Harsh Thakor writes
When bowling he was like a pure military Marshall on the field -such was his intimidating effect on te opposition, in any sitauation or in any circumstances.Bar Dennis Lillee no bowler was more intimidating or agressive and what he lacked in classical style he made up with exemplarary innovation.Standing at only 5 ft 10 he was short unlike the other great bowers of the famous quartet-Holding , Roberts and Garner.However he demonstrated the power and hostility of aboxer and when delivering aball resembled aGod gushing fire.No WEst Indian bowler was as intimidating.He posessed a charasterictic whippy action running in very fast, coming off the wicket faster than the batsman expected, and skidding the ball.He may not have had the poetic action of Michael Holding, the speed of Jeff Thomson, the verstality of Dennis Lillee and Andy Roberts, or the control of Sir Richard Hadlee but he is arguably the best fast bowler ever with Dennis Lillee.He had ar emarkable banana swing, an unplayable skidding bouncer and a shooter that doubled it’s speed after impact on the ground.
He made his debut in 1978-79 iIndia but was overshadowed by Sylvester Clarke.His first true impact was made in 1982-83 at home against India in West Indies when he captured 22wickets troubling the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar.He would rattle the best Indian batsman and in the Prudential World cuop that followed was the fastets of all bowlers.He was the best WEst Indian bowler with 14 wickets and dispalyed his mastery of pace .In India in 1983-84 he displayed his great ability on docile tracks -playing an instrumental role in WEst Indies triumphing 3-0.He bamboozled a strong Indian batting line up wiht Gavaskar, Sandeep Patil Mohinder Amarnath , Kapil Dev Etc.His short lifting ball was unplayable and I can’t forget his opening match-winning spells in each inings of the 1st test in Kanpur when he looked like a bomber destroying an airbase.He bolwed brilliantly in the 2nd Innings in the 5th test at Calcutta and alos bolwed a great spell in the final test at Madras.His best bolwing was dismissing the great Sunil Gavaskar, forcing him to edge a catch outside the offstump.He captured arecord haul of 33 wickets at 18.53 apiece and shared the man of the series awrd with fine batting performnces.He went on to bowl succesfuly in ahome series against Australai in 1984, on atour of England and then on the tour of Australai in 1884-85.Now he changed his style from sheer pace tp developing ability to swing the ball and develop a slower delivery.In England he battled with a broken hand and took his then best of 7-53 proving his supreme skill.On the tour of Australia he captured 28 wickets including a brilliant 10 wicket haul at Adeliade on a dead pitch where he extracted bounce.He continued his good form in series against New Zealand in 1985 and England in 1986capturing virtualy 5 wickets per test
In 1986 Marshall truly established himself in the forefront by capturing 16 wickets I 3 test aginst Pakistan on fdocile tracks.He mastered swing and cut.He missed the World Cup and aseries of India but in a home series versus Pakistan in 1988 bowled brilliantly in 2 test, with ahaul of 16 wickets..Combining pace control and swing he was the thorn in the flesh of astrong Pakistan batting line up.A thrilling series was drawn 1-1.His bolwing in Trinidad in the 2nd test displayed great firepower after West Indies were dimsieed cheaply in the firts innings.
In England in 1988 Marshall showed why he was now in the Dennis Lillee class capturing arecord haul for a wEst Indian bolwer on an England test tour with 35 wickets at 12.88.It was perhaps a performance that eclipsed the Wes Halls’ Andy Roberts and the Michael Holdings.He looked like a bowling machine and the oppostion looked like a demoralised enemy batallion, after facing a crushing defeat.He mastered the seam and hhis ferocious pace was phenomenally consistent.At Old Trafford he captured 7-22.English fans saw his mastery of bowing bio-mechnics and hsi mastery of seam.His stamina was relentless.
In 1988-89 he was not so succesful in Australia but gave one of pace bowling great displays on a spinners track.at Sydney in the 4th test.Showing subtle skill he captured 10 wickets on a pitch where Lillee may have struggled.
He again bolwed well on an Indian tour of West Indies but after 1989 went into decline .He was hardly at his best in the 1991 home Frank Worell trophy series against Australia and was sadly dropped on the 1991 England tour.It was virtually like seeing agreat Emperor like Julius Caesar undeservingly de-throned.
Marshall retired after capturing 376 wickets at 20.94 in 81 test at a phenomenal strike rate og 46.7.His average and strike rate are better than Dennis Lillee or Richard Hadlee orCurtly Ambrose , Glen Mcgrath or Wasim Akram.He captured 5 wickets 22 times.
Could Marshall rank as the best fast bolwer ever?To me his only drawbacks in this regard was he was not as classical as Dennis Lillee, (who also captured 5 wickets per test plus bolwed brilliantly at the same rate in Packer CRicket) or Richard Hadlee(5 wickets lper test and 36 -5 wicket hauls.Plus bore the brunt of obne of the weakest sides) and did not have the rate of taking 5 wickets per test or as many 5 wicket hauls in an innings as them.However he had an armoury of deliveries which even Lillee did not posess and on a dead pitch, in the final analysis or ona good cricket wicket would be right there with the best.He mastered reverse swing.He was an amazingly intelligent bolwer.Graham Gooch and Allan Border rate him the best bolwer they faced.
He was alo a more than competent bartsman who one time loked in the Botham class.He made useful 50’s. and was once famous for batting left -handed when injured.
Sadly he died of cologne cancer in 1999.It was an irreparable loss to the Cricket World who hardly got an opportunity to get back something from the great Legend.He had the honour of playing for arguably the best test side ever in the mid-1980’s under Lloyd .Marshall rated Viv Richards the graetest batsmen , Gary Sobers the graetset Cricketer, Dennis Lillee the best bolwer and Allan Border the best batsman to bat for your life.
Wes Hall beautifully describes Marshal, "THere is more to being agreat fast bolwer than the ability to bowl fast.It takes fitness, stamina, common sense, commitment and agression and Marshall had it all"He is a legend and we may never see a more menacing sight in Cricket than watch this dimunitive figure run in and cause a tremor in the hearts of the the best of batsman.
By Harsh Thakor