Name:

Grimmett, Clarence V

Nickname:

Clarrie, The Gnome, Grum

Date of Birth:

25 Dec 1891

Gender:

Male

Place of Birth:

Dunedin, NZ

Career:

Test: 1925 - 1936
First Class: 1911 - 1941

Teams:

Australia (Country)
SA (Regional)

Bradman on Grimmett: A Champion Leg Spinner

Clarrie Grimmett: Leg spinning genius, invented the flipper

Born : 25 December 1891 at Caversham, Dunedin, Otego, New Zealand
Died : 2 May 1980 at Kensington Park, Adelaide, South Australia

Clarrie Grimmett was small, wizenened and prematurely bald. He bowled leg spin with a rounded, jerky action with an exceptional level of accuracy.

Born in New Zealand before it started to play Test cricket, he did not make his Test debut for Australia until the age of 33, but he made a significant impact on the game through his mystical slow wrist bowling.

Grimmett made up for lost time, with 11 wickets in his first match and rounded off his career with 13 wickets in his final Test at Durban at the age of 44.

He is the only bowler in the history of the game to have taken more than 200 Test wickets in fewer than 40 Tests played. He was also the first bowler in history to reach the landmark 200 Test wickets; he did so in his 36th Test.

Grimmett is credited for inventing the 'flipper' which is squeezed out of the front of the hand and has been the staple diet of leg-break bowlers ever since. His partnership with fellow leggie Bill O'Reilly became the stuff of legend and flourished in part due to O'Reilly's unusual preference to bowl downwind so that Grimmett could twirl at the other end.

Grimmett was one of five players newly inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009 and Australian Hall of Fame in 1996 as an inaugural member. He was also a Wisden cricketer of the year in 1931 - alongwith Don Bradman.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter