Tony Greig, unforgettable sportsman..!

The unforgettable cricketer and the great commentator of the cricket world.

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It has been 12 years now since the loss of a great cricketer and world class cricket commentator. His commentating skills in the cricket were unique and characteristic, and left a huge impact on cricket fans around the world. Many cricket fans preferred to listen to him rather than the match umpires’ signals. In those days there were not many third umpire technologies and the commentator’s ideas were very important and influential. Later he commentated for Channel Four in the UK and SKY sports coverage of the England tour in Sri Lanka. In addition to that, he used to host a weekly podcast called The Tony Greig Show.

When Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya hit quite a few sixers during a match in Singapore against Pakistan, the commentators said that those sixers might not be exact sixers as the Singapore grounds were smaller than normal cricket grounds, but Tony Greig emphasized that most of those sixers would have been sixers in any ground in the world. On the other hand, he was the one who explained the environment in vicinity of the playing ground and the host countries’ cultural heritages to the world cricket’s fans during the match commentary. Even after the match commentary, he walked through the audience and enjoyed with them. He tried to introduced the fruits and special foods of those countries to the world as well. Tony Grieg improved tourism and knowledge of host countries around the world. There was a huge fan base built up of him, making him as famous as the cricket players he commentated. Even small children knew his name.

Cricket career.

Even though Tony Greig was born in South Africa, he played for the England National team later. He was born to a Scottish father and a South African mother. Tony began his cricket career playing for a Sussex team when he was 19 years old. He was selected for England’s National team in 1972. His first match was between England and Australia, and coincidentally his last test match in 1977 was between England and Australia. In 1974, he was the captain of England’s team and their first matches were with India and Pakistan. He played the first World Cup in 1975. From 1972 to 1977, he played 58 test matches and 22 one day Internationals. His average for batting in test matches was 40.43 and ODI was 16. He took 141 wickets in test and 19 in ODI. His top score for test was 148, and ODI for 48.

Even though the passing of Tony Grieg occurred twelve years ago, his legacy lives on both the grounds he played on and the hearts of those he commentated to. His impact will never be forgotten as a legend in the cricket world and it has never been the same since December 29th, 2012, the day the world lost a cherished sportsman.

Ranjana Senanayake.