Cricket: Former Black Cap Hamish Marshall turns out with son in Whanganui club competition

Former Black Cap Hamish Marshall played alongside son Ollie for Marton Saracens in the Cricket Whanganui Premier 1 competition on Saturday. Photo / Jared Smith

A history-making former Black Cap turned out for Marton Saracens alongside his son on Saturday.

It was the penultimate round of the Jurgens Demolition Premier 1 competition at Tasman Tanning (Victoria) Park.

On the No 1 pitch, Property Brokers United hosted McVerry Crawford Motors Marton Saracens who, due to needing extra players, brought in some Whanganui Collegiate students, including promising Year 9 spin bowler-batsman Ollie Marshall.

Standing alongside Ollie for Saracens was his father, 2000-2007 international cricketer Hamish Marshall – Black Cap No 213 in test cricket and No 132 in one-day internationals.

Marshall, 46, holds a significant place in New Zealand cricket history as one half of the only male identical twins to have represented the nation in test and one-day cricket with his brother James Marshall (test Black Cap No 230, ODI No 140). Hamish Marshall played 13 tests and 66 ODIs.

On Saturday, Marshall senior, who is based in Wellington, jumped on with Saracens to assist his son as they had a real chance of upsetting the perennial powerhouses United – four bowlers getting two-fors as the town club was dismissed for 204 in 52 overs.

United’s leading lights were veterans Tom Lance (48), Brendon Walker (47) and Robbie Power (32).

In reply, the game came down to a knife-edge as Saracens reached 190-8 from their 55 overs – only two wickets from defeat and only 15 runs from victory.

Lance (4-28) had done what he could for United with his spin, including snaring the prized wicket of Hamish Marshall off a great low catch by Logan Symes, while Daniel Hussey took 3-22.

The Keenans, Josh (35) and Collegiate student Joey (45 not out), were top scorers for Saracens, as the game finished a draw.

That result guaranteed the title with one round remaining for the unbeaten Wanganui Vet Services Marist – unsuccessful finalists in last season’s inter-district Coastal Challenge – who played out a draw against Awa City Combined High Schools on Victoria Park No 2.

Awa City – a club entity made up of players from all the local secondary schools – reached a challenging 292-6 from 55 overs, led by a superb 145 from 124 balls by Oliver Blyth and supported by 50 from opener Nick Burroughs.

With only 45 overs available, Marist made a game run chase at 281-6, their top scorer being Hadleigh O’Leary with 95, supported by his brothers Timothy (51) and Connor (29 not out), along with opener Nick Harding (49).

Marist now have a 4-0-1 record while the four other teams have 1-1-2 records going into the final round robin of games this Saturday. Marist and United meet in their Victoria Park derby, while Saracens take on Awa City.

The Jurgens Demolition Premier 2 and 3 Twenty20 tournaments have also been under way, with Awa City having teams in both grades.

There were more family connections in the Awa City versus Property Brokers United P3 game. Awa’s Blanche Cloete captained the side which included her son Nicolas, while Hadleigh Slade-Jones played with his twins Hadleigh and Isabel Slade-Jones.

There were four female players in the team – Cloete, Slade-Jones, Addison Whiteman and Leone Joubert.