The date above is incorrect. The summer of '75 was when the picture was taken.
(Part 1) 1970s
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Many would still regard Dennis Lillee as the finest fast bowler who ever
lived. Team-mate Rod Marsh summed up his qualities. "He had great
stamina and great rhythm mixed with a sense of adventure: he was never
frightened to try things out and when people were not bowling well
Dennis always wanted the ball. Most of his wickets were top order
batsmen and if he'd had a yorker like Joel Garner or Craig McDermott I
shudder to think how many Test wickets he would have taken." The Lillee
of the early years was by no means the perfect fast bowler: a long,
gangly unco-ordinated run from a man with long black hair.
He did not
add the trademark Zapata moustache until the England tour of 1972, when
he had already taken 5-84 against England in Adelaide in 1970-71 and
8-29 when bowling out the Rest of the World - Gavaskar, Engineer,
Kanhai, Zaheer, Clive Lloyd, Greig, Sobers and Hall - for 59 in Perth.
He had to rebuild his back as well as his action after breaking down in
the West Indies in 1973 and few expected him to return for the Ashes in
1974-75, but he pounded the roads of Perth until he was fit and became
the student of fast bowling from which grew the most perfect action of
them all. He took 20 wickets in four Tests in 1975 and 21 against West
Indies in 1975-76, as well as taking part in a last wicket partnership
of 41 with Jeff Thomson in the first World Cup Final as they tried for
an impossible victory.
He was still at his most lethal in World Series
Cricket, when he took 7-23 in Sydney as West Indies were bowled out for
89 and took 23 wickets on the WSC tour of West Indies, taking 5-126 in
the first international match in Antigua. (Bob Harragan)
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Dennis Lillee bowling for Australia in 4th June 1981. Photo by George Herringshaw. ©
(Part 2) 1980s
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Cricket changed its image in 1979 and Dennis Lillee turned from
embodying the best of the old era to being the flag-carrier of the new.
In the floodlit bays of Melbourne and Sydney Australian supporters
roared as Lillee, with his bald spot shining and wearing the gold kit of
the new-style game, was counted in to a waiting Richards, or Lloyd, or
Lance Cairns. In 1979-80, as World Series and traditional cricket
merged, he took 6-60 and 5-78 at Melbourne to show that Test cricket had
a place in the new era. By now Thomson had faded and Pascoe and Hogg
became his new partners.
He took 4-34 in the Centenary Test at Lord's
and 6-34 against New Zealand. He took 21 wickets in three Tests against
India. In 1981 he returned to England still recovering from a bout of
pneumonia, being given special permission by the England captain to
leave the field after each spell to change his shirt and dry himself. He
took 39 wickets in six Tests, including 7-89 at the Oval and duelled
with Ian Botham. Those at Old Trafford that year will never forget
Botham hooking Lillee for 6 with his eyes shut. "He was so aggressive it
was unbelievable, both verbally and in the way he bowled", said Tony
Greig. "I think he frightened a lot of people".
His mate Marsh sums him
up best. "He was a man's man in the field and that's how it should be,
but I don't think there's a guy in the world who signed more autographs
for small children." (Bob Harragan)
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