Daniel Marsh

The captaincy has now been handed to George Bailey and Daniel Marsh is playing on as a batsman only, but he will always be remembered as the man who captained Tasmania to their first Pura Cup title. The history-making triumph came at the end of 2006-07, Marsh's fourth year of de facto captaincy; he stepped aside only on the rare occasions when the nominal skipper Ricky Ponting was available. Marsh enjoyed a productive 2007-08, during which he officially replaced Ponting as skipper and scored 758 first-class runs at 54.14 and earned spots in the Australian Cricketers' Association all-star teams in both four-day and one-day formats. Most significantly he ensured further on-field success for Tasmania, who collected their second domestic one-day title under his leadership. A less prolific season followed in 2008-09 and he resigned from the captaincy at the end of the summer, to play on under Bailey.

As the son of Rod Marsh, it is no surprise that Marsh is a combative and iron-willed cricketer. Almost as ruggedly built as his father, Marsh entered the interstate ranks as a 20-year-old and made steady improvement, particularly when he moved to Tasmania from South Australia prior to the 1996-97 season. An allrounder who mixes left-arm spin with versatile right-handed batting, Marsh is a powerful striker of the ball and can occupy the crease for long periods. He proved that ability during 1999-2000 when he notched three first-class centuries on the way to winning Tasmania's Player-of-the-Year award. Marsh's talents have also been seen on a wider stage, most notably when he collected Man-of-the-Match honours for the Prime Minister's XI against England in 1998-99. Before he sustained a fractured cheekbone halfway through the season, he was also a standout performer as Leicestershire's overseas professional in the English county competition in 2001. Marsh went on to prove himself a captain who would lead by example and his attacking half-century in the 2004-05 ING Cup final secured the victory. He missed most of 2005-06 with a dislocated shoulder and a torn calf almost ruled him out of the following summer's Pura Cup decider before he finally led the state to their first-class triumph.
Cricinfo staff October 2009