Former England captain-turned-commentator David Gower who was considered as one of the country’s greatest and most elegant batsmen has recently named the toughest bowler that he faced in his career spanning fourteen years between 1978 and 1992.
Having made his international debut in 1978, the left-hander featured in 117 Test matches and 114 One Day Internationals, in which he scored 8231 and 3170 runs respectively for England. He also played 448 first-class matches for 26339 runs and 430 List-A matches for 12255 runs between 1975 and 1993.
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Gower played 19 of his 117 Test appearances against the great West Indies side which has the best pace attack in the cricket history – likes of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, and Malcolm Marshall and dominated world cricket throughout the 1980s.
During the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Gower was asked to name the bowler he feared the most, and former batsman said there were around 20 pacers who tormented the world’s best batters during the 1980s but went with Holding who scared him the most with his pace.
Gower said on the podcast, “I could probably list about 20 West Indian quicks who in the 1980s would all inspire some sort of anxiety in you. I thought Malcolm Marshall was the best of them.”
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He added, “It’s a huge pick to have to make. You’ve got bowlers like my great mate Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Sylvester Clarke. I played with Malcolm at Hampshire at the end of my career and one of the reasons for going there was to be on the same bloody side as him for once!”
The Englishman said it was a great honor to play against Marshall, who took 376 wickets in 81 Tests for West Indies. He added, “Even then I had to stand at first slip and try to catch it. But Malcolm I thought, in the end, was probably the best of them all. It was a huge honor and challenge to play against him.”
(With The Metro Inputs)
