He was the marshall of fast bowler. He was fearsome for his aggrassive bowling style. He was the one time dreaded paceman on field. Malcolm Denzil Marshall, the west Indies fast bowler falls in the list of the the ever best bowlers of Test cricket.

Born on April 18, 1958 in Barbados, this short man (5’9 is little short for fast bowlers) was also a very dangerous lower-order batsman, who used to wear pads at number eight. He had ten Test fifties in his credit, which makes him an all rounder. Marshall made his first class debut against Jamaica in 1979, where he eroded six wickets. His first Test series was against India in 1979. He was a part of the Carribean squad for the World Cup 1979, did not play a match in the tournament.

Marshall became an unavoidable part of the team in 1980 after his performance in the third Test at Old Trafford. It was from 1984 marshall’s careeer showed a big shoot up. He demoralised England in Headingly in that summer after eroding 7 wickets for 53 runs. His career best bowling was at Old Trafford in 1988, where he smashed the English side by claiming 7 wickets for 22 runs. He played his finale Test at at the Oval in 1991 and hended his career by picking up Graham Gooch as his 376th prey.

Marshall’s ended his One day career with the 1992 World Cup. After his retirement from international cricket, he continued bowling for Hampshire again in 1993. He withdrew from First Class cricket in 1995-96 season.

In 1996 Malcolm Marshall was appointed as the coach both of Hampshire and West Indies. In 1999 it was diagonised that Marshall was sufering from colon cancer. He passed away on 4 November 1999. He was 41 at the time of the death.

A trophy named after him, ‘The Malcolm Marshall Memorial Trophy’ was inaugurated in his memory. As per the rule, this trophy will be awarded to the leading wicket-taker in each England v West Indies Test series.

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And now Sourav Ganguly has got a supporter from Pakistan. It is none other than former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq. Haq found time at an official function to hail former Indian cricket team captain Ganguly for bowing out of the game in the right time. The former Pakistan captain who is known for his massive tons in One-Day Internationals but however feels that the Bengal stalwart still have a lot in him, which could have helped the Indian side for a couple of years more. He feels that Sourav should have given a few more time to serve the country.

Inzamam-ul-Haq who was in Hyderabad for an official function related to the Indian premier League, the rebel cricket remembers Ganguly as a quality player, who never shied away from proving himself. This was evident at evident occasions in his career. The decision being his personal choice doesn’t require any clarifications or explanations. But still Inzamam feels that the time chosen by Ganguly to say good bye to international cricket is appropriate.

It was two days back; the most successful captain of the Indian side had announced his retirement amidst speculations over the Fab Four’s future in the team. Ganguly had openly come out against authorities of forcing him to move out. He had even gone to the extend of saying that some top heads were after his cricket life for the past couple of years. Ganguly’s comment that many players in the present team are more conscious of hair style than scoring runs have found many takers in two days.

Inzamam, the skipper of Lahore Badshahs team in the ICL, is confident lifting this year’s trophy. He sounded confident of future of ICL, and added that it is not against the ICC. He feels the tournament is a budding ground for young talents in the country, which will help the sport of cricket in coming years. Inzamam, the 38-year-old Pakistan right hand batsman has 8,000 runs from 120 Tests in his credit.

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