Mitch Marsh has made a tough return to the Cricket World Cup in India after an emotional week for the West Australian and his family.
The 32-year-old rushed back to Perth last Thursday, missing Australia’s vital win over England to be at his grandfather’s, Ross, side before he passed away on Friday.
His Australian teammates sported black armbands against England before Marsh jumped back on a plane to head to Mumbai ahead of Australia’s encounter with Afghanistan.
But the West Aussie failed to fire as Australia faced a record run chase to seal a spot in next week’s semifinals.
Marsh had little to do in the field but found himself in the thick of the chase in just the second over after Travis Head was sent back to the rooms with a duck.
The big West Aussie made a nervy start with the bat, punching a cover drive to the rope before a leading edge from a hoik into the leg side luckily flew over the third-man boundary.
He appeared to find his stride against Naveen-ul-Haq, crashing a full delivery down the ground for a boundary before following up with a powerful pull shot for six.
But his knock was brought to an abrupt end as Naveen-ul-Haq trapped the power hitter on the crease with perfect length as the ball cut back.
It struck the burly West Aussie on the knee roll, plumb in front of middle stump.
Marsh had a quick chat with David Warner at the non-striker’s end but trudged off for 24 from 11 without entertaining a review.