Glenn McGrath

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Glenn Donald McGrath (born 9 February, 1970) is an Australian cricket player, one of the most highly regarded fast bowlers in the country's cricketing history, and a primary contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket during the 1990s and into the 2000s.

Related Topics:
9 February - 1970 - Australia - Cricket - Bowlers - 1990s - 2000s

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McGrath grew up in Narromine, New South Wales, and was picked for his state team in the 1992/93 season, and by the next Australian summer was in the national side after playing only eight State matches. Not the quickest bowler, even at the start of his career, he instead relies on unerring accuracy, and the ability to make the ball seam a little off the pitch. He can also generate steep bounce using a high arm action and the advantage of a 198 cm (6'6") frame. In the latter years of his career he has begun to use swing bowling a lot more than in the past, helping to maintain his effectiveness even as his pace reduces somewhat.

Related Topics:
Narromine - New South Wales - National side - Seam - Pitch - Swing bowling

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McGrath has had success against every opposition team, in both test and one-day cricket. He deliberately (and publicly) targets the opposition's best batsmen; at the beginning of a series against the West Indies he stated in interviews that he aimed, for his 300th wicket, to dismiss star batsman Brian Lara. He did so; what even McGrath could not have predicted was that it was in the middle of a hat trick. The targeting of opposition batsmen has worked; he has dismissed Mike Atherton of England 19 times - the most times any batsman has been dismissed by one bowler in cricket history - as well as having hoodoos over Brian Lara and to a lesser extent Sachin Tendulkar.

Related Topics:
One-day cricket - Batsmen - West Indies - Brian Lara - Hat trick - Sachin Tendulkar

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McGrath is a competent outfielder with an excellent throwing arm; not known for his athleticism, on one memorable occasion in 2002 he took a truly exceptional outfield catch at the Adelaide Oval against England, dismissing English batsman Michael Vaughan off the bowling of Shane Warne, running many metres before leaping into the air and catching the ball with arms outstretched and his body horizontal. His captain, Steve Waugh, described the famous catch as "a miracle" and "one of the great catches in history".

Related Topics:
Adelaide Oval - Michael Vaughan - Shane Warne - Steve Waugh

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McGrath's batting prowess, in the early phases of his career, was non-existent, in fact, he scored first-ball ducks {zero runs} on both his Test and One-Day International debuts. Years of patient tutelage from captain and friend Steve Waugh have improved this aspect of his game, to the point where he has scored a Test half century, which came on 20 November 2004 against New Zealand at Brisbane (Gabba). His final score in that innings was 61. Early in McGrath's career, he made a bet with Mark Waugh that he would at some stage in his career accomplish a Test fifty, thus the elegant batsman has lost out to his fast bowling counterpart. Nevertheless, McGrath is regarded as a genuine batting 'bunny', to his credit coaching from Steve Waugh and others has pushed his average up to above 7.00 runs/innings. In the first World Cricket Tsunami Appeal match, he was promoted to bat at number 6 ahead of Stephen Fleming and Matthew Hayden, but was dismissed first ball trying to slog Muttiah Muralitharan.

Related Topics:
20 November - 2004 - World Cricket Tsunami Appeal - Stephen Fleming - Matthew Hayden - Muttiah Muralitharan

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McGrath played for Worcestershire in the 2000 English County Championship, proving both successful on the field and popular with the county's supporters. In 14 first-class games he took 80 wickets, including a outstanding innings return of 8-41 against Northamptonshire, as well as making his first ever first-class half-century (55 against Nottinghamshire. He also played a few games for Middlesex in 2004, but although accurate could manage only nine wickets in four first-class appearances for the county.

Related Topics:
Worcestershire - 2000 - English - County Championship - Northamptonshire - Nottinghamshire - Middlesex - 2004

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Whilst fiery, confrontational, and on one or two rare occasions on the field ill-disciplined (i.e in his 2003 encounter with Ramnaresh Sarwan in the West Indies), off the field he is generally reputed to be quiet, friendly, and uncomplicated. He is married with two children; his wife, Jane, is a former flight attendant. Jane has successfully fought a battle with breast cancer and a second one with a bone cancer. McGrath has used his profile to raise money for breast cancer charities. His most well-known hobby is hunting wild pigs, a pest animal in some parts of Australia. Clearly, McGrath despite the trappings of cricketing fame is still a 'country' boy at heart, harking back to his early days at Narromine where ironically he couldn't even get a bowl for his local team.

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