Famous Cricketers No 90 - Roy Edwin Marshall

Introduction It is unfortunate that politics and policies should have conspired to banish two of the greatest post-war cricketers from the Test arena. Both were attractive right-handed batsmen; both opened the innings with rare audacity; both scored quickly and heavily in county cricket; and both represented Hampshire with much distinction. But they played a grand total of eight Test matches between them. One was Barry Anderson Richards from South Africa and the other was Roy Edwin Marshall from Barbados. The latter was my boyhood idol. He was only 17 when he played for the Wanderers Cricket Club in the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) first division competition. The Wanderers headquarters then existed on the Bay Estate in St. Michael. My family lived in the village of the Bay Land less than 400 metres away from what was then called the ‘Bay Pasture’. I had ample opportunities to watch my hero perform. Even as a tiny youngster, I was impressed by the forthright manner in which Roy Marshall attacked the faster bowlers. Although slim and bespectacled, he was absolutely fearless. His strokes were distinguished as much by their power as their beauty. I regarded him then as at least the equal of the rising Ws and certainly superior to all of the opening batsmen in the Caribbean, with the possible exception of the elegant Jeffrey Stollmeyer. I naturally rejoiced at his triumphs against Trinidad in 1949 and British Guiana in 1950. I was left depressed thereafter by the failure of the selectors to offer him more than four Test chances. Imagine my delight therefore when Kit Bartlett suggested that perhaps a book on Roy Marshall might be of some interest to ACS members as he had enjoyed such a wonderful career as a county cricketer for Hampshire. This monograph is thus a labour of love. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate how consistent was Marshall at the county cricket level and to illustrate how invaluable was his contribution to Hampshire’s cause. A county which had done so little for so long immediately became a respectable competitor when Marshall joined the staff on a full-time basis in 1955. It remained a force to be reckoned with so long as he was there. He was one of the finest and most feared opening batsmen in England for almost two decades. Every opponent knew that he was capable of winning a match virtually single-handed on the strength of his phenomenal scoring rate. Such was Marshall’s reputation, in fact, that several opposing captains thought twice before offering Hampshire a tempting target to chase for victory. In 1955 his impact was obvious and immediate. He exceeded 2,000 runs and lifted the county all the way from fourteenth to third place in the championship, its best result up to that time. In 1958, thanks once more to Marshall’s productivity which earned him a place among Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year, Hampshire did even better: they finished second. Three years later, when Marshall again scored more than 2,000 runs, Hampshire finally won the county championship for the first time in their history. It was not only in Barbados that Marshall’s adventurous batting inspired an unusual degree of hero-worship. He had his followers in England too. His daring stroke-play made him one of the most popular of all county cricketers during the 1950s and 1960s. Thousands of cricket fans admired his positive attitude, style and method. They are therefore likely to be delighted by the appearance of this monograph. Roy Marshall’s excellent statistics deserve a careful and sympathetic scrutiny. 3