ICC World Cup 1975 - Gary Gilmour's incredible all-round exhibition against England

Gary Gilmour in action with the ball during the World Cup 1975

Australia and England were involved in a very absorbing and throbbing semi-final at Headingley during the inaugural World Cup. In circumstances which contradicted Wisden’s assessment of ‘perfect weather, ideal conditions’, both the teams found themselves battling it out under overcast conditions and seaming Headingley track.

Tale of the Headingley Track

The semi-final match was to be played on the same track where Australia and Pakistan played against each other during a group encounter. During that time, the track was suitable for batting, but before the semi-final clash, the groundsman had watered the pitch and made it look much livelier. Even though the moisture on the pitch was expected to vanish with the progression of the day, but the damp conditions didn’t let it happen.

Australia’s shrewd pick

The Australian hierarchy included an unknown left-arm swing bowler named Gary Gilmour instead of offspinner Ashley Mallet. It was a shrewd move in these conditions as Gilmour’s inclusion was to create a heavy impact on this match.

Gary Gilmour wreaks havoc with the ball

Ian Chappell won the toss and elected to bowl first. England openers, Denniss Amiss and Barry Wood came out to bat. After Lillee’s first over, the English openers were expecting a lively burst from Thomson. But Chappell introduced Gilmour left-arm swing bowling. Immediately, Gilmour dismissed Amiss with a ball that pitched on the leg stump and hit Amiss’s pads after straightening.

Barry Wood confidently drove Lillee through the covers for the first boundary of the day, but his confidence took a setback when his off-stump was pegged back by a deceptive inswinger from Gilmour.

Rod Marsh catches Tony Greig in an acrobatic fashion

Tony Greig and Keith Fletcher joined together to do the repair work, but a superlative acrobatic catch by Rod Marsh dented the repair work: Gary Gilmour pitched one wide outside the off stump at which Greig slashed hard. The ball flew to first slip where Ian Chappell was standing to take a regulation catch, but Marsh flew to his right and in front of Chappell to grab a superman-like-catch.

Frank Hayes, the next man in, on-drove and hit the first boundary off Gilmour, but his stay at the crease was cut short by Gilmour’s nip-backer against which Hayes tried to shoulder his arms – the ball hit the pad and Australia’s appeal for lbw was upheld.

By trapping Fletcher leg before, Gilmour had bagged a five-for and became the second bowler in the history of one-day cricket to do such after Dennis Lillee who achieved such feats in the same tournament. And by dismissing Alan Knott with another inducker, Gilmour had become the first bowler in the history of one-day cricket to bag a six-wicket haul.

Gilmour was simply irresistible on that way. He generated extravagant movement both in the air and off the surface. He relied more on pitching the ball up and most of his deliveries were induckers which resulted in four leg-before wickets. Gilmour finished with figures of 6 for 14.

England all out for 93

At 37 for 7 the game was almost over for England. But the English captain, Mike Denness, decided to fight back and showed enough resilience to score 27 runs. But his resistance was ended by Lillee who replaced Walker after lunch. Geoff Arnold added some valuable runs, but England were finally all out for 93 runs in 36.2 overs.

Gilmour delivers with the bat for Australia

Chasing 94 runs in 60 overs was supposed to be a cakewalk for the strong Australian batting line-up. But against Arnold, Snow, Old and Lever, the Australian batting line-up jolted.

Arnold trapped Turner lbw and John Snow, who was bowling with extreme pace, dismissed both the Chappell brothers in the space of nine balls. Then it was the turn for the local boy Chris Old to add further misery for the Aussies. Bowling first change, Old bowled with hostility to disturb the stumps of McCosker, Ross Edwards and Rod Marsh to leave Australia reeling at 39 for 6.

Gary Gilmour in action with the bat

Gilmour came out to bat and joined Doug Walters. He shunned the wait-and-watch theory and smashed a quickfire unbeaten 28 runs and qaushed further embarrassment. The partnership between him and Walters was worth 55 runs off just 58 balls. There was once a slice of luck for Gilmour as he was dropped by Greig at slip while the score was at 78 for 6.

Gary Gilmour’s allround performance is still regarded as one of the best in the history of one-day cricket and ICC World Cup. It’s a pity that such a talented cricketer didn’t live up to the expectations and faded away.