Cricinfo





 





Live Scorecards
Fixtures - Results






England v Pakistan
Top End Series
Stanford 20/20
Twenty20 Cup
ICC Intercontinental Cup





News Index
Photo Index



Women's Cricket
ICC
Rankings/Ratings



Match/series archive
Statsguru
Players/Officials
Grounds
Records
All Today's Yesterdays









Cricinfo Magazine
The Wisden Cricketer

Wisden Almanack



Reviews
Betting
Travel
Games
Cricket Manager







Wally Grout
Wisden CricInfo staff - June 20, 2001

Wisden overview
Wally Grout entitled his autobiography My Country's Keeper, expressing his pride in the office he assumed at the age of 30 and held for almost a decade. Mobile, sometimes acrobatic, and a perceptive judge of batsmen's weaknesses, his presence was for many years talismanic: Australia did not lose a series during his tenure. Grout claimed a record six catches in an innings on Test debut, and in February 1960 scooped a first-class record eight in an innings for Queensland against Western Australia. He was also a batsman good enough to score a Test half-century as an emergency opener batsman, and a humorist with a touch of Australian comedian Lennie Lower. Asked by an Englishman if he'd attended a public school, he replied: "Eton. And drinkin'." He ignored doctor's warnings about his weak heart and kept on playing until he was 39 - and died from a heart attack less than three years later. Gideon Haigh

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd