Name:

Marshall, Malcolm D

Nickname:

Maco

Date of Birth:

18-04-1958

Place of Birth:

Bridgetown, Barbados

Career:

Test: 1978 - 1991
ODI: 1980 - 1992
First Class: 1977 - 1996

Teams:

West Indies (Country)
Barbados (Regional)
Hampshire (Regional)

Malcolm Marshall: Influenced a generation of fast bowlers

The complete fast bowler and leader of Windies quartet

Born : 18 April 1958 at Bridgetown, St Michael, Barbados
Died : 4 November 1999 at Bridgetown, St Michael, Barbados

Malcolm Marshall was one of the finest exponents of fast bowling the game has seen. A shortish man with a whippy action he had great command of pace, bounce, swing and seam. He was very quick to spot and exploit a batsman's weakness.

He generated fearsome pace from his bowling action, with a dangerous bouncer. Marshall was also a very dangerous lower-order batsman with ten Test fifties and seven first-class centuries.

Marshall made his Test début in the Second Test against India at Bangalore on 15 December 1978. He caught the eye of Hampshire for the following county season.

In 1984 in England he took 35 wickets at an average of 12.65 in the Test series, including a spell of 7-53 at Leeds when he bowled with his left-arm in plaster having broken his thumb in the first innings.

His Test bowling average of 20.94 is one of the lowest on record. He played county cricket for many years for Hampshire and in 1982 he took 134 wickets in the first-class season at an average of 15.73. A capable lower-order batsman, he scored seven first-class centuries. He coached West Indies and Hampshire in retirement, but died tragically young of colon cancer.

Malcolm Marshall slithered to the crease on the angle, pitter-pat feet twinkling as if in dancing shoes. It was reminiscent of a sidewinder on the attack. Purists occasionally criticised his action as too open, but it had method: he maintained mastery of orthodox outswing and inswing from a neutral position without telegraphing his intent. He was lithe, with a wickedly fast arm that elevated him to express status. Only in inches was he lacking - but he even turned that to his advantage with a bouncer as malicious as they come, skidding on to the batsman.

Later in his career, he developed a devastating legcutter which he used on dusty pitches. Allied to a massive cricket intelligence, stamina and courage, Marshall had all the toys and he knew how and when to play with them. His strike rate of 46.22 was phenomenal, his average of 20.95 equally so. He may well have been the finest fast bowler of them all.

He reserved his best figures for England. In 1984, he broke his left thumb while fielding early in the match, but first of all batted one-handed, hitting a boundary and allowing Larry Gomes to complete a century, and then, with his left hand encased in plaster, he shrugged off the pain to take 7 for 53. Four years later, on an Old Trafford wicket prepared specifically for spinners, he adjusted his sights, pitched the ball up, and swung and cut it to such devastating effect that he took 7 for 22. Let that be a lesson, he seemed to be saying, and indeed it was.

The whole cricket world mourned his tragically early death, from cancer, at 41.