The West Indies’ battery ruled the cricket world in the late 1970s and ’80s. They breathed fire with devastating pace, and pitches became graveyards for batsmen. Their bouncers were lethal, and yorkers were unplayable. Of all the great West Indian fast bowlers, Malcolm Marshall, the shortest of them all, became the deadliest fast bowler.
Marshall, “Striding Death,” hit Andy Lloyd in Lloyd’s first Test match, and he didn’t play an international match thereafter. He broke the nose of Mike Gatting in 1985-86 in an ODI.
Apart from Marshall’s vicious bouncers, he could swing the ball both ways, and batsmen couldn’t read which way the ball swung.
His average, 20.94 in Tests, is the best of bowlers who have picked up more than 200 wickets. His strike-rate of 46.7 in Tests is the third-best among bowlers who have taken 200-plus wickets, behind Dale Steyn and Waqar Younis.
