The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Pigeon and Dizzy: a lethal combo

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Saturday, Oct 30, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Pigeon and Dizzy: a lethal combo

By S. Dinakar

NAGPUR, OCT. 29. If `Pigeon' McGrath doesn't get you, `Dizzy' Gillespie surely would. Roll back the years, and the exploits of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee would rush through the memory lane. Then they said, `If Thommo doesn't get you, Lillee would.'

These lethal pace predators, they hunt in pairs, leaving batsmen with shattered dreams, dented egos, and sometimes fractured bones, although a support paceman with a heart as large as that of Michael Kasprowicz has always been a key ingredient.

Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, as deadly as they come, certainly left the Indians bleeding at the VCA ground, even as the Australians conquered a frontier that had appeared on the horizon in 2001 only to slip away when tantalisingly close.

The sword arm

As the dust settled on the eventful third Test, and as the heady emotions of a famous Test series triumph swirled around the Australian camp, the new ball partners shared a quiet moment of celebration. In the first Australian Test series win in India after 35 years, pace had been the sword arm.

As comrades who often toiled under hot, energy sapping conditions - they had endured a long, frustrating and eventually fruitless fourth day at the Eden Gardens three years ago when V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid strung together an epic Indian story of comeback - the two realised the significance of the occasion. On this campaign, the two Aussies appear to be fuel-driven by that failure.

Statistically, McGrath, 34, and Gillespie 29, are the most successful Aussie pace combination with 302 wickets in 36 Tests, and before the Nagpur Test the duo's strike rate was 54.85. Pigeon and Dizzy have even more scalps than that legendary Aussie twosome of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, 243 in 33 Tests (strike rate 62.18).

Thomson and Lillee (148 wickets in 16 Tests, s.r. 53.81), did send shivers down the spine of the batsmen, and but for Thommo's tragic shoulder injury during the peak of his prowess, their tally could have been much more.

In the current series, McGrath and Gillespie have together poached 27 batsmen in three Tests, with Kasprowicz chipping in with seven wickets. The Aussie pacemen operated with exemplary control and discipline, building up pressure and choking the Indian batsmen into submission.

Rocking around

Gillespie, who has aboriginal roots, earned his nickname from the popular jaaz-star Dizzy Gillespie, and with his long mane, a thin visage lined by a beard, and flaming eyes, he does sport the looks of a musician heading a band.

Dizzy rocked at the VCA ground, although, his incisive bowling was anything but music to the Indian ears. Gillespie consumed Sachin Tendulkar in the first innings - he has made a habit of dismissing the Indian maestro - and then blew away the tail. On the decisive Friday, he sent down a scorching delivery that sheared through Rahul Dravid's defence - a symbolic strike reflecting the collapse of the Indian Wall.

In terms of wickets, McGrath was less successful than Gillespie at Nagpur, but then the glowing qualities of his bowling, a probing off-stump line, relentless accuracy, and boundless stamina, were all too visible, especially in the first innings when he conceded just 27 runs in 25 overs, while striking thrice.

Perhaps there is more passion in the gangling Gillespie's ways - his is a tale of the triumph of the spirit for he has time and again surmounted career-threatening injuries - and the sheer effort he puts into each of his deliveries, than that of McGrath's, whose bowling has a machine-like precision about it.

Different methods

Their methods are different, and it is the contrast in styles that makes them so destructive. McGrath is the ultimate corridor bowler, who seams the ball just enough to either find the edge or discover a way between the bat and the pad, while Gillespie, whose length is a touch shorter, can achieve extravagant movement from a front on action. But when Gillespie, who can leave the batsmen surprised with his extra speed, hits the straps, and gets his off-cutter going, he can be menacing like he was on Friday.

Aussie skipper Adam Gilchrist understood the value of his match-winning pacemen, rotating them shrewdly. He would often rush towards his star bowlers, have a busy word with them, collect their cap, hand it over to the umpire, before darting back to his place behind the stumps. Pigeon and Dizzy put a smile on the face of their exemplary captain on a day of sunshine for Australia.

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