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Ultimate epitome of fast bowling perfection with escalated competitive intensity

By Harsh Thakor*
On July 18th the cricket world celebrated the 75th birthday of Dennis Lillee.The very sight of him running in to the bowling mark was one of cricket’s most captivating sights. Dennis Lillee pumped adrenalin or never say die spirit to an unparalleled height in his era and was an epitome of perfection in the art of fast bowling. 
Lillee escalated competitivity to intensity of a Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier boxing bout. If I ever wanted a bowler to resurrect a team from the depths of despair, there was no more appropriate character than Dennis Lillee. Arguably with Sir Viv Richards he was the most defining cricketer of the 1970’s. The resurrection he made after profusely suffering from a spine injury in 1973 in West Indies is cricket’s closest to Muhammad Ali’s comeback.
On the most docile strips it was his wide repertoire that would still make him come out on top. Lillee had every weapon in his armoury be it the outwsinger, the leg-cutter, the yorker, bouncer or a slower ball. He was the best ever exponent of the leg-cutter .Lillee blended all the components of pace bowling be it speed, movement, control, accuracy and versatility, like arguably no pace bowler ever. 
Personally I consider Lillee a better bowler at fast medium in the late 1970’s than at tearway pace in the mid 1970’s.
Most noteworthy was Dennis Lillee’s role in shaping  into a  cricketing superpower in the stature of Bradman’s team of the 1940’s.With Jeff Thomson he comprised the most lethal pace bowling possibly ever  on a cricket pitch. 
The credit for nurturing Lillee goes to Ian Chappell, reminding you of throwing a bone to a Doberman. Without Ian’s motivation Lillee’s potential would never have been full tapped.
More than anything I would like to remember Lillee for the joy and energy he radiated and derived from cricket. His avid sense of humour made him cricket's best loved characters. His memorable battles with Viv Richards or Derek Randall in the 1977 centenary tests will remain forever in a cricketing folklore.      

Highlights of career 

His 8-29 when razing the rest of the world xi to the ground at Perth in 1971-72 reminded me of a blitzkrieg, dislodging great players like Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai and Tony Greig. In 4 tests against rest of the world Lille had 24 scalps, which was remarkable 
At the Oval in 1972 Lillee captured 10 wickets where he epitomised the classical art of fast bowling, as few paceman ever did. His sheer rhythm was a sight to behold. Overall he captured 31 wickets, in that edition of the Ashes.
In 1973-74 he suffered from major back injury in the West Indies, and was virtually kept out of playing any match on the tour.
In 1974-75 home Ashes in England Lillee captured 25 wickets at 23.84.in 6 tests.He bowled a devasting spell to capture eight wickets; in the 5th test at Adelaide. He was a personification of consistency, sharing the ball with partner Jeff Thomson, to cause wreckage unparalleled in cricket history.
In 1975 in 4 tests in England he took 21 scalps at 21.90.
In 1975-76 in a home series against West Indies Lillee captured 27 wickets at an average of 26.37 in 5 games. He bowled sensational spells at Adelaide and Melbourne, capturing 4-132 and 5 wickets , respectively. Lillee’s variety movement and control was the perfect foil for the g sheer speed of Jeff Thomson, who both epitomised consistency.
In 1976 at Auckland, Lillee ripped through the Kiwi batting, taking 5-51 and 6-72, wining the match for his team.
When capturing 6-26 at Melbourne in the Centenary test in 1977 Lillee skittled out the English batsman with explosiveness of lightning striking manifesting fast bowling skill in zones rarely transcended, blending every element of perfection in pace bowling art. His late oustwing mesmerised his opponents. To this day Rodney Marsh ranks it as the best ever bowling spell in his era.In the 2nd ining she personified endurance and craft at it’s zenith, taking 5-139,to win the game for his country by 45 runs.
In 1977,in a drawn rubber he had 21scalps against Pakistan, virtually ripping his opponents flesh in the 2nd test  at Melbourne.
In Kerry Packer World series from 1977-79, Lillee was at his best when capturing 79 wickets in 15 supertests. Here he faced the very best opposition, bowling to the likes of Barry and Viv Richards, Zaheer Abbas etc At a reduced speed he was still more lethal than any great West Indies fast bowlers, which was evident with his 7-23 v West Indies in a supertest in 1978-79 and a five wicket haul in 1977-78.In West Indies,in 1979 ,in 5 supertsets, he took 24 scalps,proving his skill on batting tracks.
Against West Indies in 1979-80 capturing 5-78 at Adelaide Lillee took aggression to it’s boiling point when dismissing great batsman like Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards. Rarely have I seen such a skill ever exuded by fast bowler against the great Calypso team. 
At Melbourne against England in 1979-80 capturing 11wickets on a docile surface Lillee resembled a surgeon performing a successful operation in no man's land bowling seam up. 
Ranking best 100 cricketers, Cristopher Martin Jenkins ranked Lillee 19th, Geoff Armstrong 12th and David Gower 16th 
Rarely did I ever witness such subtle use of a leg cutter or such classical fusing of pace with control and movement. Overall he had 23 scalps at an average of 16.86.This proved he was still the best fast bowler in the world, even when West Indies were in their prime that season down under, possessing  the most lethal pace battery of all time.
In 1980-81 against India, Lillee was consistency personified inspite of no five wicket haul, taking 21 scalps. He always got the better of the great Sunil Gavaskar. and his 4-65 at Melbourne  was fast bowling at it’s most classical height. Earlier in the season against New Zealand he bowled some blistering spells like a match-winnning 6-53 at Brisbane. Overall he captured 16 wickets at 15.31.
In 1981 when taking 7-89 at the Oval in unhelpful conditions, he ran through a powerful English batting line up, with his subtle craft. I can never forget ho s most effective out swingers and trapping Geoff Boycott in front. Lillee captured 39 wickets in the 1981 Ashes, being consistency personified. He was also at his best in the 1st test at Trent Bridge, taking 5- 46 and when taking 4-49 at Leeds. Partner Terry Alderman overshadowed Lillee, taking a record Ashes haul of 32 scalps for an Australian bowler.
In 1981-82 he produced a match winning 5-18 against Pakistan in the 1st test at Perth, when they were skittled out for a mere 62, which was overshadowed with the incident of kicking Javed Miandad. On a flat track at Brisbane in the 2nd test, he took pace bowling skill to a superlative height, taking 5-81 and 4-51.
Lillee was at his fiery best  against West Indies at Melbourne in 1981 on boxing day, when his 7-83 included one of test cricket's most sensational opening spells ever at the end of the day, He captured  3 wickets for a mere 1 run, including cartwheeling Viv Richards. Rarely has energy been escalated to such volumes on a cricket filed, reminiscent of thunderstorm coming from no man's land.
Lille retired after a home series against Pakistan, when he captured 23 scalps at 26., losing none of the fiery power and determination of yester years.
In 1981 Lillee captured a then record haul of 85 wickets .for a calendar year.

Evaluation of Lillee 

When evaluating the greatest ever right arm fast bowlers it is a virtual tossup between Malcolm Marshall, and Dennis Lillee. I would consider Lillee the more classically complete or versatile, but Marshall the more creative who proved himself in the sub-continent, unlike Lillee. In my view Andy Roberts was came closest to Lillee in terms of classical all-round perfection. 
Lillee never bowled in India and in his only series in Pakistan found it a sheer graveyard. This brought him down in estimation of the game's critiques and fans. Still I would like to remind readers that Lillee championed slow surfaces, like at Melbourne in 1979-80, Oval in 1981 and Adelaide v West Indies in 1979-80. 
Lillee in the moral sense captured 459 wickets in 89 test matches, and averaged 23.92 and took 31, 5 wicket hauls and 7, 10 wickets hauls, if you add the World Series super tests and the unofficial games played against rest of the world  His strike rate was exactly 52 balls per wicket. In official tests won Lillee had 203 scalps at an average of 18.27.
 In ODI’s Lillee captured 103 wickets at 20.82 in 63 matches.
Statistically he was overshadowed by Dale Steyn, Glen McGrath, Malcolm Marshall, Richard Hadlee or Curtly Ambrose. However If you consider the opposition and situations in which Lillee captured his scalps, Lillee would arguably overshadow all of them, apart from Malcolm Marshall. 
In my opinion, overall, in history of  test cricket Lillee ranks only behind Sydney Barnes and Malcolm Marshall and combining ODI Cricket, only behind Wasim Akram and Glen Mcgrath.
In test cricket Lillee may just loose out by a whisker in my all-time World test XI, to Wasim Akram, Malcolm Marshall, and Curtly Ambrose, taking into account match-winning ability.
Ex stars like Colin Croft, Alvin Kalicharan,  Javed Miandad Mudassar Nazar, Richard Hadlee Viv Richards, Barry Richards Ian Chappell  and Greg Chappell  rate  Lillee was the best ever pace bowler. Lillee has been chosen more than any pace bowler in all-time cricket world teams by former cricketers, capturing 53 votes, 18 more than Malcolm Marshall.
Ranking the best 100 cricketers of all time, Cristopher Martin Jenkins ranked Lillee at 19th place, Geoff Armstrong at 12th place and David Gower at 16th place. All ranked Marshall ahead of Lillee, but Richard Hadlee and Curtly Ambrose below. Gower and Armstrong rate Lillee above Mcgrath. 
Pertinent that statistician   Ananth Narayan in an evaluation in 2009, ranked Lillee at the top, assessing combination of strength of opposition, impact and nature of wickets.

After retirement 

I greatly regret that his behaviour abused the gentlemanly spirit of the game of cricket, turning it into a war. It brings tears in my eyes remembering the incident of Lillee kicking Javed Miandad in the 1981-82 Perth test and when fighting with Mike Brearley when using an aluminium bat in 1979-80 on the same ground. Time and again he sledged opponents on field, triggering uncalled aggro. 
After he retired in 1983-84 he contributed to cricket as coach. Through the MRF Pace Foundation, Lillee imparted his vast knowledge to young fast bowlers from India and around the world. Lillee shared his wealth of experience pioneering a   scientific approach to training and coaching in fast bowling in India, introducing strength training, video analysis, dietary planning, and state-of-the-art infrastructure. He paved the way for a 135kph bowler to escalate speed to 140kph-plus, or to bowl any kind of delivery one wished to bowl.
Subrito Banerjee  the former Test fast bowler and current India selector, who was amongst  the first batch of bowlers Dennis coached at MRF. "Dennis taught us how to be champions," he says. "If it wasn't for him, I would have never realised my full potential as a bowler."
Lille rated Viv Richards as the best batsman he ever bowled to and Andy Roberts and John Snow, as the best pace bowlers of his time. Overall he ranks Tendulkar on top amongst batsman and Curtly Ambrose the best fast bowler after the 1990’s . He held  Gundappa Vishwanath in high  awe as well as David Gower and Javed Miandad,ranking Gower amongst the 3 best batsmen he ever bowled to ,while Miandad the 7th best.
He wrote a most inspiring autobiography 'The Menace’ in 2003, doing justice to the golden era of Australian cricket.
---
*Freelance journalist

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