 Grimmett in 1934 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Clarence Victor Grimmett | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1891-12-25)25 December 1891 Dunedin,Colony of New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 2 May 1980(1980-05-02) (aged 88) Adelaide,South Australia,Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Leg break,googly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Bowler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 121) | 27 February 1925 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 28 February 1936 v South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:Cricinfo,13 May 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Clarence Victor Grimmett (25 December 1891 – 2 May 1980) was a New Zealand-born Australiancricketer.[1] He was one of the finestspin bowlers of his time and usually credited as the developer of theflipper.
Grimmett was born inCaversham,Dunedin,Colony of New Zealand, onChristmas Day 1891, leadingBill O'Reilly to say that he "must have been the best Christmas present Australia ever received from that country."[2]
A schoolmaster encouraged him to concentrate on spin bowling rather than fast bowling. He played club cricket inWellington, and made hisfirst-class debut forWellington at the age of 17. At that time, New Zealand was not aTest cricketing nation, and in 1914 he moved to neighbouring Australia.
He played club cricket inSydney for three years. In his first match in senior cricket, he took 12 wickets for 65 runs.[3] After marrying aVictorian, he moved toMelbourne, where he played first-class cricket forVictoria. He moved toSouth Australia in 1923, but it is for his performances in Test cricket for theAustralian cricket team that he is best remembered.
Grimmett played 37 Tests between 1924 and 1936, taking 216 wickets at an average of 24.21. He tooktwo five wicket hauls on debut against England in Sydney in 1925.[4] He became the first bowler to reach the milestone of taking 200 Test wickets, and is one of only five Test bowlers who played in their first Test after the age of thirty to take more than 100 wickets, the other four beingDilip Doshi,Saeed Ajmal,Ryan Harris andMohammed Rafique.[5] He took an average of six wickets per match. Many wickets in the last four years of his Test career were taken bowling in tandem with fellow leg-spinnerBill O'Reilly. Grimmett remains one of the few bowlers with career figures of over 200 wickets in fewer than 40 Tests. He held the record for the fastest bowler to take 200 wickets in Tests, doing so in his 36th match.[6] The record stood for 82 years, untilYasir Shah of Pakistan broke that markin December 2018.[7]
He took a five-wicket haul on 21 occasions, seven times finishing with ten wickets or more in a match. His Test career only began when he was aged 33, and ended when he was 44, playing his last Test against South Africa inDurban. Despite taking 44 wickets in the series, and continued success in first-class cricket, he was dropped for the 1936/7 series at home against England, replaced byFrank Ward, and did not join the 1938 tour to England.
His first-class records hold a total of 1,424 wickets in 248 matches between 1911 and 1941, again at a rate close to six wickets per match. This total included 5 wicket bags on over 120 occasions and – in one performance for a touring Australian side against Yorkshire in 1930, he took 10 wickets for 37 runs off 22.3 overs, one of only a very small number of players to have claimedall of the wickets in an innings. He took 513 wickets in his 79Sheffield Shield matches.
Grimmett was aWisden Cricketer of the Year in 1931, the same year asDonald Bradman. He died inKensington Park,Adelaide, in 1980, but was posthumously inducted into theAustralian Cricket Hall of Fame in 1996 as one of the ten inaugural members. On 30 September 2009, Grimmett was inducted into theICC Cricket Hall of Fame.[8]
Media related toClarrie Grimmett at Wikimedia Commons| Records | ||
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| Preceded by | Most career wickets in Test cricket 216 wickets (24.21) in 37 Tests Held record 4 January 1936 to 24 July 1953 | Succeeded by |
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