BRIDGETOWN, Barbados -- From prime ministers to team-mates to postmen, the West Indies yesterday mourned the death of their cricketing legend Malcolm Marshall.

One of the finest fast bowlers the game has known, Marshall died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here on Thursday night, aged 41. He had just got married last month but never recovered from colon cancer following an operation to remove a tumour during the World Cup in England in May, when he was coach to the West Indies team.

"This is a most tragic moment in the life of West Indies cricket,'' Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur said.

Tributes came from all over the world.

"I faced him on my first England tour and he was the most fearsome of opponents on the field but off it, one of the nicest blokes you could meet,'' said former England captain Alec Stewart. "He was a genuinely nice man, certainly one of the best fast bowlers I ever faced and probably one of greatest of all time -- it's a great shock.'' For Pakistan captain Wasim Akram he was "my fast-bowling idol.'' Indian cricket great Kapil Dev recalled witnessing the delivery of one of Marshall's balls. "On a green pitch at Kanpur, Marshall hit Sunil Gavaskar on the arm and the bat flew out of his hand. I said, `Wow' -- I had never seen such a thing before.'' In 81 Test matches between 1978 and 1991, Marshall took 376 wickets at an average of 20.94 runs per wicket that is lower than any of the other many outstanding West Indies bowlers. Until 37-year-old Jamaican Courtney Walsh surpassed his mark last year, he had been the leading West Indies wicket-taker in Tests.

"This has been tough on all of us,'' said the Rev. Wes Hall, a great fast bowler of an earlier generation who had ministered to Marshall since his return to his native Barbados from England almost two weeks ago. Hall was at his bedside when he died along with Marshall's wife, Connie, and former West Indies opening batsman, Desmond Haynes.

"West Indies and world cricket has lost one of its greats who still had so much to contribute,'' Hall said.

Viv Richards, who shared Marshall's Test career and was West Indies captain for most of it, compared the loss felt by cricketers the world over with that of golfers at the death of Payne Stewart in a plane crash in the United States last week.

"He was admired the world over,'' Richards said from Mumbai, India, where he is filming television commercials.

In Jamaica yesterday, flags flew at half-mast and players wore black arm bands in the semi-final of the regional one-day tournament, the Red Stripe Bowl.

"We have lost a great West Indian cricketer, outstanding coach, a superbly analytical mind and, in my case, a good friend,'' West Indies Cricket Board president Pat Rousseau said in a statement.

Marshall also played and coached 14 seasons for Hampshire in the English county championship and for Natal province in South Africa, where he was also captain and coach.

At five feet 11 inches tall and 175 pounds at his fittest, he defied the stereotype of the fast bowler as a tall, strapping man with the build of a heavyweight boxer. He made a striking contrast to the tall, well-built partners in pace for much of his career -- Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, the giant Joel Garner, Colin Croft. Together they formed a fearsome combination that was mainly instrumental in the West Indies domination of international cricket during which they did not lose a Test series between 1980 and 1995.

Marshall was also a batsman good enough to score 10 half-centuries in Tests and average 18.42 an innings. In addition to his Test record, he took 157 wickets in 136 one-day internationals.

He was chosen for his first tour with the West Indies at the age of 20 in 1978-79 on the evidence of a single first-class match. He played for the West Indies for the last time at the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Success as a coach with Hampshire and Natal influenced the West Indies Cricket Board to appoint Marshall to the post in place of his former colleague, Andy Roberts, in 1996 when the West Indies were in a period of transition and going through a slump.

He was unable to lift them out of it but had the satisfaction of seeing the team holding world champions Australia to a draw in both the Test and one-day international series in the Caribbean earlier this year. It turned out to be his last role in cricket.

He married his wife, Connie, at a ceremony last month in England where he was receiving treatment. The couple have a son.

Funeral arrangements would be announced later, his family said.

Cricket legend: Malcolm Marshall who died on Thursday at the age of 41.

Bermuda's gift: Among the many awards in the late Malcolm Marshall's collection was this cedar plaque, beautifully carved and designed by Bermuda's Winston Berkeley of Devonshire Stars, and seen here being presented to the player during a Barbados Test match by MP Stanley Morton. Inscribed on the trophy are the words "300-plus from fans of Bermuda, 1991,'' a tribute to Marshall's 300 Test wickets.