Marshall hoping for winning end to Festival career
19 July 2016
Hamish Marshall is hoping to sign off his Brewin Dolphin Cheltenham Cricket Festival career in style with victories over Leicestershire and Sussex this week.
The crucial matches will be the 37-year-old’s final appearances at the College Ground before leaving Gloucestershire and returning to his native New Zealand at the end of the season.
He said: “The Festival always comes at a crucial time of the year and we know if we can follow up the win over Essex with a victory over Leicestershire we will be right in there to compete for promotion.
“In the Royal London One-Day Cup we know we need to win so Sussex is another massive game. We beat Hampshire in our last match and we know what we are capable of in that competition, we just need to produce it more consistently.”
This week will bring to a close a special chapter in Marshall’s 11 year career with Gloucestershire.
The right hander made a spectacular start to his Cheltenham career making 127 and 53 against Glamorgan in his first game there in 2006. He followed it up with 168 v Leicestershire and an unbeaten 62 to lead Glos to victory against Yorkshire in a Pro-40 game.
Despite enjoying some fine individual moments, Hamish says it is the team performances that mean the most – especially as it took some time for him to taste regular victories at the College Ground.
He said: “I have some great memories from playing here over the years. On a personal level my first Festival in 2006 went pretty well.
“But as a team when I first came here we found it quite tough and I don’t think we won a four-day game for four or five years. I think the first one I remember winning was against Worcestershire.
“In the last few years we’ve won quite a few here. It is always a special feeling to win a four-day match here.”
Hamish’s best Festival memory came in 2010 when Gloucestershire chased down 300 to beat Middlesex in a CB 40 match.
From 100-4 Glos recovered to win off the penultimate ball thanks to 85 from Chris Taylor, 95 from Steve Snell and an unlikely unbeaten partnership of 24 from 17 balls from John Lewis (22 from 8) and current head coach Richard Dawson (17 from 9) that saw their side home.
Despite experiencing his fair share of ups and downs at the Festival Hamish says he has enjoyed every minute.
He said: “I always love coming to Cheltenham. I can’t really explain the feeling but it is a special place to play cricket.
“It is a fantastic setting – especially when the sun’s out – and you usually get good crowds so there is a great atmosphere. I think for our supporters in the north of the county this is their big chance to get to a game and they make the most of it.
“It’s also nice to stay up here in the town and be able to go for a beer and talk to some of the people that have spent the day at the cricket.”
And Hamish is feeling confident that his team mates will help him finish his Festival career on a high following last week’s impressive victories over Essex in both the Specsavers County Championship and NatWest T20 Blast.
He said: “We are playing some really good cricket at the moment both as a team and individually. We keep finding different ways to build the game up to the point that we can win it.
“The second innings bowling against Essex was outstanding. We had a proper four pronged attack which kept Essex under pressure. Over the last 10 -11 years we have had that done to us a lot and it is nice to be able to do that to other teams now.
“It would be nice to finish with a couple of victories but whatever happens I will just try to enjoy it.”
Although Hamish will walk off the College Ground for the last time as a player against Sussex on Sunday he insists it won’t be his last visit to the world’s longest-running cricket festival.
He said: “My wife and I have been coming up here for the last 11 years straight so it will be sad to leave the Festival behind.
“On the other hand I keep telling people that it won’t be long before I am back here sitting on the other side of the boundary with a beer in my hand watching the boys.”
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