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| Born | (1952-12-16)16 December 1952 (age 72) Christ Church, Barbados | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Big Bird | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right armfast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National side |
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| Test debut (cap 160) | 18 February 1977 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 15 March 1987 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 21) | 16 March 1977 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 28 March 1987 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1975–1987 | Barbados | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1977–1986 | Somerset | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1982/83 | South Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Source:Cricinfo,13 September 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Joel Garner (born 16 December 1952) is a former West Indiancricketer, and a member of the highly regarded late 1970s and early1980s West Indies cricket teams. Garner is the highest rankedOne Day International bowler according to the ICC best-ever bowling ratings,[1] and is 37th inTests.[2] Garner was a member of the West Indies teams that won their second world title in the1979 Cricket World Cup as well as finishing as runners-up at the1983 Cricket World Cup.
In conjunction with fellow fast bowlersMichael Holding,Andy Roberts,Colin Croft, and laterMalcolm Marshall,Curtly Ambrose, andCourtney Walsh, the West Indies reached unprecedented heights in theTest andone-day cricket arenas, not losing a Test series in 15 years.
In 2010, Garner was inducted into theICC Cricket Hall of Fame.[3]
Joel Garner was born in Enterprise, Christ Church, Barbados. Enterprise was a "scattering of houses among fields of sugar cane". Garner was the older of two boys. When he and his brother were very young, his parents migrated to Canada and the United States and they were left in the care of their grandparents. Cricket was popular and Garner played it as a child. He first attended St Christopher's boys primary school which was held in the local Anglican Church. He attended secondary school at Foundation Boys and played cricket for the school where he played as an all rounder. When selected for a school team coached bySeymour Nurse, He was told by Seymour Nurse "What's a big fellow like you doing batting or trying to bat? You're much too big to be a batsman...with your height, son, you should be bowling, fast". Seymour Nurse spent time coaching Garner on how to take full advantage of his height when bowling. He then attended coaching sessions organized byCharlie Griffith andGary Sobers. Griffith taught Garner to bowl a yorker that swung in the air and how to use a bouncer effectively.[4]
Garner first came to the attention ofSomerset whilst playing for Littleborough in the Central Lancashire League. He replaced Sir Garry Sobers as the club's paid man for the 1976 season, continuing in the role for the 1977 and 1978 seasons. During his three-year stay at Littleborough he amassed over 1500 runs with the bat and took 334 wickets at 9.34 runs apiece.
Joel Garner signed for Somerset for the start of the 1977 season.Brian Rose, who captained Garner at Somerset thought that when Garner bowled, his bounce was "always too steep to drive, often to even play forward".[5] He took 338 First Class wickets at an average of 18.10 during his time at Somerset and was considered the best fast bowler to play for the county.[6] Garner said of Somerset “The people are relaxed and I found people friendlier here. They never hassled you, you could go about your business and I just fit in”.[6]
He was at Somerset in the most successful time in the county's history in winning five trophies.[6] In the 1979 Gillette Cup final at Lords, Garner took six wickets for 29 runs to help defeatNorthamptonshire[7] and in the 1981 Benson & Hedges Cup final at Lords, Garner took five wickets for 14 runs to help defeatSurrey.[8]
Garner appeared in 58 test matches for the West Indies between 1977 and 1987 and took 259 wickets at an average of barely above 20, making him statistically one of the most effective bowlers of all time. He made his test debut againstPakistan in 1977 and took 25 wickets in his debut series.[9]
Garner took seven five wicket bags in test cricket but never took ten wickets in a test match. As he shared the bowling duties withMichael Holding,Andy Roberts,Colin Croft, and laterMalcolm Marshall, competition to take wickets was plentiful.[10]
At 6 feet 8 inches (an inch taller thanJason Holder, who stands at 6 feet 7 inches), he was, at the time, the tallestfast bowler to play test cricket.
Garner was dropped for the final test of the Indian tour of the West Indies in 1983 and again for the West Indies tour of India later that year. Battling injuries, he spent the time building his fitness and returned for the 1983-84 one day series inAustralia. Garner missed six one day games due to a knee injury but was able to return for the final few games where his form and fitness had returned. In the following Australian tour of the West Indies, Garner took 31 wickets in the test matches.[11] He described himself as "probably the most happiest man on the team. Dropped from the side the previous season, called washed-up even by friends I hoped hadn't meant it, plagued by recurring injuries to knees and shoulder, I still bowled 208 overs in the tests".[12]
However, it was inlimited overs cricket that Garner put his height to use with devastating effect: in 98 matches he took 146 wickets. He had the ability to unleash a devastating yorker, as well as generate more bounce. As of January 2020, he is one of only two players with more than 100 ODI wickets at an average of under 20runs per wicket,[13] while his economy rate of 3.09 runs per over is the best ever for any bowler who bowled at least 1000 balls.[14] He is the all-time highest ranked ODI bowler.[1]
His 5 for 39 in the1979 Cricket World Cup final againstEngland remains the best ever performance by a bowler in a final; it included a spell of 5 wickets for 4 runs, and he was on a hat-trick twice.[15][16]
He was also the part of the West Indian team which was runner-up in1983 ICC Cricket World Cup. In the first league match with India, he, along withSir Andy Roberts, set the highest ever 10th wicket partnership in World Cup history (71), but chasing 262, West Indies were reduced to 157-9 but Garner and Roberts added 71 runs to make 228 and West Indies lost by 34 runs.[17][18]
Garner played forBarbados in the West Indies, forSouth Australia in theSheffield Shield and alongsideViv Richards andIan Botham forSomerset in the EnglishCounty Championship.
InBarbados, his club team wasYMPC.[19] During his time playing for Barbados, he was captain in 1986. He revealed his tactics toDerek Pringle as “It’s quite simple. Me and Macko [Malcolm Marshall] open the bowling and nip out the top order. We have a rest and the other bowlers come on and keep it tight. Then me and Macko come on and blast out the tail. We have a bat, get a hundred lead and bowl them out again.”[10]
Until the appearance of the 7-foot-1-inch (2.16 m) tallPakistani fast bowlerMohammad Irfan in 2010, Garner, formerAustralian pace bowlerBruce Reid andIrish fast bowlerBoyd Rankin were the equal-tallest players ever to play international cricket.
Geoff Boycott said of Joel Garner "They should cut Joel Garner off at the knees to make him bowl at a normal height".[20]
In October 2010 Garner was named interim manager of theWest Indies for the tour ofSri Lanka. He was one of the new faces in the team including captainDaren Sammy.[21]
In the 2013 election he was the BCA candidate for vice-president of theWest Indies Cricket Board, losing toDave Cameron's running mate, Emmanuel Nanthan of Dominica, 8–4.[22] As of 2016[update] he continues asBarbados Cricket Association president, spearheads West Indies' drive in Masters Cricket, has served as a West Indies selector, and fulfils various other duties.[23]
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