Rod Marsh obituary

The words “caught Marsh, bowled Lillee” encompassed a world of cricketing pain for batsmen during the 1970s and 80s, as the ferociously fast Australian bowler Dennis Lillee combined with the stockily acrobatic wicketkeeper Rod Marsh to claim more Test match victims – 95 in total – than any other pairing in history.

Marsh, who has died aged 74, was the perfect tough sidekick for Lillee, with whom he shared a scowling, moustachioed Aussie pugnaciousness and a ferocious will to win. While Lillee stood menacingly with the ball at the end of his run, incoming batsmen could expect to be met with a pithy comment or two from Marsh about the future likelihood of their need for emergency dental work or a prolonged spell sampling hospital food.

Even if Lillee failed to deliver on such prophecies, there were good odds on a snick going through to Marsh’s gloves as another statistic was added to the pile. “I’ve played with Dennis so much that most of the time I know what he’s going to do before he’s bowled,” Marsh once said. The number of their Test victims was matched by a more or less equal total of dismissals for Western Australia, for whom they played in further deadly combination when not on international duty.

During a Test career that ran from 1971 to 1984, Marsh was responsible for more than 350 dismissals – a world record at the time and still the fourth highest tally ever. Although his thickset build was not ideally suited to duties behind the stumps, he was superbly nimble in all facets and at his most impressive when diving full length to retrieve a wayward delivery or take a spectacular catch.

Complementing his athleticism with fierce concentration and a natural belligerence, after a shaky start at international level he