McGrath fires parting shot

23 December 2006

Glenn McGrath © Getty Images

Twelve minutes into the press conference arranged to announce his retirement, Glenn McGrath finally cracked and delivered the first comment specifically designed to undermine the opposition.

He had talked about the great times, his strengths and weaknesses and highs and lows of a glittering career, and had even been polite when asked about the two toughest batsmen he faced by naming Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara.

But, perhaps bored with the platitudes and aware another Ashes Test was only days away, he could not resist the type of remark with which he has excelled during a glittering career spanning 13 years.

Asked which English batsmen had caused him the most trouble, McGrath paused long enough for comedic effect before emphasising Australia’s dominance over the last decade of Ashes contests by saying: “That’s a tough one, isn’t it?”

Almost as an after-thought he mentioned players like Michael Atherton, who he dismissed 19 times, Alec Stewart (10), Nasser Hussain (eight); the only member of England’s current line-up singled out was Kevin Pietersen, who he reluctantly admitted could be “a class player for years to come”.

As an attempt to demoralisie the opposition, it was hardly subtle - but it was typical of a bowler who has placed as much importance on the mental side of the game as the technique required to become a top-class seamer.

McGrath has always been the one with the bold predictions, the player who would nominate a batsman he was going to target in a series and more often than not carry out his threat.

Glenn McGrath named Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara as the best batsmen he has faced

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He kept the pressure on, whether it was with his naggingly accurate line and length or in press conferences, where he was confident the media would lap up his quotes, so strikingly different to the bland offerings provided by the majority of international sportsmen.

Some regarded him as arrogant, others claimed it was just self-confidence but, if McGrath is to be believed, then his bold predictions were all part of a plan which has worked to perfection for over a decade.

“I probably knocked a guy over a few times and then the media would go on about getting my bunny,” he said.

“Then I started to have a bit of fun and naming the odd person.

“It was amazing that if I knocked him over in the first Test of a series it grew momentum itself and seemed to put pressure on that person - if they were really concentrating on me, they were not that bothered about the guy bowling at the other end, so that worked very well.”

McGrath was also the first bowler of his type, one who could only ever be described as a tailender, who had the courage to try to intimidate fearsome West Indies pace pair Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh back in 1995.

Shane Warne enjoyed huge success in partnership with McGrath © Getty Images

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“The fact that I’m not that handy with the bat left a lot of people thinking that was quite a brave move, but I was just getting in first,” McGrath claimed.

That act of bravery became the benchmark for fast bowlers all over the world, who now regularly bounce lower-order batsmen as a method of intimidating the opposition - as evidenced by Andrew Flintoff’s unrelenting short-pitched bowling at Brett Lee in a Twenty20 international in 2005.

For all his attempts to undermine the opposition verbally or by targeting their tailenders, McGrath is, above all, one of the outstanding bowlers in cricket history.

To claim 555 wickets in 122 Tests at an average of 21.65 is quite remarkable, particularly when his pace and stamina have been lacking in recent years.

And he remains a potent force, even aged 36, as he proved with two wickets in three balls late on the fourth day to swing the third Test against England firmly in Australia’s direction.

It has helped to be bowling at the opposite end to the greatest leg-spinner of all time in Shane Warne, but they have both contributed enormously to the other’s success.

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They have played 102 Tests alongside each other, capturing a staggering 963 wickets between them at an average of 23.53 in those matches, a record which is more than 200 better than the next best bowling pair, Ambrose and Walsh's 757 victims at 22.73.

Having dominated world cricket for a decade, McGrath and Warne have dominated the headlines together in the week leading up to the Boxing Day Test, with the latter's announcement of his retirement only preceding McGrath’s MCG press conference by two days.

Australia will miss Warne enormously as possibly the greatest cricketer since Sir Don Bradman, but Australia will also feel the absence of the dependable McGrath, who will end his Test career in the final Test at Sydney and his cricket career after the World Cup.

Relying more on the batsmen’s frustration at his nagging accuracy to get wickets rather than wonder balls, McGrath contributed to Australia’s success every bit as much as the legendary Warne.

However, no team will miss the pair of them less than England, whose one Ashes series triumph in the last 10 underlines just what a potent force Australia will be missing.

As McGrath put it: “I always had good battles but there’s something about Australia v England.

“I grew up watching the Ashes and as a kid growing up in Australia you want to play a Test match against England and beat them.”