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Once more, for Macko!

It was a day of gloriously happy memories.

Forty-seven of the world's greatest cricketers gathered in London today (Thursday 27th July) to pay tribute to the late West Indian fast bowling legend Malcolm Marshall.

He died last November of cancer of the colon, at the age of just 41.

If the prospect of that turn-out wasn't exciting enough, the game also offered the never-to-be-repeated chance to see two of Wisden's five 'Cricketers of the Century' in action in the same game - Sir Viv Richards and Shane Warne.

The venue for the 35 overs memorial game, played to raise money to support Marshall's wife Connie and son Mali, was the Honourable Artillery Company Ground, a compact, green oasis hidden in the heart of the financial district of London, surrounded by office blocks. It was here that the first recorded game of cricket took place, in 1725.

The scorecard read like a Who's Who and a Who Was Who of international cricket.

Captaining the Malcolm Marshall XI was Sir Viv Richards, while Robin Smith, of Hampshire and England led out the opposition, the International Professional Cricketers' Association Bunbury XI.

The proceedings began on a sombre note, with The Last Post being played and echoing around the ground, followed by a minute's silence, with all the players lined up on the pitch.

But the rest of the day was a celebration of the life of a great cricketer and a highly respected and much-loved human being.

Sir VIv won the toss and inserted the opposition, saying: 'I can always rely on my bowlers.'

And what a line-up he had.

Glenn McGrath opened from one end, while Michael Holding was tossed the ball to open from the other end. There was plenty of backing for those two in a side which would have been any Test batsman's nightmare. Also up his sleeve, Sir Viv had Wasim Akram, Courtney Walsh, Joel Garner and Ian Bishop. And if he wanted to vary that diet of extreme pace, he could always whistle up Shane Warne, Phil Simmons, Alvin Kallicharan and Collis King?

First out to face the awesome attack were former Northamptonshire and England player Wayne Larkins and current Worcestershire and England batsman Graeme Hick.

This being a charity game, however, the runs came easily and the bowlers did not come off their full run-ups. Michael Holding did once come off a longer run-up, reminiscent of the style that had won him the sobriquet of 'Whispering Death', but he stopped short of actually releasing the ball.

Even off a short run, it was still a memory to treasure, though, to see that gloriously fluid approach, to see how Holding made the ball all but talk, and to think back to what he was in his heyday.

Courtney Walsh added to the fun by doing a more than passable impersonation of Marshall himself, with his angled approach to the wicket, pumping run and extravagant follow-through which left him eyeball to eyeball with the batsman.

The batting to follow was Graham Thorpe, Mark Nicholas (captain of Malcolm Marshall's county side Hampshire for 10 years between 1985 and 1995, and now the voice of Channel 4 cricket in the UK) who hit memorable sixes off the bowling of Shane Warne and Sir Viv, Allan Lamb who dispatched the bowling to all parts of the ground to make a rapid and explosive 70, and Mark Butcher who also played well for an unbeaten 50. You could sense that Butcher felt he had a point to prove, having not only been ignored by England this season, but having also been left out of his county Surrey's side in an important Nat-West Trophy quarter-final against Lancashire on Tuesday.

The Malcolm Marshall team amassed a total of 239.

The memories flooded back again when the Malcolm Marshall team emerged to bat. The opening pair who strode to the crease were none other than Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. They put on 88 for the first wicket against an opening attack of Alan Mullaly and Tim Munton. Greenidge hit a glorious cover drive to get off the mark.

Haynes was smiling throughout and was as jokey as ever, at one stage falling down and rolling around on the ground pretending to be in agony after he was hit in the box by a ball from Tim Munton.

Still to bowl were Mike Gatting, Graeme Hick and Phil Tufnell (who, in customary fashion had done his pre-match training in the hospitality bar with cigarettes and bottles of beer).

But the fall of Desmond Haynes, allowing himself to be bowled by Mike Gatting for 53, was to lead to the biggest cheer of the day.

It was a standing ovation to greet the arrival of Sir Vivian Richards to the crease. Again the memories came flooding back, as he swaggered and swayed to the crease, intimidating the bowler before he even arrived.

One of his two sixes was a beautiful straight shot bludgeoned over mid-off from the bowling of Graeme Hick, after which he memorably gave himself room to cut through the off-side.

However it was a sparkling but short innings. On 35, he fell to a superb diving catch on the boundary from former England fast bowler David 'Syd' Lawrence, from the bowling of David Graveney, now the England chairman of selectors.

As he left the pitch there was a beautiful moment, which felt like the passing on of a crown. The next batsman was Brian Lara, and as they crossed on the outfield Sir Viv embraced Lara. He had memorably supported Lara in his recent autobiography, describing him as 'crying out for help' and suggesting that he was undermined by the West Indian cricketing authorities.

Brian Lara didn't last very long, presumably his mind is on the bigger challenge to come when the West Indies face England in the Third Test Match starting on August 3rd at Old Trafford, Manchester, England. Meanwhile Gordon Greenidge was growing in confidence, even attempting a reverse sweep on his way to 63.

Next in was the diminutive Alvin Kallicharan. Still to come were Collis King, and Australian Justin Langer to help the side cruise to victory. But the result had not been important, it was the memories that mattered.

In his career, Malcolm Marshall took 376 Test wickets, and altogether took 1,524 wickets at 18 runs each and made 9,863 runs with an average of 24.

He is generally regarded as one of the finest and most shrewd bowlers of all time, and has been called 'the thinking man's assassin' for his astonishing ability to make a new ball swing, swerve and leap and to think a batsman out.

He started out life wanting to be a batsman, but got so fed up waiting for a bat as a youngster that he decided to try bowling to skittle the other side out a little faster. In many people's eyes he was really an all-rounder. He was also a lover of life and liked to party.

Many of the players at the game paid tribute to his talents on the pitch and his character off it.

Glenn McGrath: 'I used to sit in front of the television in New South Wales and watch him. He wasn't the tallest of bowlers but he generated a lot of pace, and skidded the ball through. He was, without doubt, one of the best bowlers of all time. He was one of the most intelligent bowlers and one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet off the field. He was hard and tough on the pitch but you wouldn't meet a nicer guy off it.'

Shane Warne: 'He was a fantastic person and a fantastic cricketer, so it's a pleasure to pay tribute to him and his family. Sadly I never played a Test against him. but I know how competitive he was on the golf course. He was probably one of the best fast bowlers to play the game, what he could do with the ball was amazing. He was a great guy and he brought out the best in other people.'

Brian Lara: 'He was my room-mate on my first West Indies tour to Pakistan and he was always willing to give advice. I have wonderful memories of my time with him and I'll cherish every minute.'

Michael Holding: 'The first game I saw him come in and bowl I thought where does this young man get his pace from. He was very accurate and yet still he had top pace. I was very impressed with him from that very first time.

'For me, I think Andy Roberts would still hold the position of best of that bunch of West Indies fast bowlers. I played with both Andy Roberts and Malcolm Marshall, but I think Andy would the best I ever played with.

'But Malcolm Marshall was a good guy. He was one of those who went round the world trying to teach the gospel of cricket. He taught everyone whatever he knew. He taught Shaun Pollock a lot about fast bowling, as he himself would admit. He was that kind of guy, it didn't matter where you were from or who you represented, he was quite willing to give advice.'

Wasim Akram: 'Malcolm was my ideal bowler - we all miss him.'

Joel Garner was among those who recalled being part of the extraordinary West Indies team, which included Malcolm Marshall: 'I think the greatest part of it is that we were all good friends. We played hard, we were very professional on the field, but we were very good friends off the field.

Courtney Walsh: 'It was really good fun being around him and it's sad that he's not with us now. This is a sad occasion, but the fact that so many people have turned out is in itself a wonderful tribute.'

And the great man himself, Viv Richards: 'Malcolm was a very special man. He won the respect of his fellow players both on and off the pitch. He was highly knowledgeable about what he did and had a great ability to assess quickly, to work a batsman over, spot his weaknesses and dismantle him.

'It was great to be a part of this day - it brought back a lot of memories of people I used to play with and against. It was also a great feeling knowing that people still remember you - to still hear the cheers.'

Also attending the event were Alec Stewart, Mohammed Azharruddin, Chris Cairns, John Emburey and Graeme Fowler. The evening ended with Mark Butcher's band entertainiing all in a marquee.