Glenn Donald McGrath

Profile:

One of the world's most devastating fast bowlers, Glenn McGrath is the spearhead of the current Australian attack. From humble origins in country New South Wales, his has been a meteoric rise: he won his first state cap (in 1992-93) a bare five years after first taking up the sport and then progressed to Test level in merely his eighth first-class appearance. The lanky McGrath's bowling is built around an unremarkable, slightly front-on but nevertheless sound action, from which he conceives consistent pace and suffocating accuracy. His stock delivery is an off-cutter; however, an ability to move the bowl both ways as well as maintain a relentless line and length are almost equally as apparent. He particularly enjoys bowling around the wicket to left handers and cramping them for room to play strokes but finds few batsmen equal to his mix of speed, control and hostility. At the other end of the pitch, his own generally unsuccessful returns with the bat have rendered him a regular number eleven and the target of good-natured derision from his teammates but, under the guidance of Steve Waugh, he is showing noticeable signs of improvement. Certainly more runs - he even registered a maiden first-class half century for Worcestershire in July 2000 - are gradually coming his way. In the field, he is a solid contributor and wields a bullet-like, flat throw from the deep. Highlights in his career have included a haul of 8/38 in the 1997 Lord's Test; his return of 30 wickets from the four Test series in the Caribbean in 1998-99; the spectacular demolition of the Indian and West Indian top orders at the 1999 World Cup; and the attainment of a coveted Test hat-trick against West Indies in Perth in 2001. Testaments to his brilliance have also come in the form of his success in being named one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1998; in winning the inaugural Allan Border Medal (Australian cricket's highest individual award) in 2000; and his inclusion in the New South Wales 'Team of the Millennium'. Spirited and fiery on the field but mild-mannered and quietly spoken off it, he has become one of his country's most outstanding cricketing success stories and is now poised to secure a mantle as one of its greatest ever international wicket takers.