Devon Malcolm

Devon Eugene Malcolm (born 22 February 1963)^[1] is a former English cricketer. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Malcolm played in 40 Test matches for his adopted country, and took part in 30 One Day Internationals.

At his best, he was the unquestionably the fastest bowler in world cricket at the time and could devastate the opposition's batting, but his playing style was also notable for his perceived wayward profligacy with the ball, his powerful throwing arm but poor catching as a fielder, and his general lack of ability with the bat, with his batting and fielding being described as of "court-jester standard".^[2]

A graph showing Malcolm's Test career bowling statistics and how they have varied over time.

His under-average ability as a batsman seemed however to add to his public popularity,^[3] and he was often given a big cheer when he went out to bat, more often than not at number eleven, a position for which he was often in close competition with the equally batting-averse Phil Tufnell. With a fondness for mighty swings across the line of the ball, he hit some huge sixes for both England and Derbyshire, and became a particular favourite of commentator Brian Johnston.

As the cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "Malcolm, incredibly wholehearted as a bowler and with an easy charm, was a natural underdog with the bat and awkward in the field, and so became a national hero".^[1]

Domestic career[]

Malcolm was one of England's very few genuinely fast bowlers of the 1990s. Born in Kingston, Jamaica,^[4] he emigrated to Sheffield in 1979 and studied there at Richmond College.^[5]

He remained a highly effective bowler in county cricket, however, and in 1998 Malcolm moved to play for Northamptonshire. Two years later he moved again, this time to Leicestershire, for whom he played his final first-class match in 2003. In his final season Malcolm claimed over 60 wickets and achieved one 10-wicket haul.^[6] He passed 1,000 first-class wickets with Leicestershire.^[7]

International career[]

Malcolm's chance to play for England came when several members of the then current Test team announced their intention to take part in a rebel tour to South Africa during the 1989 Ashes series, thereby disqualifying themselves from selection for the rest of the series.^[1] He was lucky to make his first international appearance in the Fifth Test against an Australian cricket team already 3–0 up in the series, though his first day in international cricket ended wicketless, as did all his team-mates, for this was the occasion on which Mark Taylor and Geoff Marsh batted together unbeaten throughout the first day. On the second day of the match, Malcolm finally managed his first scalp at this level, and it was that of Steve Waugh for a duck – although it made little difference to the outcome, and Australia crushed England by an innings. Malcolm scored 14 runs in his two innings at the bottom of the order, including a four and a six, which perhaps raised false hopes as to his batting ability. He also scored his top Test score of 29 off only 18 balls in the 1994–1995 tour of Australia, which included three fours and two successive sixes off Shane Warne.^[8]

On the West Indies tour in 1989/90, Malcolm made a major impact and excelled as England won the First Test. He then took ten wickets in the Second Test and, with a total of nineteen scalps in four Tests, returned as England's leading wicket-taking bowler of the trip.^[1]

On 20 August 1994, playing for England against South Africa at The Oval, Malcolm was hit on the helmet by a bouncer while batting at number 11 against bowler Fanie de Villiers. He was incensed by this, turning to the South African slip cordon and exclaiming the now famous words "You guys are history".^[9] South Africa's second innings was then destroyed by Malcolm in an outstanding and extremely hostile display of accurate fast bowling, taking nine wickets for only 57 runs, the eighth-best bowling figures in an innings in the entire history of Test cricket as of 2021.

Malcolm's relationship with the then England team manager Ray Illingworth became strained and culminated in a row during the following series against South Africa in 1995–96.^[10] He was also reported to have had disagreements with England's then bowling coach, Peter Lever.^[6] Malcolm bowled poorly with the second new ball in the final Test, which allowed Dave Richardson and Paul Adams to add 73 for the last wicket.^[8]

Beyond cricket[]

Malcolm runs a company that sells cricket equipment to schools and clubs around the world.DEM Sports

References[]

External links[]

• Cricinfo page on Devon Malcolm
• Sunday Times article 23 August, 2009