From the Pitch to Portfolios – A New Innings in Finance

By - Aiden McLaughlin- Republished from Outright 59 (winter 2025)

L to R - Will Somerville, George Worker, Mark Richardson

At first thought, becoming a financial advisor might not be the most obvious career transition for a cricketer, but when you look beneath the surface, there are plenty of common skills.

Three former players are all now plying their trade in this field, but all three have had very different journeys to get there.

Will Somerville’s path was almost interrupted by his cricket career. He’s now a Wealth Management Advisor at Jarden, having previously been a chartered accountant.

Born in Wellington, Somerville has spent half his life in Australia, including attending high school there. When he couldn’t enroll for Commerce at the University of New South Wales due to his marks not being good enough, he instead studied science for 18 months before making use of his Kiwi passport to go back to his first choice and study it in Dunedin. From there, the off-spinner played for Otago, starting in 2004–05. But after four years in the deep south, Somerville moved to Sydney in September 2009, where he would spend the next nine years, first studying to become, and then working as, a chartered accountant until early 2015 when cricket became his priority.

Somerville represented New South Wales, but after 12 games in four seasons, he found himself behind Nathan Lyon in the domestic pecking order and it was time to move back to New Zealand, joining Auckland in 2018.

Then, at the end of that year, came the finest moment in his career, as he was called up by the Blackcaps for their Test series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.

“My Test debut, getting the hat, that was a boyhood dream and I’ll never forget that for sure. I’ll hold on to that for the rest of my life,” Somerville says.

He would go on to play a total of six Tests, which included a return to Sydney to face a number of former New South Wales teammates against Australia in January 2020. But the previous winter, Somerville had an encounter which would help forge his future outside of the game.

“I was always interested in investments and did my own investing. It’s something I’m quite passionate about and interested in and I was trying to do something that I was keen to do after cricket and so I managed to do some study and I met up with the Jarden team in the winter of 2019. I’d spoken at the Queen Street Cricket Club, which is the charity that I’m now treasurer of, and then Jarden invited me to shadow them in the office over winter to see what they’d done and see if I had an interest in working there when I wasn’t playing cricket,” Somerville says.

Somerville worked at Jarden for a couple of off-seasons, undertaking the necessary study to become a qualified advisor. Then, in 2023, he retired from the game, moving to Jarden on a full-time basis.

“It’s been really great. I was excited about finishing cricket and going into something I was really excited about doing and that was the beauty of it. You never stop learning in this job, every day is different. It’s a really cool environment to be in,” Somerville says.“You can’t get to the top of sport without being quite disciplined and being driven and setting goals and making steps every day towards achieving that, and that’s very similar to this discipline.”

Somerville wasn’t alone during some of his most recent studies, having a valued Auckland teammate alongside him, working together to pass their papers.

George Worker had 17 seasons of professional cricket and is now an investment advisor at Forsyth Barr. He started playing first-class cricket when he was 18, signing a contract straight out of school and, understandably, university studies went on the backburner. After four seasons at Central Districts, Worker moved down to Canterbury to continue his cricket career and that’s when he discovered shares and took a passion for them. Worker completed a Business Management degree and continued with his cricket. But fast forward to COVID, and Worker used the extra time on his hands to listen to podcasts and watch YouTube and found a passion for macroeconomics.

“In the last five years of my cricket career I was always thinking in the back of my head, this is not going to last forever. I also wanted to do something outside of cricket completely. I didn’t want to go into coaching, I wanted to step outside and go into a completely new environment and challenge myself that way. I really enjoy helping people and I think that crosses over to the financial services role where you’re talking with new people all the time and you’re dealing with new or existing clients and forming that relationship with them, which I find really great,” Worker says.

A couple of years later, Worker had a coffee catch-up with someone he knew that worked at Forsyth Barr and from there, he ended up with a job interview.

Worker joined the firm as an advisor assistant for two winters while he was still playing for Auckland, but when the third winter came along, he was offered a full-time role as an associate advisor. He weighed things up and decided it was the right time to finish cricket.

“When I was in my twenties, there was that nervousness about what I was going to do after cricket and was I going to enjoy it as much as my cricket career because then you’re in the thick of it. So when I did get offered this role, it just took away all that pressure and it was a no-brainer for me. To leave on my own terms and go into an industry that I’m really passionate about and to work for a great company like Forsyth Barr, I’ve been bloody lucky,” Worker says.

Worker was always able to call upon the NZCPA’s Personal Development Managers for guidance in need, including former PDM Sanjeewa Silva, and more recently, Paul Hobbs.

“A lot of people don’t know what they want to do, but also they don’t know what’s out there and that’s where the players association has been great, having those chats with Sanj and Paul.”

Worker is still involved in the game, having joined the board of directors for Auckland Cricket earlier in 2025, which not only gives him the opportunity to give back, but also allows him to learn more about the governance side of the sport.

“For me it’s a great learning opportunity to be on a board and still have a foot in cricket.”Alongside Worker at Forsyth Barr is another investment advisor who has recently transitioned to the industry, but it’s not the only thing he’s done post-cricket.

After retiring from cricket, Mark Richardson had a successful career in radio and television broadcasting for many years and is still a key member of TVNZ’s cricket coverage. But he recognised that industry was changing and had a chat with Paul Hobbs, who had also worked in the media.

“Paul was fantastic to talk to because he understood. It’s an industry where you do get moved on quite a lot and it’s tough and he understood. He was good to talk to and have a few coffees with and that helped out greatly,” Richardson says.

After their discussions, Richardson, who had originally studied for three years at the University of Waikato for his Bachelor of Management Studies before finishing his degree down in Otago, headed off to a Human Resources company to work out what occupations might be suitable. A contact at Forsyth Barr felt that Richardson would fit in well there given that he had the skill set and basic knowledge to build from, so he asked him if he’d like to pursue a career there.

“I’ve been sacked from so many broadcast jobs, but there was always another there, but as those jobs dried up, it became apparent that I needed to get out. I think I’ve always had a sense of timing. I finished cricket when my stocks were high and with broadcasting I decided to make that move while I was still seen as a good broadcaster,” Richardson says.

Despite almost two decades in broadcasting, Richardson says his new role is more in tune with his cricket career.

“Investment advice is more closely related to playing sport than it is broadcasting. You need a solid base, you need to understand the basics before you can branch out. You need to understand risk and reward. You chew on your losses and it’s an emotional rollercoaster and it’s not even your money. But if you get an eight-and-a-half percent return and you’re beating the market, you feel on top of the world. It’s about helping others. I love what I do now. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.”

Somerville and Worker are also quick to articulate the characteristics that their sporting careers have in common with their new ventures.

“You can’t get to the top of sport without being quite disciplined and being driven and setting goals and making steps every day towards achieving that, and that’s very similar to this discipline,” Somerville says.

The last word goes to Worker.

“It’s high pressure, you’re dealing with people’s wealth, and that’s always a pretty sticky subject. Playing cricket at the highest level, you learn to deal with those pressures as well, so I think there’s a similarity in that regard. I look back at cricket and I had a great time and it gave me so many opportunities.”