Tony Greig: The oft overlooked cricketing career of the iconic voice of cricket

Sharjah, 22 Apr 1998; India were playing Australia in what was a virtual qualifier for a spot in the final of the Coca-Cola Cup. Chasing a target of 276 in 46 overs (238 to qualify for the final), revised from 284 in 50 overs due to a desert costing 4 overs of play.

When play resumed after the storm, India were placed at 143/4 in 31 overs, needing 95 runs in 15 overs to qualify for the final, and 131 to win the game (which seemed highly unlikely).

Sachin Tendulkar hoisted a slower ball from Kasprowicz to end the 32^nd over and get India past the 150 mark. He kept batting with relative restraint until about the 38^th over, the match equation stood at 60 runs needed off 56 balls for India to qualify for the final.

Starting with a straight, almost nonchalant, six off Steve Waugh, Tendulkar produced an awe (and romance) inspiring display of batting which has not been experienced by his fans since. By the time the dust of that onslaught settled with his dismissal, India had not only cruised past the qualifying score (with 20 balls remaining) but with 34 runs required, looked poised for a win.

But apart from Tendulkar’s pyrotechnics, there’s something else which will be associated with that great night almost for eternity, Anthony William (Tony) Greig’s pyrotechnics played out from behind the microphone. I think it’s a pardonable exaggeration to say that Greig’s commentary has had a big role to play for the cult status that innings of Tendulkar has acquired over the years.

With Greig’s demise on Dec 29, 2012, cricket lost one of its most avid disciples. He played a key role in making cricket the spectacle (limited overs if only) it is today by promoting Kerry Packer’s World Series cricket.

Greig as an international cricketer

But is Tony Greig to be remembered only for his stint behind the microphone? After all, he represented England in 58 Test matches, led them in 14, scored almost 3600 runs and took 141 wickets with medium pace bowling. I believe Tony Greig is one of the most under-rated cricketers of his generation.

Tony Greig played 58 Test matches between a five year period between 1972 and 1977. It is a testament to his abilities as a genuine all-rounder that during his career, he scored the most runs, and took the most number of wickets for any England player after Derek Underwood.

What’s even more impressive is that even amongst all test playing nations, only Greg Chappell scored more runs than Greig, and apart from Derek Underwood, only Dennis Lille took more wickets than Greig’s 141.

Greig was a genuine all-rounder who could bat and bowl well

One must also remember that Greig was an all-rounder, so in-spite of having played more matches than any other cricketer during his career, he played as an all-rounder. Yet for an all-rounder to be at the top of the batting and bowling charts is quite an achievement.

His batting prowess

As far as his batting is concerned, Consistency is the word which describes it best. For one thing, his career average never dropped below 40, which is mighty impressive for an all-rounder. Greig was also amongst the select few batsmen who averaged more than 50 in Test wins during his career.

Although he placed far below several batsmen of his generation, he still had a better average than Doug Walters and Ian Chappell. 3 of his 8 Test centuries came in winning causes.

Table 1: Average in test wins (8 Jan 1972-25 Aug 1977) - min 750 runs

Player Name	Mat	Runs	Avg
Geoff Boycott	7	827	75.18
Gordon Greenidge	8	1015	72.50
Viv Richards	11	1037	69.13
Greg Chappell	23	2133	68.80
Clive Lloyd	14	1312	65.60
Roy Fredericks	14	1227	61.35
Dennis Amiss	13	1002	58.94
Ian Redpath	15	1437	57.48
Alvin Kallicharran	12	968	56.94
Gundappa Vishwanath	9	817	54.46
Tony Greig	17	1064	53.20
Doug Walters	15	975	48.75
Ian Chappell	20	1481	46.28
Rod Marsh	23	1169	38.96

Greig’s consistency as a batsman is also illustrated by his series-by-series record. He played a total of 15 Test series, and in 10 of them, he averaged over 35. One must also not forget the runs he scored in ‘tough-rubbers’; most evident is his performance vs Australia in the 1974/75 Ashes played Down Under.

The fierce pace of Lillee and Thomson terrified England batsmen throughout the six-match series, eventually won 4-1 by Australia. Not only was Greig the highest scoring England batsmen with 446 runs, but he was the only English batsman apart from John Edrich to average more than 40.

Greig played for Sussex in the English County

The 1976 Wisden Trophy against the West Indies was marked by controversy over Greig’s comments of making the West Indies ‘Grovel’. He was nowhere near the top of the batting charts which was dominated exclusively by three West Indies batsmen (Richards, Greenidge, Fredericks), but notably he was the only England batsman apart from Dennis Amiss, Alan Knott, and David Steele to have managed a century against the West Indies pace battery.

For a majority of his career, Greig batted at no.6, and till date, he has scored the most runs at this position apart from Steve Waugh, Hashan Tillakaratne, and VVS Laxman.

Although his average looks a bit mediocre compared to other batsmen on the list, it must be remembered again that Greig was an all-rounder, and only Gary Sobers averaged more than him at this position whereas Ian Botham averaged only 29.23.

That is some class to be at par with.

Table 2: Most runs at No.6 (Qual-2000 runs)

Player Name	Matches	Inns	Runs	Ave	100s
Steve Waugh	66	79	3165	51.94	6
H.Tillakaratne	58	64	2843	47.38	7
VVS Laxman	52	67	2760	50.18	5
Tony Greig	45	67	2741	43.50	7
Ian Botham	66	94	2690	29.23	5
Gary Sobers	42	57	2614	53.34	8
Allan Border	48	63	2556	52.16	6
Shiv Chanderpaul	40	49	2528	64.82	7
Asad Shafiq	39	56	2420	46.53	8
AB de Villiers	40	50	2394	52.04	5
Clive Lloyd	40	47	2114	49.16	6
T.Dilshan	42	52	2087	46.37	5

All-rounder par excellence

Greig was a useful medium pacer and off spinner

Greig is amongst the most prolific all-rounders, not only during his time, but in Test cricket history as well. The Englishman is one of the 15 select players to have scored 300 runs and taken 15 wickets in a Test series.

What’s even more interesting is that he is the only English all-rounder to have breached this double along with Andrew Flintoff; Ian Botham missed the mark by one run but his performance in the concerned rubber (1981 Ashes) is more than just the numbers; it uplifted an entire nation, or a team to say the least.

If we reduce the cut-off to 300 runs and 15 wickets, the list of achievement expands to 34, but Greig is again the only Englishman to have breached the double twice.

The only other players to have bettered Greig’s frequency are Sobers (5), Miller (4), and Botham (3). All, apart from Miller, played a substantial number of matches more than Greig.

Although more of a batting all-rounder, Greig bowling was more than useful, none more so than the one instance where he took 13 wickets in a match vs West Indies at Port of Spain (1972) is the 5^th best bowling performance by an England bowler from the 2^nd World war to the present day.

Apart from his utilities as a batsman and bowler, Greig was also an extremely good fielder as is evident from the number of catches he took (87). At the time of his retirement in 1977, only 5 fieldsmen; Colin Cowdrey (120), Wally Hammond (110), Gary Sobers (109), Ian Chappell (103), Bob Simpson (99) had taken more catches than Greig.

Removing the time filter to include all fieldsmen till the present day, Greig’s catches/inns ratio (.813) is amongst the best for a non-wicketkeeper. Only 6 fielders in the history of the game have a better ratio than Greig’s.

Table 3: Best Catches/Inns Ratio (Qual-Min 50 catches)

Player Name	Matches	Inns	Catches	Catches/Inn
Eknath Solkar	27	50	53	1.06
Darren Sammy	38	68	65	.956
Bob Simpson	62	117	110	.940
Brian Young	35	58	54	.931
Ross Taylor	69	129	112	.868
Stephen Fleming	111	199	171	.859
Tony Greig	58	107	87	.813
Mark Taylor	104	197	157	.797
Bruce Mitchell	42	71	56	.789
Graeme Hick	65	115	90	.783

As an all-rounder, Greig stands in absolute elite company when it comes to the difference between batting and bowling averages of top all-rounders across eras. Considering all-rounders having achieved a double 3000 runs and 100 wickets, Greig’s average difference (8.23) is bettered only by Gary Sobers, Jacques Kallis, and Imran Khan.

Now that’s cricketing royalty, because even if we reduce the career runs cut-off to 2000 runs, Greig’s difference is still only bettered by 5 players.

Table 4: Batting and bowling average difference (Min 3000 runs and 100 wickets)

Player Name	Matches	Runs	Bat Ave	Wkts	Bowl Ave	Difference
Gary Sobers	93	8032	57.78	235	34.03	23.75
Jacques Kallis	166	13289	55.37	292	32.65	22.72
Imran Khan	88	3807	37.69	362	22.81	14.88
Shaun Pollock	108	3781	32.31	421	23.11	9.20
Tony Greig	58	3599	40.48	141	32.20	8.28
Ian Botham	102	5200	33.54	383	28.4	5.14
Richard Hadlee	86	3124	27.16	431	22.29	4.87
Chris Cairns	62	3320	33.53	218	29.40	4.13
Kapil Dev	131	5248	31.05	434	29.64	1.41
Andrew Flintoff	79	3845	31.77	226	32.78	-1.01

The most remembered facet of Tony Greig’s personality is his enthusiastic calling of cricket action from behind the microphone, so much so that his exploits as a cricketer are easily forgotten.

But if there’s one thing that he carried over from his cricketing career to a commentator, was his passion and persona for the game on the field and in the commentator’s box.