Kaipara Flats' twins, James and Hamish Marshall will be reunited once again at the top of the Northern Districts batting order, with Hamish named as the Knights overseas player for the 2008/9 season.
The pair were hard to separate in terms of their cricketing achievements for club, province, district and even
for country until Hamish used his Irish passport to pursue a county career with Gloucestershire and in doing so waived his right to play for New Zealand sides.
ND will get around those restrictions by naming Marshall, as their overseas player, paving the way for the brothers to play together again.
"It will be good to get back and play with the lads once again and obviously James too ...
"I will be interested to see if, as captain, he lets me bowl and bat before him now," Marshall said from England yesterday.
Marshall will return to New Zealand to play State Shield, State Twenty20 and three rounds of State Championship cricket in March. He will join the side sometime ahead of ND's first List A (50 over) match at Cobham Oval, against the Wellington Firebirds on December 21.
ND coach Andy Moles said Marshall would almost certainly be playing for New Zealand if he had stayed in the country
"He's a high quality player and a match winner, he's got all the experience after playing county cricket and in India, and that will be good for our young guys. Obviously, in the field he's dynamite, so we're extremely fortunate that he's decided to come and play for us," Moles said.
The association had put out feelers overseas and hooked a very local catch.
"We needed somebody who would strengthen our squad and, after making a few inquiries, Hamish was available and the arrangement suited everyone," Moles added.
The arrangement will bring Marshall back to Northland for a second time in the season, for the four-day State Championship match between the Knights and Auckland at Cobham Oval starting on March 6.
Marshall will be needed as cover when England A tour here next year.
"It's ideal for what we want and I'm sure it'll be good for him so he can be in good nick when it's time to go back to county cricket."
Marshall will return to his Bristol base after the seventh round of four-day matches next year.
