Dennis Lillee's Ashes Record
Matches: 29
Runs: 469
H/S: 73 not out
Average: 18.03
Wickets: 167
Average: 21
Best bowling: 7-89
Best match figures: 11-138
Five wickets in an innings: 11
Ten wickets in a match: 4
My mum is not a cricket fanatic by any stretch of the imagination. But her face still lights up when she talks of days on the Hill at the SCG with an esky and the entire crowd bellowing "LILLEE, LILLEE, LILLEE".
His fiery temper, his strength of personality, and his fearsome pace enthralled a nation; to many he is simply the greatest fast bowler in the history of the game.
Lillee tore through the Poms, claiming 5-83 from 28.3 overs in his first outing, and he continued to terrify batsmen for the next decade. In the 1971-1972 season, Lillee ripped through a powerful World XI that contained Garry Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai and Sunil Gavaskar, taking 8-29.
In 1972, he was the outstanding bowler in the Ashes series - taking 31 wickets at 17.67, his reputation now cemented as the most terrifying bowler on the planet
Another Lillee partnership that still resonates with cricket fans is the one forged with wicketkeeper Rod Marsh: "caught Marsh bowled Lillee" has appeared in Test scorebooks a whopping 95 times, more than any other bowler-keeper combination in the history of the game.
By the time Lillee retired, he also held the world record for the most Test wickets taken by a bowler: 355. It was a record achieved in just 70 Tests at the miserly average 23.92. It also contained 23 five-wicket innings.
