Would you include the great Ray Lindwall in an All-Time XI or just an Australian All-time XI?
Today we celebrate the 100th birthday of legendary Ray Lindwall,arguably the most complete right arm fast bowler ever.Arguably no pace bowler posessed every attribute of the perfect pace bowler in a complete package more than Lindwall.,Many past greats like Alan Davidson,Fred Trueman and Denis Compton ranked Lindwall as the best fast bowler they ever saw,even above Dennis Lillee.Ray blended the grace of a Seagull flying ,with the skill of an engineer.Watching a video of Lindwall is similar to seeing a past impressionist masterpiece.
Lindwall posessed the most lethal of outswingers,deadliest of yorkers as well as an almost unplayable skidding bouncer.At a most express pace he swung a cricket ball ,with the control of a surgeon performing an operation.Like no one else in his time In the later part of his carer he developed an inswinger ,to supplement his armoury .He also had a very subtle or deceptive slower ball,that foxed batsmen.A batsman was unable to pick his bouncer till the release of the ball,such was his mastery of bio dynamics.He would slip in an extra fast yorker to simply bewilder batsmen.Lindwall could penetrate the gate of the best batsman on the most docile surfaces.No paceman made a delivery leave a batsman in the magnitude of Lindwall or produced such late outswinger.Hi s trumpcard was often following an outgoing ball with one that nipped sharply back from the seam.
His action was unorthodox with his right foot literally dragging down and his bowling arm falling to low in the follow through.No pace bowler dragged his back foot to such an extent,in the delivery stride. Still in the the manner he galvanised his momentum to reach the final delivery stride was sheer poetry in motion.being as rhythmical as a ballad dancer..Lindwall blended the power of a boxer ,with the grace of a painter,inspite of being one of the first post-war draggers.
The Lindwall-Keith Miller bowling partnership ,was close to the best pace duo ever.There could hardly be more contrasting bowlers like chalk and cheese.Miller was the more unpredictable ,but equally unplayable.
Amazingly Lindwall even has a test century to his credit ,scoring a blazing hundred at Melbourne in 1946-47,participating in an epic 154 run partnership with Don Tallon.
Arguably no pace bowler bowled better in an Ashes series in England as Lindwall in 1948,when he literally broke the back of the English batting line up.He took 27 wickets in the series at 19.62 apiece, including 6 for 20 at The Oval as England were bowled out for 52 in Bradman’s farewell Test. He mesmerized all with his pace, in conjunction with Miller becoming the most feared pair of opening bowlers since Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald. During the tour, he tormented batsmen with bumpers, hitting both Denis Compton and Cyril Washbrook on the head.In 1n the summer of 1953, he yorked Len Hutton with the second ball of the Test at Leeds, a dismissal acknowledge with the solemnity of declaration of war. In the West Indies later ,he sent shivers down the spine of batsmen,as none before.
It is worth recounting a John Arlott commentary where he narrates ho w Lindwall mesmerised the great Len Hutton,in the manner of casting a spell.In Ashes tests Lindwall captured 114 scalps ,in 29 test matches at an avergae of 22 runs apiece.
Lindwall's 3 ,7 wicket hauls compare favourably with the best pace bowing spells ever,be it is his 7-63 at Adelaide against India , his 7- 63 at Sydney,versus England . or his spectacular -7-43 at Madras.
Statistically Lindwall averaged 23.01 and his strike rate was over 55 ,but if one gives consideration to his era ,they were impressive.
I would place Lindwall in an -all-ltime Australian XI,to join Shane Warne,Glen Mcgrath and Dennis Lillee in the bowling attack.Overall
I would rank Lindwall amongst the top 6 fast bowlers ever.
Unlike Marshal,Wasim and Mcgrath ,he did not prove himself sufficiently on the sub -continent surfaces.Still it is ironic that he had a 7 wicket haul in an innings at Madras,which both Lillee or Mcgrath never acheived.Lindwall was not as hostile as Lillee or Marshall later,but may have surpassed them in terms of pure pace,craft and movement.To me in terms of all-round skill in the conventional sense, Lindwall l was the best right arm paceman of all.He was not as crafty or innovative as Wasim or Marshall,as quick as Larwood or Thomson,as accurate as Ambrose or Mcgrath or as determined or agressive as Lillee..However in the total package he was right up there.In my view,only Wasim Akram was more complete.
I have no doubt Lindwall would have prospered in any era, and mastered reverse swing.For sheer aesthetics or virtuosity ,he was at the very top. In my final analysis considering alll factors ,only
Marshall,Wasim,Mcgrath,Hadlee and Lillee rank above Lindwall.I would place him just a whisker above Ambrose,Imran ,Steyn ,Roberts or Trueman.John Woodcock has rated Lindwall at 22nd place amongst the 100 bets cricketers of all time,while Cristophr Martin Jenkins at 31st pace.
I would have sheerly loved to witness Lindwall bowling with Michael Holding,which would have taken cricketing aesthetics to sublime proportions.
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