13 Facts about Dennis Lillee: The Most Complete Fast Bowler

Dennis Lillee was Australia’s fast bowling trump card in the 70’s. Considered by many as the ” most complete fast bowler’, Lillee falls into the category of tearaway quicks similar to the likes of Ray Lindwall, Frank Tyson and Wes Hall. The fast and furious Lillee had all the qualities with which an ideal fast bowler is made up of. He had the speed, could run like a sprinter relentlessly and uncompromising aggression to add more flavor. He was simply unnerving at times and can be rated one of the the least comfortable bowlers to face during his era.

1.Born on:

Dennis Keith Lillee was born July 18, 1949 in the town of western suburb of Subiaco in Perth.

2. Debut:

Lillee made his first-class debut at the age of 20 for Western Australia in 1969-70 and impressed with his raw pace. His debut season was a fruitful one for him as he finished as WA’s leading wicket-taker with 32 wickets.

3. Quick surge:

The impressive performance and more notably his raw pace did not go unnoticed as the end of the season he toured New Zealand with an Australian second team. He did well there too, finishing with 18 wickets at an average 16.44.

4. Enters Test arena:

Lillee’s fast rise continued as he made his Test debut in the following season. It was the sixth Test at Adelaide in the 1970-71 Ashes series. The fast bowler took 5/84 from 28 eight-ball overs.

5. Destroys the best of the best:

In 1971–72 against a World XI at Perth, he destroyed a powerful batting lineup that included Garry Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai and Sunil Gavaskar during his phenomenal spell of 8/29.

 6. A perfect caption to describe the Lillee -Thompson pair:

The fearsome bowling attack comprising of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson was summarised during the 1974-75 Ashes series, when Sydney newspaper The Sunday Telegraph ran a photo of Lillee and Thomson with a cartoon caption that read – “Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust, if Thomson don’t get ya, Lillee must.”

7. Caught Marsh, bowled Lillee:

Lillee was famous for his partnership with wicket-keeper Rod Marsh. The scorecard entry “c Marsh b Lillee’ appears 95 times in Tests, an unbroken partnership record between wicket-keeper and bowler. Coincidentally, both players ended their careers with 355 Test dismissals; Marsh took 343 catches and had 12 stumpings. In 1988 the Western Australian Cricket Association honoured the two players by naming a new grandstand at the WACA Ground the Lillee-Marsh Stand.

8. The aluminum bat controversy:

Dennis Lillee has done a couple of unusual things in his career. One of them was his aluminum bat controversy. During a Test at the WACA Ground in December 1979 between Australia and England, Lillee went to the crease with an aluminium bat manufactured by a company owned by a friend. During those times, there were no rules against using such a bat. But, Australian captain Greg Chappell thought that the ball should have gone for a four, and instructed Rodney Hogg to deliver a conventional wooden bat to Lillee. Amidst these scenes, English captain Mike Brearley complained to the umpires that the bat was damaging the ball. Lillee resisted but eventually batted with the wooden bat. Lillee threw “the offending lump of metal fully 40 yards towards the pavilion”, and grudgingly took the wooden bat.

9. An off-spinner?:

During an Ashes Test in 1975, Lillee was unhappy with the shape of the ball and complained to Dickie Bird, the umpire. Bird refused to change the ball but  Lillee was adamant and argued. The umpire however was unaffected by his cribbing and said, “Please, Dennis, complete the over.” Skipper Ian Chappell had to convince Lillee to go back to bowl. Lillee agreed  but bowled off-spin. To make moment light, Bird humorously remarked to Lillee at the end of the over that “they were two of the best offies he’s ever seen!”

10. A Queen Elizabeth fanboy:

Queen Elizabeth had attended the final day of the Centenary Test in Melbourne in 1977 and greeted both the teams during lunch. Lillee nervously asked her for an autograph, having specifically carried a pen and a book for the opportunity. She said, “Not now.” Lillee was helped by a cricketer administrator, who arranged for a photograph of their meeting to be signed by the Queen. Lillee cherishes that autographed picture and called it “one of his most prized possessions.”

11. Scares umpire Dickie Bird and Ashley Mallett:

The aggressive and brash Lillee has childish side as well.. In a game against Lancashire, Lillee was rested and was the 12th man. During a break, Lillee decided to prank Ashley Mallett and umpire Dickie Bird. He got a toy snake out and wrapped it in Ashley Mallett’s sweater. Mallett was shocked to see it come out of his sweater. Similarly, Bird was also scared and tried to look for the closest exit from the pitch. What makes these incidents more amusing that all this happened during the course of play and not in the dressing room!”

12. Turn mentor to young fast bowlers after retirement:

Post his retirement, Lillee spent his time nurturing the future generations of fast bowlers. During the 1990s and in the early years of the 21st century, Lillee dedicated himself to mentoring and coaching bowlers. His most notable pupils include Brett Lee and Shaun Tait.

13. Honors:

Lillee was conferred with Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1981 and 29 years later was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours of 2010. He was one of the ten inaugural inductees into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 1996 was also selected in the official Australian Test Team of the Century.