The people of the Caribbean Community and the fraternity of cricket lovers everywhere have lost one of their heroes.

Malcolm Denzil Marshall was one of the Ambassadors of Sport who with his colleagues in the great West Indies Cricket Team of the nineteen seventies and eighties inspired the deepest admiration and epitomised the highest aspirations of West Indian people everywhere.

His feats have been well chronicled and have been lauded not only by those he represented, but in every country in which he played. His record over the fifteen seasons he played for Hampshire in the English County Championship and other competitions ranks second only to his outstanding performances and achievements for his beloved West Indies. Malcolm Marshall was neither tall nor large in physique yet he used his skill and his brain to become one of the finest fast bowlers that cricket has ever seen. Therein lies perhaps his greatest contribution to the Caribbean peoples - the pursuit of excellence always.

On his retirement, he had taken the most Test wickets by a West Indian and still holds the best average of all West Indian bowlers. Malcolm Marshall was to do more. After retirement, he gave back to West Indies cricket and particularly to the Team, his time, experience, skill and a loyalty which his successors must strive to emulate.

The quality of Malcolm Marshall's contribution to the West Indies Cricket Team, to the Caribbean, and to the game he loved and played with such poise, good humour and a burning desire to win, will be among the fondest recollections of West Indians long after his passing. His exemplary professionalism should serve as the standard by which other generations of West Indian cricketers will be judged.

The Secretary-General and staff of the Caribbean Community Secretariat extend to the immediate family and to the people of Barbados, their sincere condolences on the passing of this distinguished son of Barbados and the West Indies.

In honour of the passing of this great West Indian, the CARICOM Secretariat will be officially represented at the funeral.