5 Greatest spinners of all time

4. Bill O’Reilly:

Bill O'Reilly

Bill O’Reilly was an Australian leg-spin bowler and was nicknamed “Tiger” because of his crouching, aggressive bowling action. He was the first bowler to have successfully bowled leg-spin in Test cricket and played his cricket in the 1930s and 1940s.

Sir Don Bradman picked him as the greatest spinner he had seen and if that compliment was not enough, O’Reilly also took 144 wickets in only 27 Test matches for Australia. The second World War robbed him of some precious years in his prime or else his wicket tally would have gone up considerably.

O’Reilly also appeared in 135 first-class matches and took 774 wickets, which gives him an average of more than 5 wickets per match in both Test and first-class cricket. He used to play for New South Wales in the provincial cricket tournaments of Australia.

At 6 feet 2 inches, O’Reilly was very tall for a spinner and used his height to generate extra bounce on lively Australian tracks. His best Test figures were against England. O’Reilly passed away in 1992 and was named in the Australian cricket team of the century in 2000.