The Pink Report

Gone Fishing

A couple of weeks ago Jacob Oram emailed me from India, just after the BLACKCAPS had played their World Cup warm-up against Ireland. “Probably the best 'minnow' I have played against,” Jake wrote. “It would not surprise me if they knocked over a bigger team in their group.”

Sure enough, England are dusting themselves off right now after being floored by Kevin O’Brien’s knockout hundred in Bangalore. Batting at six, the Dublin-based cricketer enabled Ireland to chase down a target of 328, scored the fastest World Cup century in the process (50 balls) and today is the talk of the cricketing world.

So, so close to having been in that Irish side at the World Cup is our own Hamish Marshall. Last year the Ireland cricket board applied to the ICC for special dispensations for Hamish and also Ed Joyce, who’d previously represented his native Ireland at ICC Trophy level before making it as a County and England ODI and Ashes squad player.

Both had played in the 2007 World Cup - Hamish for the BLACKCAPS obviously. Hamish hasn’t played international cricket since. Shortly after the 2007 World Cup he ended his BLACKCAPS career (which had seen him called in and out of the team to play 13 tests and 66 ODIs) by turning down a New Zealand Cricket central contract. With a paternal grandfather who had been born in Ireland, Hamish qualified for an Irish passport, and could therefore play lucrative County cricket in Britain as a local player so long as he did not continue to represent New Zealand.

“Locals” are a more attractive long-term investment to counties than overseas pros and Hamish was at an age where he needed to think about what was best for his long-term security. He felt the County road was his most sensible option and while subsequently ensconced at Gloucestershire he got to know Ireland captain William Porterfield, who was also on the County’s roster.

That was how the possibility of Hamish representing Ireland seeded itself - Ireland being a rightly ambitious associate member of the ICC, stocked with many current and former County players who see no reason why Ireland could not one day join in with the test-playing big boys. But the ICC requires a compulsory four-year stand-down period if a player wishes to represent a different country and the scheduling of the current World Cup left Marshall a frustrating 25 days short of being in the clear. Late last year, the ICC decided they would grant the special dispensation to Ed Joyce, who’d grown up in Irish cricket - but not to Marshall.

So while the Ireland World Cup team were hopefully locating a few pints of Guinness in India to celebrate their amazing victory over their Ashes-winning arch-foes, Hamish was all at sea - literally, I mean, aboard Brad Wilson’s boat; gone fishing with brother James and keen fisherman and diver Brad as the Yahoo!Xtra Northern Knights found themselves with some unexpected downtime this week.

If you haven’t caught up the news, all of the Plunket Shield matches that were due to start today (Thursday) have been moved to Monday, with the remaining schedule also rejigged to allow the quake-affected Canterbury Wizards to regroup and continue to play a viable part in the competition. It will mean shorter breaks for the players between each game, so the players are making the most of having these few days off before reassembling on Sunday.

And so in order to bring you this merry blog I found myself tracking down Hamish not at the Cobham Oval nets but somewhere off the coast of north Auckland, where they were getting ready to chase those big snapper. I wanted to know what it had been like to switch from the frigidity of an England winter into Northland’s hottest February on record, how he’d managed to hit the ground running with a key contribution at the crease in the defeat of the Aces last week and, frankly, whether he was pissed off with the ICC’s decision.

But Hamish’s language, as usual, was far more genteel than mine. “At no stage did I think it would happen,” Hamish says. “I hoped it would happen, but never really expected the call to go my way, so I didn’t get my hopes up.”

Sure, it was still disappointing when it hit home that, but for the quirks of scheduling on the subcontinent, he might have got to play a second World Cup this year. “But it was something that both myself and Ireland quickly accepted - it was the ICC’s decision, they make the rules and there’s no use rocking the boat when it’s just two months to go before I qualify. So we left it at that. You just have to crack on, and I did have plans to come and play for ND so it wasn’t the end of the world for me. I could look forward to coming back to New Zealand and playing for a team that I always enjoy playing for, with some good old mates.”

Hamish arrived home in Northland a few weeks ago, catching the Knights’ tied one-day match with the Otago Volts as a spectator - albeit one with jetlag. He was back to get married, which is why both the Marshall twins skipped the Plunket Shield resumption at Cobham Oval before coming back for the Auckland match the following week - Hamish’s first match back with the Yahoo!Xtra Northern Knights this season.

So the bouquet had barely wilted and Hamish’s bride is already a cricket widow, is that what he’s telling me?

“Well luckily that first game that I was able to play was in Auckland, so around that Mags and I went to Waiheke for three nights, hired ourselves a nice little bach over there, toured around and did the vineyards, did some kayaking and just enjoyed a few days’ break after quite a hectic time around the wedding,” Hamish reports.

“It’s been fantastic being back in New Zealand. I’ve enjoyed a bit of summer, having been in the cold of England for a while - and I always had that little cherry on top, after the wedding, of joining ND and playing some cricket, having not played since the end of the county season.”

(I’m reading that as a ‘yes’, by the way. Though I’m sure Mags is well used to it by now.)

So the nice flat Patumahoe track at Colin Maiden Park, where he scored 57 in his first innings back for the Knights (batting in tandem with James, just like old times, which I can assure you absolutely makes the poor scorers’ day) must have seemed like a belated wedding present.

“It did help. It makes it easier to get started - certainly a green seamer would test your skills a bit more! But I think the main thing I had working for me was purely the excitement factor of playing cricket again, having not played since the end of the English County season.

“There is a ‘nervous’ factor that you’ve got to deal with in that situation, just because you haven’t played in a while; but if you feel keen and confident, the skills are there and you’ve done some work, there should be no reason why you can’t perform - I kept telling myself that. I’ve played enough cricket now to know in myself that it doesn’t really matter how much cricket you’ve played as long as you’ve got yourself into the right frame of mind. The Auckland game proved to me that as long as you trust your skills and have done a bit of work, you can go out and contribute, no matter what.”

Cobham Oval is normally another one of those wicket blocks that batsmen regard with almost as much pleasure as finding a $100 dollar note down the back of the couch when the rent’s overdue. But the rejigging of the Plunket Shield calendar, together with a spate of wishy-washy weather sweeping over the North, is a groundsman’s nightmare. Groundsmen put in 10 days of careful prep work to bring a cricket surface to the boil and it’s not as simple as just letting it sit an extra four days until everyone’s ready to rock and roll. It’s wet and grey in Whangarei as I write, the covers are on and that means it’s difficult for the grounds staff to get on it to manage the amount of grass, the humidity in the soil and any other problems that crop up like fungi deciding to have a party in the nice warm dampness.

Even if it were a fine, sunny forecast for the next few days, they’d have their work cut out trying to stop the pitch from drying out too much and cracking up on day one. So Hamish and the team are understandably a wee bit anxious to see how the pitch shapes up on Monday, and it may not be a typical Cobham Oval affair. “In the end the wicket will be what it is, and we will have to get on and make the best of it, no matter what,” says Hamish.

But anyway, back to this business of going off and playing on the other side of the world, cutting his own path and hanging up his black cap. Does he have any twinges of regret, ever?

“Not really. It was a decision that I didn’t take lightly when I made it - and I had to take a lot into consideration. I’ve landed on my feet in that County cricket is a lot of fun and Bristol (his latest team) is a great club. I certainly miss aspects of playing for New Zealand: the excitement of playing in front of international crowds, playing for your country against very high quality opposition. That’s what I miss, but I don’t regret making the decision. It’s given me ample opportunities to keep playing the game I love and being able to come back and play for ND as an overseas player means I don’t miss out on playing back home, which I cherish. In fact, probably, in some ways it’s worked out to be a better decision than I thought it may have done at the time. I’m pretty happy with how life has turned out.”

Although the World Cup has evaporated for him, Hamish still has the chance to make the Ireland team - their first game that he will be eligible for as a carded Irishman will be in August. “There’s a bit of water to go under the bridge until then, but there’s a chance I can play and it would be great see if my skills still stand up against some of the top players in the world.”

Meantime, spare a thought for his dear parents. Not only did Hamish decide to tie the knot this year, but James and also their elder brother are tying the knot as well. Three weddings in one year - crikey. “Yeah, it’s a pretty busy time for the family. But once it’s over and done with, Mum and Dad can put their feet up and relax - they’ll know the three lads are married off and they don’t have to worry about us anymore!”

And then, a little further down the track, when the Plunket Shield is done and dusted, Hamish will find himself at his home away from home in England once more, carrying on with his chosen path. Does he miss not being involved with the Knights though their whole season?

“Absolutely. James and Mum and Dad obviously keep me in the loop while I’m away, but quite often in the mornings in England, when I know ND are playing, one of the first things I do after I wake up is jump on the website and have a little look to see what happened overnight.”

We like that.