The sport that has captured millions of hearts all over the world, the sport that is played and loved by people of all ages and the sport where sports persons are worshiped! is none other than 'cricket'.
Talking of cricket one team that immediately comes to mind is 'West Indies', the country that has produced some of the biggest legends of the game and the most fearsome fast bowlers of all times. There was a never ending line of fast bowlers in the country. Sunil Gavaskar once said, "If you shake a tree in West Indies four or five fast bowlers will fall". Such was the dominance of the West Indian fast bowlers, the opponent team would be in total disarray at the end of the series. The journey of West Indies fast bowlers began way back in 1976, it was not that, they did not have fearsome fast bowlers before 1976, but what happened after 1976 was something that no cricketing nation could have imagined.
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The arrival of Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts and Joel Garner on the world scene saw batsmen dance to the chin music, these four fast bowlers with their sheer raw pace was the main weapon of terror for West Indies in 1970's and 80's. There was no seeing back for the West Indies as they ruled the world for 20 years. West Indies lost only two test series out of 36 from 1976 to 1996.
The hostile pace of Holding, Marshall, Roberts and Garner created fear in the mind of batsmen, one would target the batsman's head while the other would soar over, fear was such that Bishen Sing Bedi, the Indian captain declared the innings twice in 1976 fearing that lower order batsmen might get injured. Malcolm Marshall was considered by many as the quickest of all, he injured many batsmen during that period, but the most dreaded and famous which I recollect is the nose injury of Mike Gatting in the Sabina Park test during the England's tour of West Indies in 1986, the England captain was hit on the nose by Marshall's short delivery and was immediately rushed to hospital where he had ten stitches on his eyes and cheeks.
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Everyone in the world would have seen fast bowlers of today's generation, but I promise if you see these four, your eyes are surely going to lit up. All four bowlers Holding, Marshall, Roberts and Garner would have easily crossed the 100mph barrier at some stage of their career, Only if we had the speed guns to measure the speed during that period, but no credit can be taken away from these four as statistics speak for themselves.
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This quartet was worshiped in West Indies and played together for five years in which they created terror and fear in the minds of batsmen, be it Australia, England, Pakistan or India no one had any answer to their swing or pace. The credit should be given to Clive Lloyd, the then West Indies captain who rotated the bowlers with perfection.
Conclusion
West Indies was the only team that produced so many fast bowlers in that era, the likes of Colin Croft, Patrick Patterson, Wayne Daniel, Clarke and later the two Benjamin's Kenny and Winston. But all could not fit into the team to replace the mighty four till their retirement from the international scene. It was really heartbreaking to see them retire one after another. This left tears in the eyes of many fans worldwide, the West Indies could not replace anyone like these Fearsome Foursome ever again.
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