He is credited as being the inventor of the Marillier shot, in which the batsman extends the bat as a ramp in front of him and flicks the ball over his shoulder to fine leg.
Their younger brother, Stephan James Marillier, played for Southern Rocks in Zimbabwean franchise cricket.
Marillier attended Eaglesvale High School in Harare and quickly became a key figure for the cricket team there.
[9] When he returned Marillier hit a hundred for the Academy against the New Zealanders in a one-day warm-up game, and this led to his selection for the full national side for the ODI series.
Despite his domestic success, he failed to keep his place against Bangladesh, and decided to take up a club appointment in England rather than stay at home and hope for selection against India and West Indies.
He might have had a match or two, in fact, as Zimbabwe suffered from injuries, and had he been available he might have played in the final Test against the West Indies instead of Hamilton Masakadza, who hit a century on debut.
In 2009, he turned out for 'Red Lions' in the Zimbabwean Winter Premier Cricket League and it was believed that he was a player to return through franchise system.
[12] Marillier made his ODI debut in place of Craig Wishart in the second match of the series against New Zealand in Bulawayo on 30 September 2000 where he opened the batting.
[15] His lack of consistency meant that he did not play in the triangular tournament in Australia, which also included West Indies, until the final match.
He moved across to the first and third balls he received from McGrath which were low full tosses and flicked them over his shoulder to fine leg for boundaries, reviving hopes of an incredible Zimbabwe victory.
He most importantly broke the solid opening partnership between Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight of 95 in match Zimbabwe went onto lose by 70 runs.
In 2002 he "Marilliered" Zimbabwe to a famous win in India by one wicket in an ODI with a 56* at the death, although this time he used the shot against Anil Kumble.
[25] He arrived to the crease at no 10 position with Zimbabwe was reeling at 233/8 with still needing to chase 42 runs to win off 5.2 overs and with only two wickets left.
[26] Marillier also set the record for becoming the first ever batsman to score half century when batting at number 10 position, when he did it in 2002 against India.
After the World Cup however he had an excellent tournament in Sharjah, taking wickets as well as scoring 100 against Kenya, his first international hundred, as an opener.
He soon returned to Zimbabwe in 2010 and signed with Mashonaland Eagles However, he was surprisingly included in a 30 man provisional squad along with Andy Blignaut for the tour of West Indies to play a 5 match ODI series in 2010.