The decade of the quickies

Talk of cricket and one question that will eventually prop up will be the pace bowlers. There has been a lot of cricket in the past few decades and particularly the seventies have been the fast bowlers' decade. English fast bowler Bob Willis has been one fast bowler who has seen plenty of them at close quarters. Willis says that his Test place in the England team has not be relied on his ability to bat against them, because they're been a good formidable bund.

Dennis Lillee – A great tactician, his slower bakk a beauty, he can send down a surprise fast leg-breaks and off a 2-yard run can bowl a quick bouncer too.

Graham McKenzie – His relaxed run up and graceful movements often came as a surprise to see the ball rise sharply from the wicket.

Jeff Thomson – He has a unique bowling action with the right-arm coming from behind the right knee so that the batsman sees the ball very late.

The physical characteristic of his selections has interested him - the four Australians are well built, with stamina to see them through the most exacting demands of five-day Tests. Two of his West-Indian choices are comparatively slim, while the English ones are also supple and wiry. Then there's the South African Mike Procter who is class by himself.

The most interesting point about his selections is hardly any of them confirm to the classical standards laid down by the cracking manuals. Some have unorthodox deliveries like Procter - others somewhat poor run-ups (Daniel), Andy Roberts of the West Indies has a slightly round-arm action, John Snow of England isn't completely orthodox at the moment of delivery - but despite these somewhat difficulties, they can bowl fast. So, the young hopefuls should be careful about how they cope with the above slight short comings of the pace bowlers.

Dennis Lillee

One of the greatest fast bowlers that played around the time that Willis of England was playing is Dennis Lillee of Australia. He's achieved more movement in the air and off the pitch at high speed than any other quickie since the second World War. Lillee is proof of the crowd-pulling aura of a fast bowler, he plays to the crowd and the crowd helps him to get the best and nobody seems much bothered about the slow-over-rate when Lillee has the ball.

He has a superb high-action, with both feel off the ground at the crucial final leep before delivery. This high action means he can bowl a wicket-taking outswinger. A great tactician, his slower ball has become a beauty. He can bowl round the wicket, send down surprise fast legbreaks, and off a two-yard run can bowl a very quick bouncer.

Lillee's follow through is fine and he can get close to the stumps to vary his line of attack. He made a great recovery from a terrible back injury in 1973 and has bowled for long periods at high speed. A case in view was the Melbourne Centenary Test, where he practically beat England, Single-handed.

His run-up, though characteristic of his long-bursting aggression isn't an ideal one.

Jeff Thomson

Jeff Thomson is a great fast bowler with all the right assets - temperament. Action, pace, movement and strength - he's proof that unorthodox methods pay off. A fine bowling action, with the right-arm coming from behind the right knee so that the batsman sees the ball very late.

For the better part of the seventies, 'Thommo' rode the international arena like a colossus. He gave a torrid time to those who faced him in the middle. In the deadly company of Dennis Lillee, Thomson put the Aussies right on top.

A fearsome combination which made Clive Lloyd think and act... that pace and pace alone would be the way for glory. A play that later worked wonders for the 'Supercat'.

Tall and powerfully built, Thomson, in his early days, was a junior national javelin thrower and a surf rider. Therefore, there is no surprise that he 'hurled' the ball from behind at the last minute.

After an unsuccessful Test debut against Pakistan in 1972-73 in that series he played with a fracture in his foot-Thomson struck lethal blows against Mike Denness' Englishmen and Lloyd's West Indians.

Enviable record

In his first Test against Pakistan, Thomson had none for 110 in two innings. But he came with telling strides against England at home in 1974-75. A performance that brought him 33 wickets from five Tests (he missed the second innings of the fifth Test due to injury). Needless to mention, every Englishman who faced Thomson and Lillee was like a cat on a hot tin roof.

A relaxed tiptoe approach to the crease, he saves his strength for that gloriously explosive final leap and the ball's delivered from a perfect side-on position. He seems to bowl more unplayable balls than other fast bowlers, his fast yorker is somewhat frightening, and unlike Lillee he bowls few bouncers.

Fine temperament, doesn't worry about dropped catches and never gave his captain any trouble.

Graham McKenzie

Graham McKenzie's last Test match was the first Test of Bob Willis, so Willis says that he had an early glimpse of a fine athlete. McKenzie had a glorious action.

His run-up was so relaxed, his movements so graceful, that it often came as a surprise to see the ball rise off the wicket so sharply.

The power came from those wide shoulders and that some what magnificent physique, all from a very short run-up. Nothing riled him, the demands of his captain were always met with unselfish good humour, and he'd loved to bowl all day.

A great physical fitness man, any fast bowler would do well to study McKenzie's example of keeping in shape through an ardons decade of fast bowling.

His marvellous side-on action meant he could bowl excellent late outswingers, and although he's be the first to admit his luck in having.

A first slip like Simpson and a wicketkeeper like Grout in the Australian side for many years, no world-class batsman could feel safe against a bowler who in his prime was a wonderful sight.

He was somewhat overbowled by too many captains. He lacked 'devil', that vital element that makes Lillee so great.