Malcolm Marshall’s Top 3 performances in ODI Cricket

The fear of fast bowlers was something very common in the early days of cricket, especially the 70’s and the 80’s. One of the best pace attacks in those times belonged to none other than the West Indies. The Caribbeans had some of the most dangerous fast bowlers in the world that instilled fear in the batters’ minds. Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Andi Roberts were the big and tall bowlers, but there was another bowler who made the attack look even more dangerous.

The bowler we are talking about is Malcolm Marshall. Marshall was never the tallest of the West Indian bowlers, but was certainly known as one of the toughest and possibly the fastest pacer of the era. Marshall used to have one of the most lethal bouncers which the batters used to miss by the blink of an eye. Though he has had a great career in Test format, his performances in ODI’s were equally brilliant. In his 136 games, Marshall was able to take a total of 157 wickets in the format and this time we will be looking into these performances.

So, here are the top 3 best performances by Malcolm Marshall in ODI cricket:

3. 4/33 vs England in Gwalior 1989

This was a six-team tournament happening in India and it was the 12th match of the series happening in 1989. While chasing a target of 266 the English team seemed to be cruising in Graham Gooch and Robin Smith forming a partnership. It was the spell of Marshall that got the Caribbean giants back into the game taking 4 wickets for just 33 runs in his full quota of 10 overs. This made sure the West Indies won the game by 26 runs and Marshall picked up all the top four batters in the end.

2. 4/23 vs England in Jamaica 1986

If you thought that was the first time Marshall had gotten the better of the English, you must be mistaken. This was only the 1st ODI in Jamaica and the England batters were put under pressure straight away by a dominant West Indian pace attack. Marshall was once again the pick of the bowlers with another 4-wicket haul to his name dismissing the top batters in the likes of Gooch, Allan Lamb and Mike Gatting. He ended up with figures of 4 for 23 in his 10 overs and went on to win the Player of the Match award for his efforts.

1. 4/18 vs Australia 1991

This was perhaps one of the intense low scoring games you could ever witness in an ODI game. Malcolm Marshall was again the man with the golden arm for the Windies in the last phase of his career. He still wreaked havoc into this strong Aussie batting lineup where he also managed to achieve his best figures in international cricket. This was a game where it was tough to play Marshall at the MCG and he ended up taking 4 wickets for just 18 runs in his 10 overs. The spell also contained 4 maidens as well. The team might have ended up on the losing side, but this was really an iconic performance from the great fast bowler in ODI cricket.