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Full name Malcolm Denzil Marshall
Born April 18, 1958, Bridgetown, Barbados
Died November 4, 1999, Bridgetown, Barbados (aged 41 years 200 days)
Major teams West Indies, Barbados, Hampshire, Natal
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast
In a nutshell Malcolm Marshall was perhaps the finest of West Indies' many formidable fast bowlers of the 1980s, endowed with fierce pace, swing, cut, a vicious bouncer, and above all, the ability to outthink any batsman.
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Malcolm Marshall in action....
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BiographyMalcolm Denzil Marshall was a West Indian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is regarded as one of the finest and fastest pacemen ever to have played Test cricket.His Test bowling average of 20.94 is the best of anyone who has taken 200 or more wickets.He achieved his bowling success despite being, by the standards of other fast bowlers, a short man – he stood at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m),while most of the great quicks have been well above 6 feet (1.8 m) and many great West Indian fast bowlers, such as Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, were 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) or above. 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.
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Malcolm Marshall in action.
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Marshall was born in Bridgetown, Barbados. His father, Denzil Marshall, was a policeman, but died in a road traffic accident when Marshall was one year old. His mother, Eleanor (née Welch) remarried and Marshall had one half-brother and one half-sister. He grew up in the parish of Saint Michael, Barbados and was educated at St Giles Boys' School from 1963 to 1969 and then at Parkinson Comprehensive from 1969 to 1973.He was partly taught cricket by his grandfather, who helped to bring him up after his father's death. He played cricket for the Banks Brewery team from 1976. 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.
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Malcolm Marshall celebrates a wicket...
© PA Photos |
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 whilst he failed to score runs 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. Marshall heard of his selection on the radio while working in the storeroom at Banks Brewery, and later claimed he did not know where India was.
Marshall made his Test début in the Second Test at Bangalore on 15 December 1978. He immediately developed a career-long antipathy to Dilip Vengsarkar due to his agressive appealing. 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, remaining with the county until 1993. 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,[citation needed] but nevertheless he took 47 first-class wickets, as well as picking up 5-13 against Glamorgan in the John Player League.
