{"id":44093,"date":"2020-05-03T07:52:53","date_gmt":"2020-05-03T07:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=44093"},"modified":"2021-12-19T08:32:15","modified_gmt":"2021-12-19T08:32:15","slug":"lethal-and-skiddy-malcolm-marshall-or-hostile-gladiator-dennis-lillee-who-is-the-greatest-fast-bowlerby-mike-atherton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/lethal-and-skiddy-malcolm-marshall-or-hostile-gladiator-dennis-lillee-who-is-the-greatest-fast-bowlerby-mike-atherton\/","title":{"rendered":"Lethal and skiddy Malcolm Marshall or hostile gladiator Dennis Lillee: who is the greatest fast bowler?:by Mike Atherton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lethal and skiddy Malcolm Marshall or hostile gladiator Dennis Lillee: who is the greatest fast bowler?:by Mike Atherton<\/span><\/h1>\n

\"Lethal<\/p>\n

Source:<\/span>thetimes<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In the latest in our series discussing the best in sport, Mike Atherton and Simon Wilde debate two of cricket\u2019s greats<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Made of granite, black, upright and proud \u2014 in death as in life. In the small Anglican church of St Bartholomew\u2019s, close to the south coast and therefore the breeziest and best beaches of Barbados, lies the gravestone of arguably the greatest all-round fast bowler of them all. The inscription reads: \u201cAlthough our hearts are broken, we remember with a smile.\u201d A generation of batsmen would smile ruefully at that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mourned across the cricketing world, Malcolm Denzil Marshall was only 41 when he died of colon cancer in 1999. The late 1970s to early 1990s, which represented the span of his career, was a time when even the greatest players made second, sometimes third homes in domestic competitions, as Marshall\u00a0did with Hampshire and Natal, and so even former adversaries in international cricket could become close and valued friends. The large and eclectic turnout at his funeral was testament to that.<\/span><\/p>\n

My choices of first pick batsman (Viv Richards) and fast bowler, Marshall, for any composite all-time world XI reflect some bias on my part, as personal selections in these non-definitive arguments always do. That West Indies team, helmed by Richards with the bat and Marshall with the ball, were the team of my youth, an incomparable collection of great and charismatic cricketers. The memory can deceive, of course, although mine is buttressed by having played against them, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

My fifth County Championship match for Lancashire, in August 1987, was against Marshall at the old county ground in Southampton. The tremor that went through the Lancashire dressing room before that game was typical of a time when almost every county team had an overseas fast bowler, although it was heightened for Marshall, who was not far off his peak then: still very fast, skiddy, skilful and just mean enough, especially if riled.<\/span><\/p>\n

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