Glenn McGrath, Australia’s greatest fast bowler, took 289 Test wickets in Australia. He was a tall “bang-in” sort of operator, who hit the deck hard and maintained a metronomic length. Perhaps surprisingly though, given Australia’s quicker, bouncier pitches, he always claimed that you had to bowl fuller on them than in England. It is borne out by his record: a higher percentage of wickets bowled and leg-before at home (35 per cent) than abroad (25 per cent). It is a message England did not heed in Adelaide, especially on the first day.

Source: The Times December 04, 2017 00:00 UTC