"I think Inshan now believes in himself... He's on top of the world and he feels there is no batsman he shouldn't get out." Former Test cricketer Frank Tyson also thought highly of Ali, stating that he "disguised his chinamen and his wrong 'uns with consummate artistry, spinning the ball quite prodigiously", although Tyson believed Ali's inability to counter batsmen who advanced down the pitch to him was his downfall. Ali had a number of shortcomings as a Test cricketer, including his poor batting and his "annoying habit of running across the line of the stumps (while bowling), especially when he senses a caught-and-bowled chance." Opposition batsman complained and one umpire said he could not rule on an lbw decision because Ali had run across the umpire's line of sight. Ali was also a poor fielder, described as "nervous" by one onlooker. Clive Lloyd was visibly displeased during the Second Test of the 1975/76 West Indies tour of Australia when Ali took the field as a substitute fielder, and even more so when he dropped a simple catch. He was described as looking "increasingly out of place in the team as the emphasis switched to non-stop fast bowling, and his inability to translate his first-class form to Test level was one of the factors that encouraged West Indies to transform their game." It has been argued that Ali, like other West Indian spinners from the 1970s onwards, was treated poorly by West Indian selectors and captains too impatient to let spinners mature, and captains unable to set fields for spinners. Ali retired from first-class cricket at the completion of the 1979/80 West Indies season. Personal life Ali's younger brother Imkhan died of cancer on 26 December 1969 aged 18. Ali returned to playing club cricket in Trinidad shortly before developing throat cancer, of which he died, aged 45, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 24 June 1995. Inshan Ali Oval in Preysal is named for him. During 2014 a biography entitled Pride of Preysal – The Inshan Ali Story, written by Ali's sister Shafeeza Ali-Motilal, was published. References Ali-Motilal, S. (2014) The Pride of Preysal, Royards Publishing Company: Macoya. Cameron, D. (1974) Caribbean Crusade, Readers Union, Newton Abbott. Tyson, F. (1976) The Hapless Hookers, Garry Sparke & Associates, Toorak, Victoria. . Footnotes and citations 1949 births 1995 deaths West Indies Test cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers North Trinidad