From the 1974/5 Australia and New Zealand tour
The jacket and jumper on display in Gallery Three was donated very graciously by Tony Greig in 1978 following his retirement as captain of Sussex once his involvement with Kerry Packer was made known. The England jacket and jumper were awarded for his place on the 1974/75 tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Greig had joined Sussex in 1967, was appointed captain in 1973 and played for the club until his retirement in 1978. In his time with Sussex Greig played in 209 matches, scored 9,528 runs at an average of 28.27. He took 509 wickets for 1,186 runs at an average of 28.56
The MCC team that toured Australia and New Zealand in 1974/75 under the captaincy of Mike Denness had only lost one of their previous eleven Test matches and going into the six match Test series were favourites to win but the pace of Thomson and Lillee was too much for the England team. In the 1st Test match at Brisbane, Willis bowled well to keep Australia to 309 but when Lillee opened the Australian bowling he was a yard faster, and Thomson bowling in to the wind was even quicker. The England batsmen were battered and bruised by the hostile short pitched bowling with resistance only coming from Tony Greig. Greig attacked the bowling and by virtue of his height was able to slash the ball over the slips and gully. Greig’s dogged resistance enabled him to make 110 runs, the only England player to make a decent score. England made just 265 in their first innings, 44 runs short of Australia’s innings. The second innings was worse as England made 166 and lost the match by the same number. England went on to lose the series 4:1.
For a full biography of his Sussex career Read On
To read the Guardian obituary on Greig, click here
