They laid Malcolm Marshall to rest in the churchyard of St Bartholomew, out near Grantley Adams airport Wholesale Cigarettes Newport, the gateway to Barbados. His funeral service, at the Garry Sobers Gymnasium, had been conducted by the Reverend Wes Hall: one giant of West Indies cricket helping another on his way. It had been a state occasion in all but name, broadcast not just in Barbados but across the Caribbean. But the rest of the cricket world grieved too. Those who knew him and played with and against him, of course, but also those who revered and recognised the untimely passing of a great player. Such was the esteem in which Marshall had been held.
Can it really be 11 years ago this November that the colon cancer that ravaged him for six months finally took him? He was only 41 years old, his prime long since past, but still good enough to make good young players acting above their station look foolish when he chose to turn his arm over in the nets. Perhaps, just as Don McLean recognised the death of Buddy Holly as the "day the music died", November 4, 1999 was the day West Indies cricket, no longer top dog, began its final descent from such sustained dominance as no side had ever managed before, into turmoil and obscurity. In life, Viv Richards and he, above all, represented the central pillars of supreme excellence within the West Indies side. In his passing, he became a metaphor for the demise of cricket in the Caribbean.
Basisphilosophie
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02.01.2020 07:39
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