CRICKET: Northland hopes to lure favourite son back as import player

Cricket with the Black Caps might be off the menu but Hamish Marshall may yet pad up for Northland and could even be seen gracing the pitch for Kaipara Districts at club level if negotiations between Northern Districts and Gloucester produce results.
Marshall turned down a New Zealand contract to head over to England to pick up a lucrative extended contract with Gloucester, a move which effectively ended his long-standing association with Northern Districts.
Now ND chief executive David Cooper is hoping to start negotiations with Marshall in the hope the talented middle order batsman will be back in the ND fold this summer. If successful he may even end up playing for Northland as an overseas import.
"Now we have got the contracting under way we will investigate initiating discussions with Hamish. We would love to have him involved but if he does come back it would be a unique circumstance as we would end up with a guy who has played all his cricket and emerged through all the ND development programmes turning out for us as an import," Cooper said.
"But to be honest we haven't got any idea what Hamish wants. I have not personally made contact with him about this but will endeavour to start some sort of conversation with him about this in the next week," he said.
"We have just got to start a conversation with him, because we don't know the details of his contract and even if he would be able to play a season of domestic cricket in New Zealand - a part of a season even - or if Hamish even wants to consider playing here this summer. He might must want a holiday."
Marshall has played 13 tests and scored 652 runs at 38.4, scoring 160 against Sri Lanka at Napier two years ago. He was well suited to the one-day game, playing 66 internationals where he compiled 1454 runs at 27.4.
A technically sound batsman and agile fielder, Marshall was a late call-up to this year's World Cup, replacing an injured Lou Vincent midway through the tournament.
In the meantime Cooper released a list of players that will be offered ND contracts this week, a list that sees James Marshall and Joseph Yovich returning but significantly includes two more promising Northlanders, seam bowler Tim Southee and opening batsman Brad Wilson.
Southee was an obvious choice, his efforts in helping ND win the State Shield four-day title in February along with a long list of achievements with the NZ under-19 side that saw him selected for the NZ A team pushing him up the pecking order.
Wilson was not offered a contract last season but, Cooper explained, is now regarded as a player ND want to foster as an opening batsman for the association.
"Tim (Southee) is an exciting talent. Unfortunately for us his duties with the NZ Under-19 team at the world championships this year will limit his input this season but we recognise that he is a player with a huge amount of talent.
"We have no expectations going into this year because people will be well aware of his abilities and possibly his weaknesses now. It might be a tough year for him,' Cooper said.
Wilson, he said, had underlined his big-game temperament with his efforts in the State Shield final against Canterbury and was being viewed as a player who could become part of the ND furniture. But Cooper warned there are plenty of candidates lining up for his spot.
"Brad is seen by (ND coach) Andy Moles as an integral part of our four-day team as a specialist opener. But it is fair to say that we had a number of people we considered for his position."
Cooper expected all players offered an ND contract to sign before the August 15 deadline.