Devon Malcolm, the Jamaican-born fast bowler who made his name in
Derbyshire cricket, will always be
remembered for his "You guys are
history" taunt to the South Africans at the Oval in 1994, before he
swept
their batting away with some fearsome bowling which brought him
9-57. Malcolm's cricket was often too
flamboyant for England's
conservative cricket administration, who were often too fearful of his
occasional
lapses of line and length to regularly unleash his
match-winning abilities. England fans loved him - they knew
that
underneath his erratic six-hitting batting, his awful eyesight that
mixed fielding howlers with brilliant run outs;
lay an enormous talent
that could have won many more matches. He had an unfortunate start to
his Test career
at Trent Bridge in 1989, when Taylor and Marsh batted
through the first day and he ended with figures of 1-166.
It could have
been different. Only an umpire's foible was between that and him having
Marsh lbw for 0. England's
early success on a 1989-90 tour of the West
Indies began with his unexpected run out of Greenidge from the boundary
and he was a successful spearhead, taking 4-77 to set up England's win
in the first Test, then 4-60 and 6-77 in Trinidad.
He had 5-94 against
New Zealand at Lord's in 1990 and took six wickets at Sydney in the
Ashes series that followed.
A knee injury kept him out for most of a
1993-94 West Indies tour and in Australia in 1994-95 he mixed superb
bowling
with illness and appalling luck. He revived England's tour with
his batting, scoring 29 in a hitting contest with Darren Gough
in
Sydney, then taking seven important wickets in an England win at
Adelaide. His visit to South Africa in 1995-96
deteriorated along with
his relations with the England management. He returned to the England
side for one last fling
against Australia in 1997. (Bob Harragan)