He made his debut in first-class cricket at the age of 15 for Barbados in January 1946, and three years later he established himself in the Barbadian side as an attacking opening batsman.

Marshall joined Hampshire in 1953, and after completing his two-year residential qualification period, he established himself as Jimmy Gray's opening partner.

For Hampshire, he made 504 first-class appearances and scored 30,303 runs, a total for the county which is only surpassed by Phil Mead.

[2] Thus whilst still a schoolboy, Marshall made his debut in first-class cricket in January 1946, aged 15, for Barbados against Trinidad at Port-of-Spain.

[4] Strong performances in club cricket led to his recall to the Barbadian team in 1949, where he met with immediate success in two matches against Trinidad at Bridgetown.

[7] This earned him selection to the West Indian team for their tour of England in 1950, where he was chosen as a third opening batsman behind the Jamaican Allan Rae and the Trinidadian Jeff Stollmeyer;[2] at 20 years of age, he was the youngest member of the sixteen-man squad.

[8] On the journey across the Atlantic he contracted measles, and during the tour news reached him of the death of his father back in Barbados from a heart attack.

[8] Despite these hardships, Marshall played in twenty first-class matches, mostly against English county sides,[3] scoring 1,117 runs at an average of 39.89.

[9] He made three centuries during the tour, notably scoring 135 runs against Hampshire at Southampton, which bought him to the attention of their captain and secretary Desmond Eagar.

[15] With the emergence of John Holt, Conrad Hunte, and Bruce Pairaudeau, Marshall fell down the Test pecking-order.

[3] In the same season he played against the touring Australians, making 71 runs in 85 minutes on a pitch described as "fierce",[1] with Marshall striking five sixes during his innings.

[3] Marshall completed his qualification period ahead of the 1955 season, making him eligible to play in the 1955 County Championship.

[9] Though he continued to excel with the ball, taking 36 wickets at an average of 20.55,[20] which included career–best figures of 6 for 36 against Surrey at Portsmouth, on what was described as a "responsive strip".

[25] Marshall scored 1,888 runs at an average of 32.55,[9] with it being noted by Sandiford that he was hampered throughout the season by having a tendancy to give his wicket away when set.

This was perhaps best encapsulated against Kent in late May, when Hampshire had been set 305 runs for victory, with just four and a half hours left in the match.

[26] On the back of his performances in the 1958 season, he was named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1959, alongside his teammate Derek Shackleton.

[9] As the season progressed, Marshall formed with Gray what Sandiford considered to be the most reliable opening partnership in county cricket.

[30] In June, Marshall and Henry Horton scored quickly against Nottinghamshire to guide Hampshire to a final ball victory, having been set 179 runs in two hours.

[39] The 1963 season was characterised by its wet weather, which had an adverse effect on pitches, resulting in most of the Hampshire batsmen struggling.

[41] Marshall was a member of Hampshire's team for their inaugural appearance in List A one-day cricket against Derbyshire in the 1963 Gillette Cup.

[45][44] In October 1965, it was announced that Marshall would succeed the retiring Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie as Hampshire captain,[46] thus becoming the first professional to hold the post.

[48] In his inaugural season as captain, he led Hampshire to eleventh in the County Championship and to the semi-final of the Gillette Cup.

[48] Seemingly unburdened by the responsibility of captaincy, Marshall maintained good form with the bat, scoring 1,882 runs at an average of 36.19,[9] whilst recording his maiden one-day half century with 85 in the Gillette Cup quarter-final against Surrey.

[9] He scored his maiden one-day century, 102 runs in 95 minutes, against minor county Lincolnshire in the first round of the 1967 Gillette Cup.

[9] He did however record a second one-day century, making 140 runs against minor county Bedfordshire in the second round of the Gillette Cup.

[9] He made two centuries that season, the most notable of which was an unbeaten 189 against Middlesex, where he established a new Hampshire record for the fourth wicket with Livingstone, as the pair put on 263 runs.

[56] That season, he captained Hampshire to the quarter-final of the Gillette Cup, in addition to playing in fourteen matches in the 1970 John Player League.

[4][1][62] Though he was not powerfully built,[1] he was an attacking batsman, a trait he put down to being raised on hard concrete and matting pitches at his father's plantation.

[65] Wisden opined that he "drove handsomely", and would take advantage when a ball was pitched on, or just outside, off-stump, by cutting or slashing with "devastating power".

[4][1] The disease cost Marshall his right eye the same year,[1] and as his health declined he was admitted to a hospice in Taunton, where he succumbed on 27 October 1992.