Australian Fathers’ Day: Four Australian father-son pairs who have represented the nation
Four father-son pairs who represented Australia
Shaun (left), Geoff (middle), and Mitchell Marsh are the only father-son trio to have played for Australia © Getty Images & AFP[/caption] Australia celebrates Fathers’ Day on the second Sunday of September. Australia has only seen four father-son pairs represent them at the highest level. Nishad Pai Vaidya writes about the father-son pairs who have represented Australia. 1. Ned and Syd Gregory: Ned Gregory represented Australia in the first ever Test match against England in 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). In that game, he batted at No 7 and was dismissed for no score, and become the first man to record a blob at the highest level. In the second innings, he did manage 11 as Australia were bowled out for 104. Australia won that Test but Ned never represented the nation again. His elder son Syd Gregory first played for Australia 13 years after the inaugural Test. His international career lasted for 22 years and he played 58 Tests in all, scoring 2282 runs at an average of 24.53 with four tons and a highest score of 201. 2. Trevor and Ben Laughlin: The Tasmanian father-son pair had short international careers, though there is still a chance for Ben Laughlin to get back and extend his stay. Back in the late 1970s, when Australia were hit by the Packer-exodus, Trevor played three Tests and six One-Day Internationals (ODIs). Thirty years later, his son Ben made his international debut in a T20I against South Africa. So far, he has played five ODIs and three T20 Internationals, with the last one coming in 2013 against Sri Lanka. Ben was then picked by the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013. 3. and 4. Geoff, Shaun and Mitchell Marsh: When Allan Border rebuilt the Australian side with an eye on regaining glory, Geoff Marsh formed crucial part of the setup. Marsh was a fighting opening batsman and played 50 Tests and 117 ODIs for Australia in a seven-year long international career. Geoff had taken up coaching post retirement, leading Australia to victory in the ICC World Cup 1999, thus becoming the first person to win the World Cup as both player and coach. Geoff was Nicknamed “Swampy”, which resulted in Shaun Marsh being called SOS (“Son of Swampy”). Shaun worked his way through the age-groups but found stardom during the maiden season of the IPL. He soon played for Australia and has remained in their plans since 2008. On Test debut in 2011, he smashed a century against Sri Lanka. Geoff’s younger son Mitchell Marsh has been one of promising young players in the Australian domestic circuit. After leading Australia to victory at the ICC under-19 World Cup 2010, Mitchell was picked by the Deccan Chargers. In 2011, he made his international debut on the tour to South Africa and since then, he has been part of their limited-overs plans. He impressed with some aggressive batting during the recently concluded Zimbabwe triangular series. (Nishad Pai Vaidya is Correspondent with CricketCountry and anchor for the site’s YouTube Channel. His Twitter handle is @nishad_44)