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Dennis Lillee

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Full Name
  
Dennis Keith Lillee

Born
  
(
1949-07-18
) 18 July 1949 (age 74)

Birth Place
  
Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia

Role
  
Bowler

Name
  
Dennis Lillee

Spouse
  
Helen Lillee (m. 1978)
Nickname
  
FOT

National team
  
Australia

Height
  
5 ft 11.5 in (1.82 m)

Batting style
  
Right-hand batsman

Bowling style
  
Right-arm fast

Books
  
Menace: The Autobiography, The Art of Fast Bowling

Dennis Lillee (Cricketer)
Competition Test ODIs FC List A
Matches 70 63 198 102
Runs scored 905 240 2337 382
Batting average 13.71 9.23 13.90 8.68
100s/50s 0/1 0/0 0/2 0/0
Top score * 42* 73* 42*
Balls bowled 18467 3593 44806 5678
Wickets 355 103 882 165
Bowling average 23.92 20.82 23.46 19.75
5 wickets in innings 23 1 50 1
10 wickets in match 7 n/a 13 n/a
Best bowling 7/83 5/34 8/29 5/34
Catches/stumpings 23/– 67/– 67/– 17/–

Dennis Keith Lillee, AM, MBE (born 18 July 1949 in Subiaco, Western Australia) is a former Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation". Lillee was known for his fiery temperament, never-say-die attitude and popularity with the fans.

Contents

In the early part of his career Lillee was an extremely quick bowler, but a number of stress fractures in his back almost ended his career. Taking on a strict fitness regime, he fought his way back to full fitness, eventually returning to international cricket. By the time of his retirement from international cricket in 1984 he had become the then world record holder for most Test wickets (355), and had firmly established himself as one of the most recognisable and renowned Australian sportsmen of all time.

Dennis lillee espn legends of cricket no 6 part 1


On 17 December 2009, Lillee was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He has also contributed to the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, India.

Test career

Aged 20, Lillee made his first-class debut for Western Australia in 1969-70 and impressed with his raw pace. At the end of the season, he toured New Zealand with an Australian second team and took 18 wickets at 16.44 average.

Retirement

Bowling as a first-change, Lillee had an uneventful tour of New Zealand in March and April 1982 before suffering a serious knee injury in the first Ashes Test at the WACA Ground in November of the same year. This forced him to miss the rest of the series and Australias 2–1 victory, which reclaimed the Ashes. Returning to the team for the latter stages of the World Series Cup, Lillee was no longer an automatic choice to take the new ball. Nevertheless, his 11 wickets in six ODIs helped Australia win the tournament with a victory over New Zealand in the final.

After retirement

Lillee made a brief comeback to first-class cricket in 1987–88 for Tasmania, taking a wicket with his first ball. In 1988, he played eight matches for English county team Northants and suffered a severe ankle injury. In his recent autobiography, Lillee claimed that he played again as a preparation for a possible comeback to the Australian team that was suggested by the then captain Allan Border.

Underarm incident in 1981 aus vs nz most disgraceful moment in cricket history


References

Dennis Lillee Wikipedia