Hamish Marshall

Hamish John Hamilton Marshall, popularly known as Hamish Marshall, is a former New Zealand cricketer who played 13 tests, 66 ODIs and three T20Is for the national side. He was born on 15th February 1979 in Warkworth, Auckland. Marshall was primarily a right-handed middle-order batsman and bowls right-arm medium pace. He occasionally kept wickets during his under-19 days for the Kiwis.

Background

In the year 1998, Hamish came into the first-class foray by playing five matches for Northern Districts, scoring at below par 19.25. He had a decent List A season scoring 379 runs in 12 matches at 31.58. Marshall impressed the selectors accumulating two centuries under tough conditions while touring India with New Zealand Cricket Academy in 2000.

Debut

In his test debut, Marshall put up a staunch resistance in front of fiery South African bowlers and scored unbeaten 40 runs off 131 deliveries batting at number seven in the third test in Johannesburg in December 2000. In spite of such a defiant knock, he was left out of the test squad.

The stylish batsman scored 55 runs in his ODI debut against Pakistan in Lahore in November 2003.

Marshall’s T20I debut came in the first international T20 match between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland in February 2005. Batting at 7, he scored seven runs.

Rise to Glory

Marshall had a fantastic debut ODI series, hitting an unbeaten 101 in the third match in Faisalabad and finished Pakistan tour with 243 runs in five matches. In June-July 2004, he helped the Kiwis to lift the Natwest Trophy amassing 203 runs in six matches at an average of 67.67, including a solid 44 against West Indies in the final at Lord’s.

After return to the Test side, in the second test, he scored a stupendous 146 against a quality Australian bowling attack in Christchurch in March 2005. He scored another defiant 76 in the final test against the Aussies before smashing 160 against Sri Lanka at the McLaren Park a month later.

He was adjudged New Zealand Cricket’s Almanack Player of the Year in 2005.

Low Points

Marshall failed to maintain his good form before eventually getting dropped from test side in 2006 and played his last ODI against Ireland in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup in April 2007 in Guyana. His decision to be an Irish citizen did not buttress his career as the Kiwi could not further opportunity to play for the Black Caps and was not allowed to represent Ireland at the international level.

He scored 652 test runs at 38.35 and 1454 ODI runs at 27.43. In his three T20Is, Marshall scored only 12 runs.

Records

He stitched 274-runs for the opening wicket with Brendon McCullum against Ireland in Aberdeen, Scotland in July 2008, which still is the highest opening wicket stand for the Kiwis.

Club Career

Marshall played for Northern Districts in New Zealand. He joined English side, Gloucestershire, in 2006. Debuting with a brilliant 102 against Worcestershire in County Two Championship in June 2006, he amassed 1218 runs at 60.90 in his first season. He was awarded ‘Batsman of the Year’ by his club in 2012.

Marshall helped Gloucestershire to lift their first trophy in over a decade after defeating Surrey in the Royal London Cup final in September 2015. He finished his 11-year stint at Gloucestershire in 2016 and joined Wellington back in New Zealand.

Marshall played for Royal Bengal Tigers in the 2008 Indian Cricket League (ICL) along with representing Gemini Arabians in the 2016 Masters Champions League T-20.