CITY LIVING
Geelong City bowler Adam Marsland made his first XI debut in 2003-04. Almost 15 years on he remains the club’s focal point — on and off the field — as the Sharks build towards another flag push.
WES CUSWORTH: Thanks for your time Adam, what are your memories of making your debut against South Barwon as a 16-year-old in round four of 2003-04?
ADAM MARSLAND: At the time I thought playing first X1 cricket was miles away, but sure enough the call came when Travis Agg had a wedding to go to, and I snuck in.
WC: The next summer was your breakout year, a full season in firsts culminating in reaching the grand final, but ultimately going down to East Belmont.
AM: I was still playing juniors then, so we had some pretty big days between the morning and the afternoon. But it was absolutely awesome standing on the shoulders of giants like Travis Agg, he was like a god to me. Just watching him go about his business, he’s the best City cricketer by an absolute stretch for me. We also had Kent Agg, Alex Crellin, Shane Skene, Damian Port and Adam Pitts in that team. As a side we had every base covered.
WC: Who were the biggest influences on your development?
AM: Definitely Travis (Agg), Kent (Agg) and Crell (Alex Crellin). Every time I step out I’m representing those blokes and I want to repay the faith that they had in me.
WC: City has had its ups and downs in your time there, but a brief spell in the second division brought some premiership success with it in a grand final win over St Albans-Breakwater.
AM: It was definitely disappointing to get dropped from Div. 1, but I think the club understood where it was at. We had to tweak a few things, but we went down and played some really good cricket. To have Beauy (Graeme Beaumont) come on board when we were in Div. 2 was massive for us, he was huge. He and Adam Pitts turned things around in terms of what was needed in the field.
WC: Do you feel proud to be such a stalwart at City?
AM: Absolutely. I played one season of under-13s at St Albans, but to have been at City since then, it’s a special place. It really hits home when you’ve bowled a big spell and you’ve had a close win, you sit back and think “I couldn’t have done that at any other place”.
WC: You must have mixed emotions about your highest score with the bat, last summer’s 84 against East Belmont where you fell just two runs short of running down 203.
AM: That’s where I want City to be dangerous, we’ve got to play every game out all the way. That’s all we were doing that day, playing it out and being hard to compete with, and we almost pinched it. Yes, it was nice to get a couple of runs, but three more would’ve been handy.
WC: You’ve obviously enjoyed being a part of the Richie Oliver era at City.
AM: It’s a feather in a club’s cap to have someone of Richie’s ilk want to come and play for the club. It’s just great to watch him, particularly as a bowler, to put your feet up and watch the way he goes about it. It’s actually good for training too as I love bowling at him in the nets. Being a lefthander, a lot of good batsmen in the GCA are left-handers, like Leigh Kentish, Glen Talarico and Gareth Yelland; it gives us a nice little practice run for when we run into those guys.
WC: With all of the talk about the Richie Oliver dependence, did you go some way towards breaking that with the win over South Barwon where you had so many contributors, including the likes of Tom Driver and Byron Taylor stepping up?
AM: Absolutely. That was a good win prior to Christmas. Richie’s certainly going to catch everybody’s attention, but we are working through a period of transition where, with Bluey (Kent Agg) not playing this year, some others are going to have to step up. It’s all about us learning the craft, playing our roles and hopefully picking up some points against Newtown. That’s as far ahead as we’re looking at the moment.
WC: Thanks for your time Adam, all the best for tomorrow’s match against the Two Blues.
Making his GCA1 first X1 debut in 2003-04, Geelong City opening bowler Adam Marsland has developed as one of the most determined and consistent performers on the field during the past 15 years, all while remaining one of the most congenial off it. As GCA action resumes tomorrow, with his side fourth on the ladder, he spoke to GCA1 reporter WES CUSWORTH about his career