Anthony William Greig was a South African-born Test cricket captain turned commentator.
53 Facts About Tony Greig
2.
Tony Greig was a tall all-rounder who bowled both medium pace and off spin.
3.
Tony Greig was captain of England from 1975 to 1977, and captained Sussex.
4.
Tony Greig helped Kerry Packer start World Series Cricket by signing up many of his England colleagues as well as West Indian and Pakistani cricketers, a move which cost him the England captaincy.
5.
Tony Greig became a commentator following the end of his playing career, later emigrating to Australia.
6.
Tony Greig was diagnosed with lung cancer in October 2012.
7.
Tony Greig died in Sydney, on 29 December 2012, from an apparent heart attack.
8.
Tony Greig was born to a Scottish immigrant father and a South African-born mother, and was educated at Queen's College, Queenstown, South Africa.
9.
All of them noticed Tony Greig's developing abilities which, after a first-class debut for Border in the Currie Cup, led to a trial at Sussex when Tony Greig was 19.
10.
Tony Greig's father helped him decide between university study or pursuit of the Sussex offer.
11.
Tony Greig wrote a brief note to his father, telling him he would not be coming back to go to university.
12.
Tony Greig was now experimenting with finger-spin to complement his medium pace.
13.
Tony Greig set off to the West Indies with the England team in early 1974 and ran straight into a major controversy.
14.
Alan Knott, the England wicketkeeper, seemed to think the same as he dislodged the stumps, but even as he did so, Tony Greig, who had collected the ball, threw down the stumps at the non-striker's end, with Kallicharan already out of the crease, on the way to the dressing room.
15.
West Indies secured a seven-wicket victory in this test match, Tony Greig making only a modest contribution with the bat.
16.
However, despite this initial setback, Tony Greig dominated the remainder of the series scoring 430 runs at 47.7, taking 24 wickets at 22.6, and seven catches.
17.
Tony Greig scored 148 runs, backed up with six wickets, in the third Test in Barbados, 121 in the fourth test in Guyana and won the fifth test in Trinidad for his team with bowling figures of 8 for 86 and 5 for 70.
18.
Tony Greig's highlight was a century against India at Lord's.
19.
However, Tony Greig played a lone hand with 110 in the first innings.
20.
Tony Greig played in the first World Cup in England in 1975, when his team was eliminated by Australia in the semi-final.
21.
Denness was sacked and Tony Greig appointed, to high expectation that he would play aggressively and fearlessly in an endeavour to counteract the Australians' strengths.
22.
Tony Greig scored 41 in the second innings and took three wickets in a drawn match that favoured England.
23.
Tony Greig was well known among colleagues as a man who wanted to take commercial advantage of his profile as a leading sportsman.
24.
Tony Greig signed a number of endorsements and appeared in commercials in Australia, including in his ads for the new breakfast cereal "Nutri-Grain", where his catchphrase "It's just like a cricket bat with holes" struck a chord.
25.
When he returned to England, Tony Greig caused more controversy in the lead-up to the 1976 series against the West Indies.
26.
The West Indian fast bowlers took great delight in adding yards to their run-up when Tony Greig came to the wicket and their supporters took equal delight when his wicket was captured.
27.
Outside of a formidable performance in the fourth Test at Leeds, where he fought back with 116 and 76 not out and shared a big partnership with wicketkeeper Alan Knott, Tony Greig scored just 51 runs from his other seven innings.
28.
However, Tony Greig did not lose his sense of humour: exaggeratedly playing on his "grovel" comment, he pretended to crawl on his hands and knees in front of the open stands on the Harleyford Road side of The Oval in the last Test match, delighting the crowds that had previously jeered him.
29.
Tony Greig made good use of his experience from his previous tour and consciously set out to build a rapport with the Indian crowd, for instance, playing 'dead' when loud firecrackers went off in the ground.
30.
Tony Greig rated the win at Calcutta, when he scored 103 on a broken pitch, and struggling with a stomach bug, in front of 100,000 Indian fans, as the finest moment of his career.
31.
Tony Greig, recognising the spirit of the fixture, had his team play positively, and the match was still in the balance late on the last day before Australia won by 45 runs.
32.
Tony Greig had played well in the match and he left an open letter with a newspaper thanking the people of Melbourne for their support.
33.
Nevertheless, Tony Greig helped Packer by signing a number of English and foreign players he was acquainted with.
34.
Great secrecy cloaked these signings, although Tony Greig dropped a number of hints to friends not involved.
35.
Finally, after a week of politicking, Tony Greig was removed from the England captaincy.
36.
Surprisingly, Tony Greig retained his position in the team for the five Tests under his successor Mike Brearley.
37.
Tony Greig's form proved only average after he made a dramatic 91 at Lord's in the opening Test.
38.
Tony Greig was conspicuous throughout the trial and elated when the decision went in favour of WSC.
39.
Tony Greig fell short by exactly 100 runs, caught behind off his arch rival, Dennis Lillee.
40.
Tony Greig had his first epileptic seizure at the age of 14, during a tennis match.
41.
Tony Greig's condition became public during the Packer furore, when a number of commentators questioned his judgement in the matter and speculated that epilepsy impaired his ability to make decisions.
42.
Tony Greig spent the rest of his life in Australia and continued his commentary role.
43.
Tony Greig was regarded as one of cricket's top commentators in his career, noted for being unbiased, witty, and deeply enthusiastic about the game.
44.
Tony Greig commentated for Channel Four in the United Kingdom, the SABC when making occasional trips home, and for Sky Sports' coverage of England's 2012 tour of Sri Lanka.
45.
In 1999, Tony Greig was involved in a controversy when, in a match at the North Sydney Oval, the camera zoomed onto a white, Caucasian man and an Asian woman in a marriage ceremony at a nearby church.
46.
Tony Greig later said that the comment was made "off microphone and not intended for broadcast".
47.
Tony Greig joined the Indian Cricket League as an executive board member, but the league ultimately ceased relations due to the growing popularity of Indian Premier League.
48.
Tony Greig was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
49.
On 26 June 2012, Tony Greig delivered the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture and criticised the BCCI for misuse of powers and money and continuously rejecting the ICC's call for universal acceptance of the Umpire Decision Review System.
50.
Tony Greig is regarded fondly by Sri Lankan cricket fans.
51.
Tony Greig began to have severe bouts of coughing in May 2012; initially, bronchitis was diagnosed.
52.
Tony Greig was diagnosed with lung cancer in October 2012.
53.
Tony Greig died at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney on 29 December 2012 after going into cardiac arrest following a suspected heart attack.