a 70-run lead at the top of the run-scoring table will have foxed most of us.

Step forward Shaun Marsh, the Western Australia and Punjab Kings opening batsman who has nary a Test or one-day international cap to his name but gets to wear an orange cap in Saturday's semi-final for scoring more runs than anyone else. Yesterday, Marsh, son of Geoff, the former Australia opener, made 115 off 69 balls as Punjab beat Rajasthan Royals in their final group match and the two sides may well meet in Sunday's final.

The orange cap is a gimmick but a rather good one. It has passed from batsman to batsman as the tournament has progressed, like the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. The leading wicket-taker at each stage throughout the tournament gets a purple cap, too, and at the moment that is being worn by Sohail Tanvir, the Rajasthan left-armer, who has played only two Tests for Pakistan. Good to see the lesser-known players shining.

Marsh was a very shrewd buy by Punjab, no doubt aided by the advice of their coach, Tom Moody. He was the top run-scorer in Australia's domestic Twenty20 this year and will make his international debut soon after being named in their one-day tour party for the West Indies.

A first-class average of 35 suggests that it is a little early to be thinking of him as a Test match contender, but he averaged 60 in first-class cricket this winter and with the genes and batting skills that he has, it is not improbable. He has been batting first wicket down for Western Australia, behind the now-retired Justin Langer and Chris Rogers, but with Matty Hayden nearing the end of his career there will be a place at the top of the Australia order soon. In fact, come the end of next summer we may be as heartily sick of the Son of Swampy as we were of Geoff in the Ashes summer of 1989.

Comments

[Brian Carpenter]

I, too, haven't really been following the IPL at all - don't have Setanta, too much else going on of more interest, like a couple of Test series - but I completely agree with you about the caps. An original innovation which I hadn't heard of before - there might not be much we (English cricket) want to take from the IPL but this is surely an idea worth borrowing (assuming they haven't copyrighted it.)

[Rob]

As per previous comments, not that interested in the IPL. It's an Indian domestic competition, not a global tournament. Even when KP and Freddie go over to reap their fortunes, cannot get that excited about the tournament.

Having said that, interesting to hear how future payments to players will be incentive based, since sooo many of the 'star' costly players have not performed (apparently!).

[Yorkshire Fan]

I have to confess I’ve not really followed the ins and out of the ICL - Harbhajan and Sreesanth’s “ooh, you bitch!” moment aside.

But I do like the idea of the orange cap/helmet for the leading scorer. It’s the sort of simple innovation that can be brought in without driving old duffers like me to lay hands on a photo of Trevor Bailey’s forward defensive whilst trying to evoke the second coming of Douglas Jardine.

It probably won’t work over here though, as I suspect the full effect of the idea requires a competition where every match is televised.

btw: If only he was call Shane Marsh, he'd have the perfect generic Aussie cricketer name...