Tony Greig

[Uncle Buck]

He's hit that with the meat of the bat.

 

[MikeySmall]

The finger goes up, the umpire hugearse.

 

[Uncle Buck]

The wicket is a right mother f@cker...

 

[Uncle Buck]

"For storters you can have the borsted bored from this port of the Broadcorst area."

 

[Weststander]

And he didn't become the tedious oaf that Botham has regressed into.

Disagree. Botham is a classy and very biased (patriotic) pundit. Love it how Sky (mostly) engage winners who were a success at the highest level, like Botham. On top of this, he has raised £m's for charities.

Grieg was a legend. The era of Grieg, Khan, Le Roux, Parker, Snow & co was exciting for Sussex fans.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Born in the mid 60's, i spent many a day during my youth watching him play for Sussex. Met him 3 or 4 times, always got an autograph. Thought he was friendly.

The same for me, think I had a photo I took of him.
As much as I like Ian Botham and still think he was the best cricketer I have ever seen, he was the only one I remember not signing an autograph at Hove.

 

[spring hall convert]

"For storters you can have the borsted bored from this port of the Broadcorst area."

That and "Big Pwarkestarni mwarkey" (Pakistani marquee) are my absolute faves.

 

[spring hall convert]

Disagree. Botham is a classy and very biased (patriotic) pundit. Love it how Sky (mostly) engage winners who were a success at the highest level, like Botham. On top of this, he has raised £m's for charities.

Really? I just thought it was an ex-England captain's jobs for the boys club. Sky are crying out for a top quality broadcast professional/journo to be more involved with their coverage a la Christopher Martin Jenkins (RIP). Atherton is the closest they've got at the moment.

I can't argue with his charity record or his ability as a cricketer but I find Botham tedious. If they wanted the typecast miserable "it were better in my day" ex pro, they should have plumped for Boycott, at least he's got the accent for it.

Can't disagree with you on Greigy though.

 

[Uncle Buck]

That and "Big Pwarkestarni mwarkey" (Pakistani marquee) are my absolute faves.

Ian Chappell: "And welcome back to our Adelaide viewers, with the news that they have missed a bit of a sensation a short while ago when Imran Khan, the Pakistan skipper cracked one down behind square leg, and it was pretty embarresing for Immie, but it was a pretty big thrill for the thousands of adoring female fans Immie has here, and right around the country"

Tony Greig: "Well that's certainly true Ian. Imran Khan, never a shortage of attractive young Aussie girls keen to get down to his member's end and face a couple of balls. And he's hung like a rogue elephant too, Imran. I'll never forget on the 72/73 tour with the rest of the world team, I was sharing a room with him, and one night he cracked one through the covers and I can tell you, that little hotel bed of his blew up into something that resembled one of those huge Pakistani marquee's, and boy oh boy, was that something to behold."

 

[sully]

Born in the mid 60's, i spent many a day during my youth watching him play for Sussex. Met him 3 or 4 times, always got an autograph. Thought he was friendly.

Ditto. Though I did have his book, so perhaps that's why I have good recollections.

As an aside, it was the worst book I've ever owned for typos. I don't think anyone can have read it before it was published.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

For F*cks sake Bill.

"You can keep that bloody pigeon away from my scorecard, Bill"

 

[spring hall convert]

"Bruce Reid has snapped in half."

 

[spring hall convert]

Ian Chappell: "And welcome back to our Adelaide viewers, with the news that they have missed a bit of a sensation a short while ago when Imran Khan, the Pakistan skipper cracked one down behind square leg, and it was pretty embarresing for Immie, but it was a pretty big thrill for the thousands of adoring female fans Immie has here, and right around the country"

Tony Greig: "Well that's certainly true Ian. Imran Khan, never a shortage of attractive young Aussie girls keen to get down to his member's end and face a couple of balls. And he's hung like a rogue elephant too, Imran. I'll never forget on the 72/73 tour with the rest of the world team, I was sharing a room with him, and one night he cracked one through the covers and I can tell you, that little hotel bed of his blew up into something that resembled one of those huge Pakistani marquee's, and boy oh boy, was that something to behold."

That's the one!

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Greig was a considerably better batsman than Botham or Flintoff - in fact, he was probably a better bowler than Flintoff too. Don't forget that he played against some first class Australian and West Indian teams and made runs in India too. He seemed to relish the challenge of tougher teams.

I reckon that Greig is probably the most under-rated player in my lifetime. If he hadn't been involved with Packer, he'd be recognised as one of the greats but he's almost forgotten.


Players who average more with the bat in Test cricket than County cricket are always rather special. Greigy's average was considerably higher. I think he got bored with the routine of County cricket and preferred the challenge of playing against the best. He took on Lillee and Thompson ( at their peak ) and all the Windies quicks as well ( Roberts, Holding, Garner, Daniel etc )
He was charasmatic and opportunistic. As soon as he got the Sussex captaincy he was arranging endorsements and sponsorships all over the place. The Packer affair was taylor-made for him and he was an able lieutenant.
Yes..it did make him very unpopular at the time but history will show that he played a massive part in improving the lot of the pro cricketer much as Jimmy Hill did in football.
( As a footnote...if you think Imran was popular with the ladies, I can assure you that Greigy was definitely not short of female admirers. I knew Sussex players at that time and they confirmed that whenever Greigy was staying at a hotel, there would be a steady stream of notes and messages left at reception, with room numbers or phone numbers. It was not uncommon for him to be approached directly and have contact details pressed into his palm....happy days! )