THE GREAT PLAYERS OF THE GAME

July 11, 2007

Malcolm Denzil Marshall (April 18, 1958 - November 4, 1999) was a West Indian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is regarded as one of the finest pacemen ever to have played Test cricket, and indeed some have suggested he was the finest of all^[1]. Certainly, his Test bowling average of 20.94 is the best of anyone who has taken 200 or more wickets.

Remarkably, he achieved his bowling success despite being, by the standards of other fast bowlers, a short man - he stood at 5'11", while most of the great quicks have been well above 6'0" and many great West Indian fast bowlers, such as Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Colin Croft, were 6'6" or above.

Marshall was also a very dangerous lower-order batsman, usually batting at around number eight. Blessed with a good eye, and naturally aggressive against any form of bowling, Marshall had ten Test fifties and a number of first-class centuries to his credit. He was only fractionally short of genuine all-rounder status and probably never did full justice to his considerable natural batting talent.

Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, Marshall was partly taught cricket by his grandfather, who helped to bring him up after his father was killed in a road accident. His first representative match was a 40-over affair for West Indies Young Cricketers against their English equivalents at Pointe-à-Pierre, Trinidad and Tobago in August 1976. He made nought and his eight overs disappeared for 53 runs: a most inaccurate guide to what would follow a few years later.

Marshall's first senior appearance was a Geddes Grant/Harrison Line Trophy (List A) match for Barbados on 13 February 1978; again he made a duck and did not take a wicket. Four days later, he made his first-class debut against Jamaica, and this time the fact that he yet again failed to score was almost irrelevant as he claimed 6-77 in the Jamaican first innings. On the back of this single first-class appearance he was selected to tour India in 1978/79, many first-choice West Indian stars being unavailable having committed themselves to playing World Series Cricket.

Despite doing little of note in the three Tests he played on that tour, he did take 37 wickets in all first-class games, and Hampshire saw enough in him to take him on as their overseas player for 1979. He was in West Indies' World Cup squad, but did not play a match in the tournament. Hampshire were not doing well at the time, but nevertheless he took 47 first-class wickets, as well as picking up 5-13 against Glamorgan in the John Player League.

Marshall really came to prominence in 1980, when in the third Test at Old Trafford he accounted for Mike Gatting, Brian Rose and Peter Willey in short order to spark an England collapse, although the match was eventually drawn. After 1980/81 he was out of the Test side for two years, but a season of stunning brilliance in 1982 when he took 134 wickets at under 16 apiece, including a career-best 8-71 against Worcestershire, saw him recalled and thereafter he remained a fixture until the end of his international career.

In seven successive Test series from 1982/83 to 1985/86 he took 21 or more wickets each time, in the last five of them averaging under 20. His most productive series in this period was the 1983/84 rubber against India, when he claimed 33 wickets as well as averaging 34 with the bat and making his highest Test score of 92 at Kanpur. A few months later he took five in an innings twice at home against Australia.

By 1984 Marshall was indisputably one of the finest bowlers in the world, and he demoralised England that summer, especially at Headingley, where he ran through the order in the second innings to finish with 7-53, despite having broken his thumb whilst fielding in the first innings. He also came out to bat at number 11 in West Indies' first innings despite his injury, allowing his team to gain a further psychological advantage as Larry Gomes completed an unbeaten century (incredibly, Marshall batted one-handed that day). In that series, too, he also ended Andy Lloyd's Test career after just half an hour after hitting him on the head.

In 1984/85 he had another outstanding series at home against New Zealand, although there were those who believed that the barrage of bouncers he sent down was intimidatory beyond what was acceptable, and that Marshall should have been admonished by the umpires. Nevertheless his repertoire consisted of much more than just the bouncer; Marshall mastered virtually every delivery in cricket, swinging the ball in both directions. He also used an in-swinging yorker as well as developing an effective leg-cutter, and with the exception (perhaps surprisingly) of the 1986/87 New Zealanders, against whom he could only manage nine wickets at 32.11, no side seemed to have an answer to him.

1988 saw his career-best Test performance of 7-22 at Old Trafford, but as it came against one of the poorest England sides in living memory perhaps neither this nor his extraordinary series total of 35 wickets at 12.65 could be considered his best in anything more than strict statistical terms. He was coming towards the end of his international career, moreover, and though he took 11 wickets in the match against India at Port of Spain the following winter, he played his last Test at The Oval in 1991. His final Test wicket - his 376th - was that of Graham Gooch

Marshall's final appearances for West Indies came in One-Day International cricket - the 1992 World Cup - but there was to be no last hurrah: in his five matches in the tournament he took just two wickets, both in the penultimate game against South Africa at Christchurch. This was the only time Marshall played for West Indies against South Africa in his career, though played provincial cricket for Natal in both 1992/93 and 1993/94. Whilst playing at Natal his experience was invaluable and his guidance was an influential spark in the early career of Shaun Pollock. Today Shaun Pollock attributes much of his success to his mentor, Marshall. In 1992 he was delighted when Hampshire won the Benson and Hedges Cup, Marshall making 29 not out and taking three wickets in the game.

He played for Hampshire again in 1993, taking 28 wickets at a shade over 30 runs apiece, but that was to be the end of his time in county cricket, and in 1994 his only game in England was against the South Africans for the Scarborough President's XI during the Festival. He played five matches for Scotland in the 1995 Benson and Hedges Cup without much success, and his last senior games were for Natal in 1995/96. In his very last senior appearance, against Western Province in a limited-overs game at Cape Town, the first of his two victims was his former international team-mate Desmond Haynes.

In 1996 Marshall became coach both of Hampshire and West Indies, although the latter's steadily declining standard during this period led to a considerable amount of criticism coming his way. All this was forgotten in 1999, however, as during the World Cup the shocking news broke that he had colon cancer. He immediately left his coaching job to begin treatment, but this was ultimately unsuccessful and he returned to his home town, where he died on 4 November aged just 41.

The cricketing world was shocked by Marshall's death, and a Malcolm Marshall Memorial Trophy was inaugurated, to be awarded to the leading wicket-taker in each England v West Indies Test series. Another trophy with the same name was set up to be the prize in an annual game between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.

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