With his left hand encased in a plaster cast after a double fracture, Malcolm Marshall came out to bat one-handed at Headingley, helped Larry Gomes to a century, then took 7/53 to win the Test.
Marshall was already the spearhead of the West Indies attack, having taken the new ball at Edgbaston and Lord's earlier in the series.
He fractured his thumb diving in the gully on the first morning and was originally ruled out of the rest of the match.
On the first morning of the third Test, Marshall fractured his left thumb in two places fielding at gully off Andy Lloyd. He was sent for X-rays and the cast was applied. With Larry Gomes stranded on 96 not out and West Indies nine down, Marshall walked out one-handed, holding the bat in his right hand alone, and survived long enough for Gomes to reach his hundred. He then took the new ball with a plastered hand and produced figures of 7 for 53 — at the time the best by a West Indian against England. England were bowled out for 159 and lost by 8 wickets. Marshall's performance is routinely cited by his peers as the single most extraordinary individual feat of the era: the combination of pain threshold, technical adjustment and competitive ferocity made even Viv Richards shake his head in interviews decades later.
Thumb broken at gully on day one
X-rays confirm two fractures
Marshall walks out one-handed at No. 11 to support Gomes
Gomes reaches 104 not out
Marshall returns to bowl with plaster cast and takes 7/53
Day 1, morning
Marshall fractures thumb at gully
Day 1, afternoon
X-rays confirm double fracture
Day 2
Marshall bats one-handed; Gomes reaches 104*
Day 2-3
Marshall bowls 7/53 with cast
Day 4
WI win by 8 wickets
“Maco was something else that day. I have never seen anything like it before or since.”
“I just gripped it tighter with the good hand.”
Marshall played the rest of the series with the cast, finishing with 24 wickets in the rubber.
Possibly the toughest individual day's cricket in the modern era — bowling Test-best figures with a broken hand.
Sir Viv Richards has called it the most courageous performance he ever witnessed on a cricket field. The image of the plaster cast and the white grip of the bat is one of the iconic photographs of 1980s cricket.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
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