NOT many people knew yesterday was the 54th anniversary of the late Malcolm Marshall’s birth – but Kemar Roach did.
And he went out on to Queen’s Park Oval against the Australians and did something about it.
Roach was only 11 when Marshall, one of the greatest fast bowlers in history with 376 Test wickets at the astonishing average of 20.95, died at the age of 41 from colon cancer.
Roach came to know his fellow Barbadian only through the film clips he watched endlessly as a boy, hoping one day to emulate Marshall in the Test arena.
After 15 Tests coming into this match, the 23-year-old looked to be falling somewhat short of the man he idolised, although there were moments.
Roach is the only Test bowler ever to force Ricky Ponting to retire hurt, after striking the then Australian captain a fearful blow on his elbow in Perth in 2009, which did, after all, resonate somewhat of Marshall smashing England captain Mike Gatting’s nose at Sabina Park in 1986 and then boasting of later finding bone fragments embedded in the ball.
