Glenn McGrath

Some Lesser Known Facts About Glenn McGrath

• Glenn Mcgrath is a former Australian cricketer widely renowned as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He was a type of bowler whose focus was more on accuracy than express pace. He had the ability to bowl consistently at one point without deviating from his line & length with very little seam movement. Under his bowling, Australia was at the pinnacle of success during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

  

• He started playing cricket in  Narromine, New South Wales where he was spotted by Doug Walters; a former Australian cricketer. He then moved to Sydney to play grade cricket. It wasn’t easy for him to climb the ladder of success. In one of the British daily newspapers, The Guardian, it was reported that ^[25]Cricket Country
  

  “He had to live in a beach caravan. At the same time, he had to work in a bank. His colleague had told the paper, He used to sign withdrawal slips and pass them to girls and say “keep this because I’m going to be famous one day.”

  

• In one of the matches, during his younger days, he was not given the ball due to his inconsistent bowling. Dejected Mcgrath then started practicing in the backyard of his house. One of the reporters of ABC Michael Vincent told,
  

  “He didn’t have an even wicket, he didn’t even have a set of stumps and, like many other country kids before him, he improvised, raining down balls on a 44-gallon drum. Ball after ball, after ball.”

• His first major tournament for New South Wales (NSW) was in the 1992-93 season. Within just a span of eight first-class matches, he made his international test debut for Australia in November 1993. His performance in the first match was impressive when he took the wickets of Danny Morrison, Mark Greatbatch, and Blair Pocock after conceding 142 runs in 55 overs. The touring captain Martin Crowe after winning the toss opted to field first so Mcgrath has to wait till the second day to hold the red cherry in his hand.

  

• During Australia’s 1995 victory over West Indies, Mcgrath took the approach of bouncing the West Indies Team, including the bowlers. In Mcgrath’s biography, Ricky Ponting wrote,
  

  “I remember thinking Glenn’s decision to take on the West Indies bowlers sent out a positive message to the West Indies that the Australian side was really up for it. Ambrose, Walsh, Kenny Benjamin had never been treated like that before. It made the West Indies sit back and think, ‘This Australian team is fair dinkum—they’re really up for it.’ Even if you aren’t the murder boys of cricket, you can show little things to let the opposition know you are serious. It might be the way you warm-up, how you dress to go to the ground. Perception can be enormous. If you can give off the right signals to (a) bluffing them or (b) showing them what you’re all about. McGrath, at that stage of his career, showed them what he was all about. His body language and the way he looked at their batsman — the wry smile — it sent a signal to the batsman and his own teammates that he knew what he was doing.”

  

• He met his future wife Jane at a nightclub in Hong Kong named Joe Bananas in 1995. Recalling those days, Jane told,
  

  “Of all the guys there, he was the last one to say hello. So the challenge was there for me. Initially, she did not know how big a cricketing figure McGrath was. It was only after a few incidents that she realized that McGrath was a legend and respected by most people in Australia.”

  

• In 2000, he started playing for Worcestershire in the English County Championship where he became popular among the county’s supporters. Playing for the side, he took 80 wickets in 14 first-class games with a bowling average of 13.21 runs per wicket which includes his bowling performance of 8 for 41 against Northamptonshire. Besides this, he also scored one fifty (55 runs) against Nottinghamshire. In 2004, he played for the Middlesex team but could only grab nine wickets in four first-class games.

• His batting was somehow infamous in the cricketing world. Once, he had a bet with his friend Shane Warne that he will hit a fifty at least once in his international career. He finally achieved it on 20 November 2004 against New Zealand at The Gabba (Brisbane) in a test match which was won by Australia.

  

• During the 2005 Ashes series, in the first test at Lords, Mcgrath produced the spell that led England to score 155 runs with the loss of ten wickets. He finished with five wickets for fifty-three runs and completed his 500 wickets in test cricket. In the second inning, he took 4 wickets and conceded 29 runs. With his overall match performance, he was adjudged Player of the match.

  

• Right before the start of the second test match at the Edgbaston, Mcgrath injured his ankle hence, unable to play in the match. England won this match by two runs. He then played the third test at Old Trafford where he took his second five-wicket haul. Mcgrath again missed the fourth Test at Trent Bridge which England won convincingly by three wickets. The fifth test was the decider at the Oval. Mcgrath was back in the team. The match ended in a draw giving England the series win. Mcgrath’s injury was seen as the key factor in England winning the Ashes as the victory came in matches where Mcgrath was absent.

  

• The next Ashes series took place a year later in 2006-2007 in Australia. Mcgrath was back in the squad after participating in the 2006 Champions Trophy to reclaim his spot in Australia’s test XI. The first test was at Gabba where Mcgrath took a six-wicket haul and set the tone for Australia’s yet another Ashes victory over England. This time Australia completely whitewashed England with 5-0. It was the only second Ashes whitewash after the 1920-21 Ashes series. Mcgrath finished the series with 21 wickets at an average of 23.90. It was his final test series. In his biography, Mcgrath wrote,
  

  “There was an incredible sense of emotion and elation as I walked around the Sydney Cricket Ground with my teammates, holding hands with my children, James and Holly. I didn’t feel the slightest sense of sadness about retiring. I knew I’d reached the end; my body told me that. And even more importantly, I’d realized that those special moments I was missing in the life and times of my family were too great … the moments had become weeks at a time, and I didn’t like it.”

  

• 23 December 2006 was the day when Mcgrath announced his retirement from tests. Interestingly, he took the wicket of the last ball of his Test career. After the 2007 World Cup in West Indies, he retired from ODIs as well. In that World Cup, he was named as a player of the tournament. His spell of 3 for 18 runs in the 2007 World Cup was named as the fifth-best ODI bowling performance of the year by ESPNCricinfo voters.

  

• He was then signed by the Delhi Daredevils for the 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL) season where he emerged as the most economical bowler for the team. During that tournament, Dirk Nannes famously said,
  

  “I will tell my grandchildren that I was responsible for keeping out the greatest fast bowler of all times of a playing XI.”

  

  The next season, he did not participate. However, he played for the team in the 2009 Champions League Twenty20 which was the last cricket tournament for him.

• Glenn Mcgrath is the director of the MRF Pace Foundation (Chennai) after replacing Dennis Lillee. He also serves as the president of the Mcgrath Foundation, a breast cancer support founded by his first wife late Jane. Jane fought multiple battles with metastatic breast cancer. Mcgrath was all the way to support her during her tough times. On  22 June 2008, she died at an age of 42 from complications following the cancer surgery. In her honor, Day Three of the annual Sydney Test is marked as Jane McGrath Day.

  

• Glenn Mcgrath rates Caribbean great Brian Lara as the toughest batter to have ever bowled to in international cricket. ^[26]The Bridge Chronicle.

  

• In a private session hosted by HCL Technologies during the World Economic Forum (WEF), Mcgrath was asked about the modern-day greats to which he replied, about Bumrah, ^[27]Cricfit Cricket Academy
  

  “Bumrah is quite a unique bowler. He doesn’t have a long run-up like a lot of fast bowlers have. But he has got good pace, incredible control, and the right attitude.”

  While for Rabada, he told,

  “This South African bowler Rabada is an amazing bowler, I’m a big fan of his. I’m leaving Australian bowlers out of this list as I feel they all are great,” he said when asked to pick the best cricketers of today’s generation.”

  On the other hand, talking about Steven Smith, he told,

  “Smith is a little bit unique, he is a little strange, he is not normal, but has got a great hand and eye coordination. Technically, he is not a textbook batsman, but the way he bats is amazing.”

  About Virat Kohli, he told,

  “He is a class player and is very technically correct. He is a little bit unusual and very aggressive on the filed especially as an Indian captain, but he is a class player.”

  

• Recalling his time in ICC World Cup 2003 final when he took the wicket of Sachin, he told, ^[28]Firstpost
  

  “It was a big match and Sachin opened the innings in Johannesburg, South Africa. Almost 90 percent, or probably 95 percent crowd were supporting India because South Africans either support South Africa or whoever is playing against Australia. Sachin came for batting and the first three balls, I kept pretty tight and he didn’t score any runs. On the fourth ball, he went for a pull shot, hit me over to mid-off for four runs. The crowd was cheering and I’m sure people watching the match India must have been pretty happy too. The next ball was a very similar delivery, just bounced a little more, he went to play that pull shot again but he hit it straight up in the air and it came straight to my hands for a comfortable caught and bowled. I was pretty happy with that, but obviously, Indian fans were not happy with that.”

• Talking about his test records, he has played 124 matches and took 563 wickets with an average of 21.64. Besides this, he has bowled 4874.4 overs and conceded 12186 runs with an economy of 2.49. He has taken a 5-wicket haul 29 times. Against England, he has a better record with 157 wickets in 60 innings. This followed up with West Indies against whom he had taken 110 wickets with an average of 19.38. His best bowling in a match of 10 for 103 runs came against India on 2 January 2000 at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). The year 2001 was his most successful year with 68 wickets in 14 test matches. He has played under Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, and Ricky Ponting. With the bat, he has scored 641 runs with 61 being the highest score which came against New Zealand on 18 November 2004.

  

• In One Day Internationals, he has played 250 matches and taken 381 wickets with an average of 22.02. Besides this, he has bowled 2161.4 overs and conceded 8391 runs with an economy of 3.88. Against New Zealand, he has better records with 59 wickets in 32 matches. This followed up with South Africa (58) and Pakistan (57). The year 1999 was the most successful time in his life where he had taken 52 wickets in 27 matches. He has played under eight ODI captains namely Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Ian Healy, Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, and Michael Hussey.

  

• In T20Is, he has just played two matches and taken five wickets with an average and economy of 15.80 and 9.87 respectively. The two matches he played were against New Zealand and England under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting.