Rod Marsh has been remembered as “tough, but kind and sensitive” as family and friends gathered to farewell the cricket legend in Adelaide.
The 74-year-old died earlier this month, a week after suffering a heart attack while on a trip to Queensland.
Many of Marsh’s former teammates attended the memorial service at the Adelaide Oval, where in December 1972 Marsh became the first Australian wicketkeeper to make a Test century.
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“He would be honoured that you’ve come to show your respects, but he would be very upset if you’d come only to mourn,” said Marsh’s brother Graham, himself a former professional golfer.
“He would expect nothing less of you than a great celebration of his life, the stories and memories of only the happy times.
“They say younger brothers often walk in the shadow of their older brothers, but baby brother, it’s been an honour to walk in your shadow.”
The Marsh name was synonymous with that of his great mate Dennis Lillee, with the pair retiring from Test cricket following a Test against Pakistan in Sydney in 1983-84. Remarkably, they both finished with 355 dismissals, Lillee then the most successful bowler in history, Marsh then the world record holder for wicketkeepers.
“I still can’t believe that our mate isn’t around. It’s taken me days to be able to write my thoughts down on this amazing bloke,” Lillee said.
“I don’t want to talk about his cricket ability, as that’s been well documented, it’s the person that I loved, but it wasn’t always that way, it’s something that grew over time, even after our careers were finished.”
Lillee, however, recalled that their great relationship didn’t get off to the best of starts.
“Our friendship started badly, one day after play, him with a beer in his hand, and me pouring a full-strength soft drink,” he smiled.
“He said to me, ‘I don’t trust you.’
“Taken aback, I enquired with apprehension why that was. He said, ‘Because my old man Ken said never trust anyone who doesn’t drink’.”
Marsh’s Australian blazer was on display beside the coffin, while one of Marsh’s successors, Adam Gilchrist, narrated a short video tribute.
Another of Marsh’s teammates and long-time friends, John Inverarity, remembered a side of Marsh that those who only knew him as a cricketer had missed.
“Rod was tough, but kind, thoughtful and sensitive. He wept at every funeral he attended, and mate you’ve been the cause of a few tears these past few weeks,” he said.
“A force of nature, and a force for good has left us, but not in spirit, and not without a treasure trove of memories.
“You’ve enriched our lives ‘Bacchus’ and we shall be eternally grateful we shared your journey with you.”
Inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2005 and the ICC Hall of Fame in 2009, Marsh is survived by wife Ros and children Paul, Dan and Jamie.
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