Wisden overview
The embodiment of athleticism and willpower, Dennis Lillee began his career as a bowler of brute force and finished it full of subtlety. A thrilling sight, long hair flowing, on his first tour of England in 1972, his future was jeopardised the following year by stress fractures of the spine. Thoughtful medical treatment and a spartan fitness regime restored Lillee to international cricket as a more resourceful bowler, and an increasingly perceptive student of batsmen's frailties. Two of his outstanding performances were against England at Melbourne on vastly dissimilar surfaces: 11 for 165 in responsive conditions during the Centenary Test, and 11 for 138 on a crumbling dirt heap in the third Test of February 1980. Between times he had been one of the personalities of the breakaway World Series Cricket circuit, where his histrionic showmanship made him a major drawcard. Critics often faulted his theatricality, but crowds loved him for it the more, and hosannahs of reverence accompanied his breaking of the Test-wicket record in Melbourne during the Boxing Day Test of 1981-82. A curious feature of his record is that he took 349 of his 355 Test wickets in Australia, England and New Zealand. Gideon Haigh

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