Was Malcolm Marshall the greatest of all fast bowlers?

[Harsh Thakor]

 

Marshall stood out in an attack comprising the greatest of oace bowlers  like Holding,Garner  and earlier Roberts.He had a huge haul of wickets inspite of playing amongst the best of fast men.Marshall's average of20.94 and strike rate of 46.7 speaks for itself.He got only 22 5 wicket hauls because he was in the company of the greatest.No bolwer had as good an average in wins or such a big ratio of wickets in wins.His best figures were not on par with Imran,Lillee,Ambrose or Mcgrath but morally he intimated opposition more on the most unhelpful of tracks.

 

No pacemen ever used the craese with more skill,no righthander  disguised a direction the ball would swing,and none could double the sped of a cricket bal in the air like Marshall.Marshall was a more innovative form of Dennis Lillee with fractionaly less pace and movement but greater abilty to deceive an opponent.Mcgratah,Ambrose and Hadlee were more accurate but more predictable and on a genuine cricket tracks Marshall would overshdow them.Some feel at his best Mrashall wa sthe quickest of all but this is very arguable.

 

In my book he was the best pace bowler of all in test cricket.Also arguably amongst the dozen best cricketers of all time.

 

 

To start with Malcolm was sheer pace like in India in 1978-79 or in England in 1980 but from 1983 he mastered the art of controlled swing and an effective slower ball.In India in 1983-84 he was succesful more because of his ability to obtain pace and bounce on flat tracks.At Kanpur with the new ball he inflicted terror on the oponents like arguably no pacemen ever did,getting the ball to alarmingly bounce late on or outside the offstump.I feel on this tour technically or artistically Holding was s lightly ahead but still as a crafsman Marshall was the king capturing 33 scalps at an average of 18.73.

 

 

In 1984-85 Marshall continued to break the rib cage of many a batting side being at his best at Adelaide when he captured 10 wickets on a flat track.I can't forget the deliveries that dismissed Alan Border,Keppler Wessells and David Boon .His blending of late movement with pace took pace bowling artistry to dimensions rarely reached.

 

Successful against Pakistan at home and away in 1986 and 1988 but it was in England that Marshall struck tremors in a batting line up like arguably no pacemen ever did like at Old Trafford and Leeds.He blended the power of a moterboat with the sped of lightning and wizardry of a magician.His skidding bounce was virtual unplayable.His 35 scalps at average of 12.88.was record for a West Indian bowler.

 

 

Succesful against India in1989 but overhsdowed by Curtly Ambrose in Australia in 1988-89 .Still on a turning pitch at Sydney he gave what was ultimately the best ever performace by a pace bowler on a spinner track..

 

 

Alan Border,Graham Gooch,Dilip Vengsarkar,Alec Stewart ,Navjot Sidhu and Ravi Shastri rate him the best pace bowler they ever faced.

 

 

Staistics from S.Rajesh of cricinfo

 

During the nine years from 1983 to 1991, he was one of only two bowlers who took 125 or more wickets at a sub-20 average - Richard Hadlee was the other. Marshall was the only one, though, with a strike rate of less than 45 balls per wicket.

Best Test bowlers between 1983 and 1991 (Qual: 125 wickets)

Bowler	Tests	Wickets	Average	Strike rate	5WI/ 10WM
Richard Hadlee	48	262	19.64	47.4	23/ 6
Malcolm Marshall	69	342	19.85	44.9	22/ 4
Joel Garner	30	135	21.28	48.3	5/ 0
Imran Khan	42	156	21.49	50.5	10/ 3
Curtly Ambrose	33	140	23.14	56.1	5/ 1
Wasim Akram	39	143	24.51	58.7	9/ 2
Courtney Wash	50	174	24.95	56.4	5/ 1

As a match-winner, Marshall was among the very best again, with 254 wickets at less than 17. Again, only one bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan, has a better average, and one, Waqar Younis, has a better strike rate. Marshall's performances didn't drop much in defeats either: in the nine Tests in which he played in a losing cause, he still managed an average of less than 28.

Best Test bowlers in wins (Qual: 200 wickets)

Bowler	Tests	Wickets	Average	Strike rate	5WI/ 10WM
Muttiah Muralitharan	53	430	16.03	42.6	40/ 18
Malcolm Marshall	43	254	16.78	38.1	17/ 4
Curtly Ambrose	44	229	16.86	44.4	13/ 3
Waqar Younis	39	222	18.20	35.0	14/ 4
Dennis Lillee	31	203	18.27	39.0	17/ 6
Shaun Pollock	49	223	18.30	47.5	9/ 1
Wasim Akram	41	211	18.48	42.3	13/ 2
Anil Kumble	43	288	18.75	44.4	20/ 5
Glenn McGrath	84	414	19.19	47.7	18/ 3
Courtney Walsh	52	239	19.72	46.2	10/ 2

Perhaps the biggest compliment to Marshall is the fact that he stood out even when he played with other great fast bowlers. The 1980s were an exceptional period for West Indian fast bowling, and yet in the Tests that Marshall played, he took almost a third of the wickets taken by their fast bowlers (31.37%). Marshall was clearly the leader of the pack - the next-highest wicket-taker in matches Marshall figured in was Courtney Walsh, with only 137 wickets from 42 Tests, while Curtly Ambrose had 128 from 29. (Click here for the full list.) Marshall's average and strike rate were significantly better than his other fast-bowling mates, and he took as many five-fors as all the other West Indian fast bowlers put together.

Marshall's contribution to the attack in the matches he played between 1983 and 1991

Bowler	Tests	Wickets	Average	Strike rate	5WI/ 10WM
	69	342	19.85	44.9	22/ 4
Other WI fast bowlers	69	748	24.70	53.5	22/ 2

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Harsh Thakor

[zen]

Yes, Marshall is the premier test match pace bowler, and Warne the premier test match spinner. 

[zen]

An ATG test attack would ideally have Marshall and Warne. Add Hadlee, who is not only a great bowler but can also provide batting depth at #8. These 3 cover for most conditions. Marshall and Warne are no mug with the bat too. 

 

The 4th spot can go to one of the following: 

* Ambrose (ability to generate pace and bounce, along with accuracy and 4th inning bowling)

* Lillee (but you have similar bowlers in Marshall and Hadlee. Lillee can add pace and aggression though)

* Donald (pace, missile like yorkers and aggression)

* Wasim (left arm option, skillful bowler)
*  McGrath (accuracy but then there is Hadlee who is not only accurate but also can swing it big while being a better batsman)

* Steyn (swing but you have Marshall and Hadlee)

* .... 
 

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by zen

[rkt.india]

Steyn is as good as Marshall.

[Harsh Thakor]

59 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

Steyn is as good as Marshall.

As much skill and variation?Also compare averages.

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Harsh Thakor

[Straight Drive]

4 hours ago, zen said:

Yes, Marshall is the premier test match pace bowler, and Warne the premier test match spinner. 

Indeed it was great to watch Marshall bowl. The best spell I watched from him was in Kanpur in early 80's. It was as good as watching Roberts bowl in Madras teat.

[Gollum]

Yes he was. Ambrose, McGrath, Steyn and Hadlee will complete my top 5. 

[rtmohanlal]

My greatest fast  bowler as of now is Ambrose with out a doubt...

[MechEng]

Don't we over-worship WI fast bowlers a bit? I mean they were great but how many times do we have to sing/repeat about Marshall's greatness?

 

When same done for Tendulkar, the fans get a bad name and labelled as naive.

[rkt.india]

19 hours ago, Harsh Thakor said:

As much skill and variation?Also compare averages.

 

Averages depend a lot on economy rates. The era Marshall bowled in was an era of low ERs and low run rates. So it reflected in his average.  In fact, he has a higher ER in comparison to some other great bowler of his era. So most likely he would be a strike bowler in Steyn's era too but will also have a higher ER, which will reflect in increase his average too. If you look at closely all attacking bowlers like Donald, Steyn, Marshall, Lillie have higher ERs in comparison to their contemporary defensive bowlers like Ambrose, Walsh, McGrath. It also reflects in their SR and ER. Attacking bowlers have lesser SR, higher ER. Defensive bowlers have lesser ER, higher SR. Marshall and Steyn both were aggressive bowlers and would have been compatible if they had bowled together in same era.

 

Example, had Steyn played in that era, his ER would have been much lower. Marshall had an ER of 2.69. I assume Steyn had ER of 2.75.  then in his condition, Steyn would have averaged 19.42 in that era. You can't compare averages, ERs, SRs of eras without context. Like Manoj prabhakar had ER of 3.54 in ODIs, Bret Lee 4.7.  does that mean Prabhakar was better. No, he wasn't. He just played in a different era.  Averages suffer due to ERs.

Edited April 9, 2020 by rkt.india

[Straight Drive]

6 hours ago, MechEng said:

Don't we over-worship WI fast bowlers a bit? I mean they were great but how many times do we have to sing/repeat about Marshall's greatness?

 

When same done for Tendulkar, the fans get a bad name and labelled as naive.

It's not over worship. They were incredible and their cricketing brilliance still lives in my memory.

 

Those of us who were fortunate to have seen cricket in 70's onwards do praise the likes of Sachin, Dravid and others who were born decades later than us. We give them as much praise as we give to Crowe, Gower, Viv, Sobers, Knott, WI bowlers, Sunny etc.

 

Just because we were born earlier does not means we dislike the likes of Sachin, Dravid and others who played cricket decade or more later.