Malcolm Marshall Complete Bio & Career
While remembering the list of the finest fast bowlers of West Indies, Malcolm Marshall is a formidable fast bowler who is still popular for his swing, fierce pace, vicious bouncing, cut and his ability of outthinking any of the batsman. Though Malcolm was quite short stature for being a fast bowler, he still stood apart with his skills of seaming and swinging the ball with an open chest and quick arm technique.
His early education for cricket was given by none other than his grandfather with whom he was living after the death of his father at a very small age. While training, he initially began with batting, however, he soon realized his forte for fast bowling. He started playing cricket professionally in 1976 with the team of Banks Brewery. His initial games brought him failure but this didn’t let him down, instead encouraged him to improvements. It was in 1978 when Marshall got the opportunity to play his first match with List A for Jamaica where he was successful in taking 6 wickets for the first innings. While Marshall was in his 20s, he got the very first opportunity to play his first international match against India bowling for West Indies in 1978. This match too remained an unimpactful match for him as he was able to take only a single wicket.
The phase from 1982 to 1983 and 1985 to 1986 was counted as the golden period for Marshall on international levels. In this period, he took 21+ wickets in the series played in this period. In the series with India in 1983-84, Marshall took 33 wickets and also scored runs with an average of 34. It was in this series when he made his highest score in Kanpur for a test match. In 1984, Marshall proved to be the best weapon against England when the team Blackwashed the opposite team. This series is still remembered with a score of 5-0, which made West Indies the only team to blackwash England. In this match, Marshall took 24 wickets with 42 strike rate.
Marshall stands with the lowest average while counting the bowlers holding a record of 200+ wickets. Marshall proved the world that physique or even the height is a small obstacle if you are looking towards complete dedication as a fast bowler.
