"The Pigeon" returns to his nest:
Glenn Donald McGrath, often called as 'The Pigeon’, is a former Australian cricketer. His legs are extremely thin, which resembles a pigeon's. He is known as 'The Pigeon’. He is well known for his accuracy, swing, line and length. In his raw days he used to bowl as fast as 145 kmph. However, he stuck himself to line and length in his crowning period. He made his test debut in 1993, against New Zealand, cap 358(358th Australian test player) and ODI debut against South Africa in 1993, cap no. 138.
McGrath had a peculiar behavior. He used to target a specialist batsman of the opponent team before the commencement of the series saying that he would dismiss him. With this trick he dismissed, an English batsman, Michael Atherton, 19 times in his entire career. This is the highest number of dismissals of a batsman by a single bowler of all times. Perhaps the best way to sum up his greatness was that he did the basics better than anybody else. The most simple principle of Glenn was that he tried and tried, for line and length and loved to build up scoreboard pressure. He may not be that fascinating for people who have seen the stalwarts like fierce Ambrose, mighty Walsh or the Sultan of swing Akram. He stands shoulder to shoulder with Joel Garner and Curtly Ambrose and these three can be called as the most accurate bowlers of all times. They are even misers in their average. His action was as simple as his attitude. With his high arm action he can put the ball wherever he wants and his way of rolling the fingers over the ball to bowl the leg cutters and off cutters is tremendous. However, the following numbers speak of his brilliance in more eloquent terms. His career from November, 1993 to January, 2007 more or less exactly coincided with Australia’s undisputed dominance in world cricket. A close scrutiny of the numbers makes one ask whether Australia would really have been this great side without him. The answer is probably negative.
Australia’s career:
Played
With
McGrath 121
Without
McGrath
Overall