Rod Marsh was born in Armadale on 4 November 1947 to Barbara and Ken Marsh. He played backyard cricket with his older brother Graham, who became a professional golfer and won eleven times on the European Tour. Both brothers represented Western Australia at cricket at schoolboy level. Rod played his first competitive match at the age of eight for the Armadale under-16s, where he also kept wicket. At thirteen he captained the state schoolboys’ team then joined the West Perth district club.^.

When he debuted for West Perth’s first XI he was a specialist batsman. In 1966 he joined the University Club where he formed a lasting bond with Dennis Lillee

Rod Marsh  made his first-class debut for Western Australia, again as a specialist batsman, against the touring West Indies in 1968–69. He had an unusual match, scoring 0 and 104.^[3] His whirlwind knock of 104 on state debut against a fancied West Indian bowling attack which comprised Garfield Sobers, Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall.

Powerfully built, Marsh was regarded as an all-rounder for the majority of his career. Coupled with his short stature, his power suited him to the task of keeping wicket. He had fast foot movement, combined with fast anticipation and reflexes, which allowed him to cover more ground. He raised the role of wicketkeeper to a more prominent status in a team with his acrobatic diving, raucous appeals, and habit of throwing a ball high into the air upon completing a dismissal. As the wicketkeeper, he made himself the focal point in the field and attempted to extract higher standards of concentration from both himself and his teammates.

At state level, Marsh was a noted captain, leading the state to a Sheffield Shield and Gillette Cup double in both forms of the game in 1976–77. He had nine wins and seven losses in 20 Shield matches as captaincy, and seven from nine matches in the limited overs competition.

Marsh was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1982 New Year Honours and inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. He was named as one of Wisden’s Cricketer of the Year in 1982 and, he received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and a Centenary Medal in 2001.

In 2005, he was inducted into the Cricket Hall of Fame by Cricket Australia.

In 2015, he became the fourth Australian cricketer to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture after Richie Benaud, Adam Gilchrist and Simon Taufel.

He received Honorary Life Membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1988.

He died on 4 March 2022, in Adelaide, South Australia, at the age of 74.

Shane Warne had paid tribute to Marsh in a tweet a few hours prior to his own death in Thailand.