I saw Malcolm Marshall bowl in the MCC Bicentenary Match in 1987. This was a happy match for the crowd as many of us were drinking champagne in the new Mound Stand. Marshall bowled his first ball and the entire ground suddenly went quiet. The ball was so fast that everyone stopped talking. I will never forget that moment for as long as I live! A truly great fast bowler who is sadly missed.
I had a similar experience on the Western Terrace at Headingly in 1984. It was all laughing and joking and the first one came down and a gruff, massive Yorkshireman about 10m away kind of muttered, but for all to hear "Bloody Hell". I heard the ball thud into Jeff Dujons gloves and that was the only evidence of an actual ball being delivered. It was at the speed of light.
Malcolm Marshall - far shorter than his WI fast bowling colleagues, but was faster, more varied, intelligent, and could swing the ball either way. Easily one of the greatest ever and my personal favorite bowler from the West Indies. He was the Lionel Messi of bowlers.
@@n.w.owhoknowstheshadowknow58 Seen them all & the mighty West Indies greatest Quartet is, Andy Robert's, Joel Garner, Michael Holding & Malcolm Marshall.
@n.w.owhoknowstheshadowknow58 even Akram idolized Marshall. Marshall was pure magic. Back in 1983, he was unplayable in India. Newspaper headlines said, "Martial (Marshall) Law in India.
Sir Boycott definitely is the best commentators to hear after Ritchie Benaud. Never heard them put down anyone. Those words about Marshall are very well said and spot on.
I remember watching Marshall in 1988 on BBC television during the Windies tour to England on my school holidays, shame he is no longer with us, a great bowler, nice to see Geoffrey singing his praises.
Did Boycs always have a heart, did he develop one, or did he just learn that it's ok to show you have one? I don't really care; I just love hearing him talk about cricket, and it's even better to hear him talking in such admiring and sincere terms about probably the best and most complete fast bowler who ever lived.
Ha ha great analysis. I love hearing boycott talking about the legend that is macko. Marshall is arguably the greatest fast bowler ever to walk on a cricket field. Still so sadly missed. R i p great man.
For my money and from those I've seen play Marshall was the best. Such hostility from a much smaller person than his peers but effortless. One of the few that seemed to possess a 'faster' ball.
@@xpat73 One difference Is That Macko never Required To bring bottke Top to move The ball Plus He As Geoffrey Mentioned Maintained His Pace Till most part of his carrer,Genius Marshall.
Pragyan Ojha is billion times better bowler than Malcolm Marshall. Pragyan Ojha would have taken 800 test wickets but Malcolm Marshall took 376 test wickets. I can bowl better than Malcolm Marshall but I can't bowl like Pragyan Ojha.
The Greatest #XI of All Time 1 Jack Hobbs 2 Len Hutton 3 Don Bradman (C.) 4 Sachin Tendulkar 5 Viv Richards 6 Gary Sobers 7 Adam Gilchrist (W.) 8 Shane Warne 9 Wasim Akram 10 Malcolm Marshall 11 Sydney Barnes 12th : Imran Khan. Substitutes: ( George Headley , Brian Lara , W.G Grace , Muttiah Muralitharan , Dennis Lillee ) Manager :- Sir Frank Worrell .
Of all the great WI bowlers of the late 70s and early 80s he was described as the greatest of them all by opponents and teammates which is the best compliment you could pay to him RIP Malcolm Marshall
I rate him very highly too, in my all-time world XI, in a very tight battle. I was a student at Leeds and was very pleased to serve him in the bar at Headingley in 1980, then went to the last day of the test series (largely ruined by the weather), thanks to finding a ticket when cleaning up.
An amazing action too. Nobody bowled like Marshall, and used his lack of height to his advantage. I'm sure it was harder to avoid a Marshall bouncer because it was skidding through at the heart rather than head height.
Coming from a Pakistani , i believe he is the best bowler of all time. If you take out reverse swing wasim akram and waqar and co , in their repertoire their be lot less than this bloke. Wasim Akram and Waqar were never the hard working type this is why the birth of reverse swing to avoid length fast bowling spells with very tidy line and length . Malcolm marshall had that pace , length , accuracy , bouncers , leg cutter , off cutter a true classic dream of a fast bowler. I am sure my opinion will not be loved by my fellow country men but i know my cricket and i believe this bloke was the best or you can say any young's man inspiration how to be a genuine fast bowler.
Treat to ears hearing this man´s voice. His voice and accent is everything. He belongs to the 2nd or 3rd last generation of actually great charismatic cricketers. I am 22 years old. RIP cricket since 2007-08. After that cricket started to be played by boys and not men. Yes.. I am old school.
Like Richard Hadlee he could make the ball talk, but that bouncer was just lethal, following the batsman trying to get out of the way, its a pity they neutered cricket so that you don't see bowlers bowling to try and get batsmen out hooking anymore, that was one of the great sights in the game...
Malcolm Marshall perhaps the fastest of all the great West Indian bowlers...........just ask Sir Vivian Richards who faced him in the Caribbean in the inter island series. One of the only batsmen to survive the onslaught of the awesome fast bowlers that the West Indians had was Alan Border of Australia.
Zaheer 295 wickets at 32.35 (?!?) - Marshall 376 wickets at 20.94 in 7 fewer matches...Zaheer wouldn't have got in the West Indies second team back in the eighties
not sure why we comparing Zaheer and malcolm Marshall but for the folks who say indias wicket are not fast bowler friendly. windies wickets were not either
@@indiarocks5731 Lance Gibbs had the record for most wickets in test cricket for years. Going back further there was Ramadin and Valentine a much feared spin double act.
I remember the series- 1986 if memory serves me correctly? And what an attack- Marshall, Holding, Walsh, Harper, Gardener. Think if you were and English batsman, and you saw that line-up....well we had the likes of Gower, Gooch, Lamb and Beefy, and they were reduced to tears. If KP was playing back then, he would of been made to look silly.
Marshall had this nasty ball where he would bowl it perfect length, inswinger to the the off or off/middle stump and then cut away off the seam to slip to the right hander....and very quick. Basically an unplayable ball.....
I think Malcolm Marshall was the best fast bowler I ever saw. He would have had more wickets if the batsmen would have been good enough to get near some of his best balls.
RICHARD HADLEE MAYBE 5TH THE REASON I SAY SO IS BECAUSE HE DIDN'T HAVE ANYONE TO FIGHT FOR THE NUMBER OF WICKETS THAT WERE AVAILABLE. WHILE MARSHALL HAD SO MANY TOP BOWLERS TO FIGHT WITH TO GET IN ON THE WICKETS.
That's very true. You can somehow deal with fast balls that bounce and straight. You know if nothing works just get the body on the way. If it skids you are not sure how fast the ball is coming. And anyone who has played in level will tell you, being unsure is a death bell when you face fast bowling.
My favourite memory from his career was seeing Geoff Marsh hit him for 6 over long on at Bridgetown in "91. Malcolm had slowed down considerably by then, otherwise I'm pretty sure that shot would NEVER have been played.
Nice to hear from an older player whose memory goes back more so than current of recenty retired. I had a friend who played for a Melbourne second division club. Marshall played a season there. My friend who also died of cancer at the same age as Marshall said net batting sessions were not fun.
Saw the great West Indies side at Headingley in the mid 80s. There was no hiding place for the batsmen out there,you could almost sense the fear in the English side when having to face an absolute onslaught from probably the greatest bowling attack that has ever played the game.
Can there be this bowling line up again ? NEVER EVER INDEED ! Imagine you have to face the very dangerous Andy Roberts Joel Garner next change is Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall...all four very different and styles strategies . What an era that was and many have missed this era and will never ever understand what these 4 names were in bowling for oppositions and batsmen world over. Absolute terror its like getting slaughtered murdered killed going into bat & facing them. As if entering a cage of vicious wild animals full of Lions Tigers Cheetahs Panthers . These bowlers gave forced and gave birth to one bouncer per over rule from England. Patterson Walsh Bishop Ambrose were the last recognized dangerous famous 4 from West Indies after the Fab4 Never even in cricket history Man of the Match semifinal and the finals 1983 World Cup Hero Super Star Mohinder Amarnath is the most highly underrated player in the world. 1982 Imran Khan said he is the best in the world for playing fast bowling especially Bouncers short deliveries highest scorer in that 1982 series in Pakistan , 1982 1983 West Indies tours Viv Richards said Jimmy Amarnath plays west indian bowlers and all global quick genuine fast bowlers the best. I have seen him play since 1980s he got hit on head jaws face nose got injured the most like no other player ever in cricket history you can check about him and you will be shocked to know how brave and courageously Mohinder Amarnath hit the hook shots attacked them with ease to the worlds fastest bowlers Lillie thomson hadlee imran roberts marshall garner holding etc Also note that current Williamson root kohli babar Smith AB Devilliers Maxwell Chris Gayle Rohit Sharma etc can't bat against these quality bowlers and that too with bigger larger sophisticated bats state of the art protections ⛑helmets guards equipment gadgets fielding rules shorter boundaries restrictions on bouncers. Boycott vs Holding Richards vs Lillie Gavaskar vs Marshall Srikanth vs Imran Khan Mark Waugh vs Alan Donald Kohli vs Anderson Waugh vs Ambrose Any other encounters you know please add them here.
I remember watching Marshall one morning vs England sometime in the 80s first ball wide soo wide it went to 2nd slip. Next ball the stumps went flying.
Both great bowlers. To me what just seperates them is that Malcolm could bowl the quick stuff and medium quick with great control like Hadlee but Hadlee, although sharp could never bowl with the frightening pace of Marshall.
I can just imagine what Marshall's thinking in the car park, brig grin around his team mates as they all watch Boycott getting the pads out of the boot of his car.
Shows how little cricket you watched. At one time Boycott was a very good hooker of the ball. He got out hooking in consecutive games and shelved it for quite a long period but later on although not that frequently and wisely not against certain bowlers he would still hook effectively.
tonkingtommo exceptions..but generally speaking.its harder for batsmen to negotiate skiddy bowlers since they come to you quicker than you expect.. wasim had the benefit from this.he used have a small run up and come in and bowl very quickly sometimes so batsman had very less time to understand what he was doing.. fast arms action helped most bowlers.
Tough one people - personally, I think Hadlee & Marshall - let's say the best 2 ever. Maybe Sir Hadders edges it due to WI team considerations, but maybe worth thinking about the pitches back then, perhaps McGrath 3rd?!?!? He says letting the hounds loose....:0)
@@ronniejoy3929 I think he is, Ronnie. Akram's swing capacity from a very quick bowler was the best ever seen. For that reason he was comparable to Malcolm, as great as Marshall was.
