Today the pacer celebrates his 52nd birthday. On February 9, 1970, one of the greatest fastmen of all time was born. Glenn McGrath, the tall and lean pacemen from New South Wales epitomized line and length bowling and having the skills to make the ball do just enough. He did not have the speed of a Jeff Thompson or Brett Lee, but he had pinpoint accuracy and immense patience and this made him one of the most successful bowlers of all time.
He ended his international career with a total of 563 wickets in red-ball cricket and he achieved this feat in just 119 matches. And is one of the best fastmen to grace the game. There were no batsmen who troubled McGrath and he also dominated Sachin Tendulkar who was one of the finest batsmen of that time. He dismissed the master blaster 13 times in international cricket which comprised of 6 wickets in red-ball cricket and 7 times in one-day internationals. The pacer has the highest number of wickets in the ICC Cricket World Cup (50 over edition) having 71 to his name while he played for the Australian cricket team.
He also is the founder of the McGrath Foundation which is a breast cancer support and education charity in Australia that he founded in the year 2005. The pacer thought of this initiative after her wife Jane McGrath was initially diagnosed with breast cancer and recovered from it in 2005.
The pacer will always be one of the greatest bowlers to play the game and have given many memorable moments to cherish for the cricketing fans all over the globe.
