Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a West Indian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is regarded as one of the finest and fastest pacemen ever to have played Test cricket. His Test bowling average of 20.94 is the best of anyone who has taken 200 or more wickets. He achieved his bowling success despite being, by the standards of other fast bowlers, a short man – he stood at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m), while most of the great quicks have been well above 6 feet (1.8 m) and many great West Indian fast bowlers, such as Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, were 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) or above. He generated fearsome pace from his bowling action, with a dangerous bouncer. Marshall was also a very dangerous lower-order batsman with ten Test fifties and seven first-class centuries.
Marshall was born in Bridgetown, Barbados. His father, Denzil Marshall, was a policeman, but died in a road traffic accident when Marshall was one year old. His mother, Eleanor (née Welch) remarried and Marshall had one half-brother and one half-sister. He grew up in the parish of Saint Michael, Barbados and was educated at St Giles Boys' School from 1963 to 1969 and then at Parkinson Comprehensive from 1969 to 1973.
Geoffrey Boycott OBE (born 21 October 1940) is a former Yorkshire and England cricketer. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's most successful opening batsmen. Since retiring as a player, Boycott has found further success as a cricket commentator.
Boycott made his international debut in a 1964 Test match against Australia. He was noted for his ability to occupy the crease and became a key feature of England's Test batting line up for many years, although he was less successful in his limited One Day International (ODI) appearances. He accumulated large scores – he is the fourth highest accumulator of first-class centuries in history, and the first English player to average over 100 in a season (1971 and 1979) – but often encountered friction with his team mates. Journalist Ian Wooldridge commented that "Boycott, in short, walks alone", while cricket writer John Arlott wrote that Boycott had a "lonely" career. Others, however, have stated that the extent of his introverted nature has been exaggerated, and that while he was "obsessed with success" he was not a selfish player.
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar ( pronunciation (help·info); born 24 April 1973) is an Indian cricketer widely considered to be one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the first player to score a double century in ODI cricket. In 2002, just 12 years into his career, Wisden ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. Tendulkar was a part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team in the later part of his career, his first such win in six World Cup appearances for India. He is currently nominated for receiving the Bharat Ratna award.
Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, KNH, OBE (born 7 March 1952) is a former West Indian cricketer. Known as Viv (or King Viv), Richards was voted one of the five Cricketers of the Century in 2000, by a 100-member panel of experts, along with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs and Shane Warne. In February 2002, he was judged by Wisden to have played the best One Day International (ODI) innings of all time. In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the greatest ODI batsman of all time, as well as the third greatest Test batsman of all time, after Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar.
Richards was a very powerful right-handed batsman with an extremely attacking style, besides being an excellent fielder, and a handy off-spin bowler. He is often regarded as the most devastating batsman that ever played the game by cricketers, journalists, fans and others alike, and played his entire career without a helmet, across the 17 years from 1974 till 1991.
Several prominent personalities including former cricketer and legendary fast bowler and all-rounder Imran Khan and noted writer John Birmingham are of the opinion that Richards was the best ever batsman against genuine fast bowling. Many other former players of the game rate him extremely high overall as a batsman. For Barry Richards, Ravi Shastri and Neil Fairbrother, he remains the best batsman they ever witnessed.Wasim Akram rates Richards the greatest batsman he ever bowled to, ahead of Sunil Gavaskar and Martin Crowe.Martin Crowe, arguably the greatest batsman to have ever emerged from New Zealand, rates Viv Richards as the best batsman he played against along with Greg Chappell. Richards was also Crowe's cricketing idol along with Donald Bradman, Garfield Sobers and Greg Chappell.
Desmond Leo Haynes (born 15 February 1956) is a West Indian cricketer and cricket coach. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1991. Haynes formed a formidable partnership with Gordon Greenidge for the West Indies cricket team in Test cricket during 1980s. Between them they managed 16 century stands, four in excess of 200. The pair made 6482 runs while batting together in partnerships, the second highest total for a batting partnership in Test cricket history. Haynes favoured a more measured approach to batting. He compiled 7487 runs in 116 Test matches at an average of 42.29, his highest Test innings coming against England in 1984 with 184 off 395 balls. He is one of the few Test batsman to have been dismissed handled the ball, falling in this fashion against India on 3 March 1978.
He first made his name on the international scene with 148 against Australia at Antigua in a One-Day International against Australia and until recently Haynes held a number of ODI records, including most runs and most centuries. He played in the World Cup of 1979, won by the West Indies, and returned to the competition in 1983, 1987 and 1992. In the 25 World Cup matches, Haynes scored 854 runs at 37.13 with three fifties and one century.