Hamish Reflects Ahead Of Benefit Year
19 November 2014
Hamish Marshall has been reflecting on his Gloucestershire career ahead of his benefit season in 2015.
Together with wife Mags, children Ollie, 3, and Isla, 21 months, Hamish has come to treat Bristol as a second home, having first played for the county in 2006.
The 35-year-old New Zealander is busy preparing for his testimonial year and hopes to mark it with a successful season.
Hamish told this website: “I have been based in Bristol ever since I joined Gloucestershire and it has proved a great place for family and friends to come visiting. They see why I love it so much.”
The other place close to Hamish’s heart is the College Ground at Cheltenham, as he was quick to point out when asked to look back on his time with the club.
He said: “The Cheltenham Festival is a highlight for me every year. It’s two weeks I really look forward to because of the support, the ground, the surroundings and some pretty good pitches to bat on.
“The town of Cheltenham is beautiful and the whole Festival environment has become very special to me. It is a tiring fortnight, physically and mentally, but the enjoyment you get out of it outweighs all that.”
Twenty20 cricket has provided Hamish with some of the best moments of his Gloucestershire career.
He said: “Reaching Finals Day in my second season was a highlight, as of course, was my record partnership in the competition with Kevin O’Brien (192 in 15.3 overs) against Middlesex at Uxbridge in 2011.
“I remember Kevin going wild at the start of the innings, simply by playing good cricket shots. He is such a clean hitter of the ball and got us off to a great start.
“Then we both started to score quickly and after he got out I managed to continue the momentum. The innings (Gloucestershire made 254-3, the highest total in domestic T20 cricket, with Hamish scoring 102) went by in a flash, but was so enjoyable because everything seemed to click.
“We had a bit of luck here and there, but generally everything we tried went to plan. It was something we didn’t see coming. In T20 you go out and play a certain way and, on the days it comes off, it’s great fun.
“At the time we had no idea of the records we had broken. It was only later we were told about them.”
Another great memory for Hamish will always be of his very first County Championship appearance for Gloucestershire more than eight years ago.
“My first century came on my Championship debut for the club against Worcestershire at Bristol,” he recalled.
“It was a huge relief because I had played in two one-day games and barely got a run. It was a good wicket, with Craig Spearman batting really well, and I was just pleased to reward the faith the club had shown in me.
“Sometimes it just takes one innings to relax you a bit and establish yourself in the side. From there my first season evolved well for me, even though I wasn’t used to playing that amount of cricket.
“It was one of my best summers and we managed to win the Pro40 Division Two.”
Look out for part two of Hamish’s Gloucestershire memories on this website soon. In it he will reflect on the major decision he took in 2007 to re-sign for Gloucestershire as a non-overseas player, through an Irish passport, rather than be contracted to New Zealand.
