Hero Hamish helps secure Sussex stalemate
23 September 2016
Long serving batsman Hamish Marshall made a valuable 77 in his final innings for the club to help Gloucestershire earn a draw against Sussex to finish the season at the Brightside Ground.
Starting the day 118 runs in arrears, Marshall was walking to the crease in the second over after the dismissal of Josh Shaw. Alongside Phil Mustard, who went on to make 90 not out, Marshall shared a century stand for the sixth wicket either side of lunch and the Durham loanee, partnered by Craig Miles, foiled Sussex in the final session until the players shook hands with Gloucestershire 337-7 in their second innings, 131 runs ahead.
Listen to the end of season thoughts of Hamish Marshall here :
Gloucestershire began the final day of the summer on the back foot, and within four overs Sussex appeared to have tightened their grip on proceedings through Danny Briggs. Firstly night watchman Josh Shaw was lbw for 5, and after reaching his half century off 112 balls with five boundaries, Chris Dent edged the left arm spinner to the gloves of Sussex captain Ben Brown.
The fielders provided a guard of honour as Hamish Marshall walked to the wicket for the final time in Gloucestershire colours, and with "the Colonel" Phil Mustard for company, the two most experienced batsmen in the team set about stabilising an innings in danger of lilting irretrievably..
The surprise at this point was Sussex's omission from their attack of the usually accurate Magoffin. In tandem with Briggs the Gloucestershire batsmen would have been challenged at both ends, but instead Archer, Jordan, Wells and Robinson were all used ahead of the Australian, who wasn't thrown the ball until 15 minutes before lunch.
Despite being a long way behind on the scoreboard, Marshall and Mustard's natural game during their long careers hasn't been based on watchful defence, and both were prepared to play strokes in order to claw back the deficit.
Marshall did see a ball from Jordan comes off the glove and drop short of the slips when he had made 17, but using his feet against Briggs he passed the first of two milestones by reaching 1,000 first class runs for the season.
With spin at both ends, Marshall struck the first six of the match towards the pavilion off leg spinner Wells, and reached a popular half century from 62 balls with five other boundaries. By lunch, and somewhat against the odds given how the day started, Gloucestershire were 17 runs in front, the circumspect Mustard having given Marshall ideal support in a stand of 124 in 22 overs where both men had batted without excessive risk.
It was therefore a shame that so much progress was halted in the second over after the resumption. Marshall, clearly relaxed and confident, collected two nonchalant boundaries off Briggs before steering the spinner to Nash at mid wicket for 77. He had gone through the 1,000 run barrier in the Championship in 2016 but his frustration in not seeing the afternoon through was clear as he raised his bat to the crowd for the last time.
The lead at this stage was only 28 with four wickets in hand, and with the second new ball just around the corner, Sussex would still have had hopes of victory but they were unable to force the issue against the seventh wicket pairing of Mustard and Jack Taylor.
The Durham loanee scored only four singles in 50 minutes after lunch, but brought up a valuable fifty from 143 balls with four boundaries. The pivotal point was probably when Archer badly misjudged a catch to remove Taylor which would have given Briggs his sixth wicket. He went on to make 33 out of a stand of 43 with Mustard, and by tea Gloucestershire's lead was 81 against a tiring attack.
Sussex's only hope of victory was a final burst from Chris Jordan but Mustard and Craig Miles, in gloriously sunny conditions, quietly saw out the day to secure the draw. Mustard could have chased a personal century but played responsibly to finish 90 not out and close out a match which had been hard fought from day one.
