Tony Greig

[Lillian Thomson]

So not only did Greig bat like Ian Bell he was also a grafter. Hmmmmmm.........

 

[Burgey]

We reallyshould have taken Doug Walters on that tour once GC declined to tour. His record in England was pus but he’d apparently made some technical adjustments in the summer before and was coming off a decent home summer. Fifteen minutes of him at Leeds would have been handy, and the batting was very skinny save for Hughes and TOTAB.

 

[jcas0167]

Greig played Tests for 5-and-a-half years - i.e. 6 English summers, 5 overseas winters.
Comparing the obvious 3 players their best comparable period:

Greig: 3599@40, 141@32 (1972-1977)
Botham: 2996@38, 249@23 (1977-1982)
Flintoff: 2801@38. 166@30 (2003-2008)

On those figures I'd put Greig a little ahead of Flintoff (he played more matches in the time, and was a more versatile bowler), with Botham well ahead of them both.

Yes, although look at the names in the Australian teams in the late 70's that Botham played compared to those in the teams that Greig faced. Not really an apples with apples comparison.

 

[AndrewB]

Yes, although look at the names in the Australian teams in the late 70's that Botham played compared to those in the teams that Greig faced. Not really an apples with apples comparison.

OTOH, the West Indies attack against Botham was 4 from Holding, Roberts, Garner, Marshall, Croft; for about half the time Greig was playing against them the opening pair was two from Holder, Boyce and Julien.

 

[watson]

Prime Botham was something else though. Greig was a guy who got the most out of his ability. As a batsman he was a grafter and a glancer, and as a bowler he was handy at best.

Botham was a true force. The guy played a decade too long, but the Botham that should be remembered is the early era Botham. Pre mullet. Great, proper, orthodox batsman with immense power, and a brilliant swing bowler. Forget the meme about Botham got a lot of wickets with **** balls (he did later in his career when he was fat) but the guy took a hell of a lot of wickets with great bowling early on.

The guy was a force in this match...

3rd Test, Australia tour of England at Leeds, Jul 16-21 1981 | Match Summary | ESPNCricinfo

I don’t remember Greig being a ‘grafter and a glancer’ at all. Like Botham he always looked to attack the bowling - it’s just that he was more measured.

But yes, if his batting is generally under-rated, then his bowling is typically over-rated. Unless it was overcast, or the pitch had some bounce in it which suited his height then he was sometimes cannon fodder for batsman of class.

Here is Greig consistently crashing Lillee and Walker through the covers, or hitting them to the midwicket boundary.

 

[shortpitched713]

Underrated overall. Top 10 all-rounder, very good bat who would have been picked for that alone for England, but combining the abilities and he should be first name on the sheet.

 

[Bolo.]

Underrated overall. Top 10 all-rounder, very good bat who would have been picked for that alone for England, but combining the abilities and he should be first name on the sheet.

5 year career in official tests, then junk in WSC, playing only his peak years for the two. Nothing particularly special in FC, just a solid bits and pieces player, without even a long career to explain his numbers.

Pretty numbers in tests when he played, but not nearly long enough for a top 10 without indication he could have sustained them... there were more than 10 whose careers overlapped with his ahead of him.

 

[shortpitched713]

Nah mate, he had quality, especially as a bat. I will grant that he lacked some kind of focus that could have taken him into the true upper echelon.

Still, I think he walks into the vast majority of Test teams in history, just on his batting ability. The batting average is misleading, when you consider what he was doing, and more importantly who he was doing it against. In a draft style All-time team, probably can't bat him above 6-7, mind.

 

[Bolo.]

Nah mate, he had quality, especially as a bat. I will grant that he lacked some kind of focus that could have taken him into the true upper echelon.

Still, I think he walks into the vast majority of Test teams in history, just on his batting ability. The batting average is misleading, when you consider what he was doing, and more importantly who he was doing it against. In a draft style All-time team, probably can't bat him above 6-7, mind.

Based on his his test performances, sure. But he didn't play long enough for me to be compared to top guys without looking at the rest of his record. Outside of tests, he averages about 30 with the bat in FC, and about 12? in WSC.

 

[shortpitched713]

I get that. Longevity definitely plays against him here.

 

[Bolo.]

I get that. Longevity definitely plays against him here.

Ya, reckon he is a bit like Ryan Harris... fantastic for the time he played tests, but whose test stats get a huge boost from only playing for a short while.

 

[Ashes81]

Greig was a really good attacking batsmen who always took the attack to the opposition.

His bowling was OK, but no more than that and he was an outstanding fielder.

He was a bit of a devisive figure in England - a brash S.African leading England wasn't everyone's cup of tea.

Then of course there were the grovel comments which were unfortunate and then he recruited players for the WSC.

I was never his biggest fan but warmed to him considerably as a commentator - he said what he thought as could be pretty funny.

Looking at his record now - it's very good and stands comparison with most all rounders.