From boos to an ovation - how Mitch Marsh became the darling of the Boxing Day crowd

Five years ago, Mitchell Marsh was booed by the MCG crowd when he came on to bowl for Australia in a Boxing Day Test match. Five years on, there were similar-sounding groans. But these were groans of despair for Australia's cult hero, who fell four agonising runs short of a richly deserved century, having pulled his side out of a deep mire.

If you had asked those booing him five years ago who they would want walking out to bat at 16 for 4 with a Boxing Day Test hanging in the balance, or at 85 for 4 on day one of an away Ashes Test, or at No. 3 in a T20 World Cup final or in an ODI World Cup final, the answer would have been, "anyone but Mitch Marsh".

But time and again, especially in 2023, he has delivered under pressure, in the big moments. There was a time when he had said, "Most of Australia hates me." Australia loves him now. "He should be getting the receptions that he's starting to get now," Pat Cummins said yesterday. "He's a champion."

Marsh's 96 was not quite as good as his Headingley hundred. But it was a counterattack of equal importance from a perilous position, and it saved Australia's blushes.

Australia were 16 for 4 in their second innings, with a lead of just 70, when Marsh walked in to face Mir Hamza on a hat-trick. Australia had not lost four wickets for so few runs on home soil since they were bowled out for 85 by South Africa in 2016. Hamza and Shaheen Shah Afridi had the Kookaburra ball swinging around corners under overcast skies. One more wicket and Pakistan were looking at Australia's last five batters, who had contributed scores of 4, 9, 13, 8 and 5 in the first innings.

Marsh calmly let the hat-trick ball pass through to the keeper. A younger version, the version that was booed, might have committed to play no matter what. He was far from perfect early on and he freely admitted it to Fox Cricket when he spoke to their flying mic during the final drinks break: "I was a cat on a hot tin roof and I felt like I had a defence like Swiss cheese in my first 20 balls."

He took 14 balls to get off the mark but did so with an emphatic drive down the ground. He was beaten time and again by Hasan Ali. But he got three short and wide gifts from Aamer Jamal in the same over to break the shackles. Then a moment of huge fortune. Just as Joe Root had dropped him at first slip at Headingley when he was on 12, Abdullah Shafique grassed the simplest of chances with Marsh on 20.

It wasn't his only piece of fortune. Just 14 balls later, having added only six runs, he shouldered arms to a ball from Hasan that nipped back sharply. Hasan and Pakistan pleaded with umpire Michael Gough to give it out. The finger stayed down. The review showed the ball clipping off stump, but not enough to overturn the decision.

But they say you make your own luck. And Marsh has made his own luck this year by being brave.

Marsh had talked after his first-innings 90 in Perth about how he couldn't defend and survive like Steven Smith does. He spoke about how he had to be "true to himself", to show positive intent and put pressure back on the bowlers, and not go into his shell like he might have done in the past.

Marsh revealed after play that his new mantra was put to the test in this innings.

"There's a lot of voices inside your head at 4 for 16," Marsh said. "It was I guess a big moment for me personally to, in that moment, just have a little think about how I wanted to go about it and be true to myself. I've said that on record. So, I guess I had to stay true to myself. It felt really hard work. The ball was swinging around.

"It was a matter of trying to get through but also making sure I put the bad balls away. And I was able to do that. So I still felt even on 96 that I could nick one, and I did. There's still plenty in the wicket."

Under enormous pressure, surviving several close calls, he stayed true to his mantra and played with immense bravery to carry his team on his broad shoulders. He benefitted from Smith's obduracy and calmness at the other end, but if Marsh didn't score, the lead was not going anywhere given Smith took 100 balls to find the boundary and scored his 50 off 176 balls.

It was Marsh who carried the scoring responsibility in what might end up being a match-winning 154-run stand with Smith - it was unthinkable to write those words about a Test partnership between Marsh and Smith just over six months ago.

Pakistan could not contain him because he did not allow them to settle. Marsh 2.0, in his last five Tests, has been prepared to walk down the pitch at fast bowlers to disrupt their lengths. While it doesn't always yield the drive balls that he's looking for, it creates a lot of shorter lengths. He latched onto those time and again during this innings, taking the pitch and swing out of the equation to thump cut shots galore to the long square boundaries.

It was a tactic he only developed in his last Sheffield Shield match earlier this year when he made a century against Tasmania at the WACA ground.

"I guess part of it is trying to impose myself," Marsh said. "I want to hit down the ground. I also back myself to pick up the length and get the short ones as well. So it's really just become part of my game, I feel really comfortable doing that."

He deserved a century and cut a heartbreaking figure as he trudged off to a wonderful ovation. His father Geoff and brother Shaun, who were in the crowd, were gutted for him and knew exactly how he felt.

"Shaun got run out for 99 and Dad got 86 here," Marsh said. "I guess a little bit history for us. Hopefully I get one more crack at it."

After not wanting him five years ago, Australian fans will want him to play many more Boxing Day Tests in the future.