Australia captain Mitchell Marsh has fondly recalled growing up alongside Sam and Tom Curran in Zimbabwe, sharing close family ties through their fathers.
In a video posted by Cricket.au on X, Marsh reminisced about numerous backyard cricket matches at the Curran family home, describing the experiences as “very good” and special.
During the Marsh family’s stay in Zimbabwe, with his elder brother Shaun already playing first-class cricket in Western Australia, Mitchell spent many hours at Harare Sports Club playing alongside the younger sons of Kevin Curran, his father’s coaching assistant.
The backyard and club matches evidently served as a foundation for their cricket careers. Tom, Ben and Sam Curran have all gone on to represent their countries internationally: Tom and Sam for England, and Ben for Zimbabwe, who is part of the host nation’s ODI squad facing Australia this week.
Marsh said: “We’ve got the Curran boys there – Sammy and Tom. I feel like that was in Sri Lanka, but I could be well wrong. We obviously toured with our families, and Kevin was one of Dad’s great mates. The Curran boys virtually grew up with us over here, are some really special memories. We had many of backyard battles in their house, it’s very good memories.”
Marsh, who once aspired to represent Zimbabwe, is preparing to play his 100th One Day International in a country close to his heart. Australia will face Zimbabwe in Harare on Tuesday in the first of a three-match ODI series.
He added, “I actually wanted to play for Zimbabwe at one point.”