Geoff Marsh turns 62, so anecdote time.

But first, some highlights.

Marsh scored two hundreds in the 1987 World Cup.

He and Mark Taylor batted through all of Day 1 at Trent Bridge in 1989.

He was the first man to win a World Cup as both player (1987) and coach (1999).
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He fathered two Test cricketers and a professional basketball player.

And he formed a famous opening pair with David Boon.

He was also one of the handful of people who succeeded in embarrassing Boon.

As was norm with most opening pairs, they used to share rooms on tours.
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Boon once woke up to find Marsh at shadow practice in front of the mirror.

In the nude.

Marsh denies this. Not *entirely* naked, he says – he had the Baggy Green on.

Boon was once reading a book inside the room.

Marsh did not approve of this.

He *shredded* the book.
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Geoff and Michelle Marsh owned 21 lambs.

The family ensured that the milk tub for the lambs was placed behind the practice wicket.

Marsh practised on amidst their baa-ing.

The ovine cacophony apparently helped replicate the noise from famous Bay 13 of the MCG (Google it).
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But my favourite Marsh story is from the 1989 Ashes tour, where he was vice-captain.

Australia went 3-0 up after four Test matches. The urn had been regained.

The celebrations ran deep into the night at *Manchester*, but there was a tour match next morning, at *Nottingham*.
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Marsh was stand-in captain.

The Australian bowlers were obviously in no condition to bowl after a long night.

But Nottinghamshire captain Tim Robinson won the toss and opted to bat.

Marsh refused to accept this:
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"You may have won the toss, but I've got no bowlers – they're all asleep – you couldn't bat if you wanted to."

The official scorecard still reads "Australia won the toss and elected to bat".