Bill O'Reilly (cricketer), Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)

cricketer

Date of Birth: 20-Dec-1905

Place of Birth: White Cliffs, New South Wales, Australia

Date of Death: 06-Oct-1992

Profession: cricketer

Nationality: Australia

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius


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About Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)

  • William Joseph O'Reilly (20 December 1905 – 6 October 1992) was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game.
  • Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster. O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers ever to play cricket.
  • He delivered the ball from a two-fingered grip at close to medium pace with great accuracy, and could produce leg breaks, googlies, and top spinners, with no discernible change in his action.
  • A tall man for a spinner (around 188 cm, 6 ft 2 in), he whirled his arms to an unusual extent and had a low point of delivery that meant it was very difficult for the batsman to read the flight of the ball out of his hand.
  • When O'Reilly died, Sir Donald Bradman said that he was the greatest bowler he had ever faced or watched.
  • In 1935, Wisden wrote of him: "O'Reilly was one of the best examples in modern cricket of what could be described as a 'hostile' bowler." In 1939, Wisden reflected on Bill O'Reilly's successful 1938 Ashes tour of England: "He is emphatically one of the greatest bowlers of all time."As a batsman, O'Reilly was a competent right-hander, usually batting well down the order.
  • O'Reilly's citation as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1935 said: "He had no pretensions to grace of style or any particular merit, but he could hit tremendously hard and was always a menace to tired bowlers."As well as his skill, O'Reilly was also known for his competitiveness, and bowled with the aggression of a paceman.
  • In a short biographical essay on O'Reilly for the Barclays World of Cricket book, his contemporary, the England cricketer Ian Peebles, wrote that "any scoring-stroke was greeted by a testy demand for the immediate return of the ball rather than a congratulatory word.
  • Full well did he deserve his sobriquet of 'Tiger'."

Read more at Wikipedia