Clarrie Grimmett was the first bowler in Test history to take 200 Test wickets — reaching the milestone in March 1936 against South Africa, in his last Test innings before being controversially dropped. He finished with 216 wickets in 37 Tests at 24.21, all of them taken between the ages of 33 and 44, and held the world Test wicket record until Alec Bedser broke it in 1953.
Grimmett had been a Test bowler since 1924-25 and was already 39 when the 1930s began. His longevity was partly because he played professionally and partly because his physical exertion in the bowling crease was minimal — flat, accurate spin, no big leap.
By 1935-36 the South African tour was Grimmett's last realistic chance to break the 200-wicket barrier. He needed 41 going into the series.
Grimmett was a New Zealander by birth — Caversham, near Dunedin, 1891 — who had moved to Sydney in 1914 and to Melbourne in 1917 before settling in Adelaide in 1924. He played his first Test for Australia at 33 in 1924-25, taking 11 wickets in his debut match against England. He was a small, slight leg-spinner who bowled flat, accurate, with subtle variation; his stock ball was the slow leg-break, his weapon was the flipper — a delivery he claimed to have invented in 1934 and which Shane Warne would later credit Grimmett with creating.
Through the 1930s Grimmett carried Australia's spin attack with O'Reilly. The two formed the most successful spin pairing in Test history at that point, taking 169 wickets in series in which they bowled together. In South Africa 1935-36, the last tour of his career, Grimmett took 44 wickets in five Tests — still the Australian record for a Test series — at 14.59. He passed 200 Test wickets in his last Test innings at Durban.
Despite the South African feat, the Australian selectors dropped Grimmett from the 1936-37 home Ashes side and from the 1938 tour of England. Bradman, by then captain, was widely believed to have favoured younger spinners; Grimmett never publicly forgave him. He played on for South Australia until 1940-41 and finished his first-class career with 1,424 wickets at 22.28.
Debut 1924-25 v England; 11 wickets in match at 35.
1930 Ashes: 29 wickets at 31.89.
1934 Ashes: 25 wickets at 26.72.
1935-36 SA: 44 wickets at 14.59 — Australian series record.
Mar 1936 Durban: passes 200 Test wickets.
Dropped for 1936-37 Ashes despite recent form.
Final Test record: 216 in 37 at 24.21.
Plays on for SA Sheffield Shield until 1940-41.
1924-25
Test debut v England, age 33.
1930
29 wickets in Ashes.
1934
25 wickets in Ashes.
1935-36
44 wickets v South Africa — Australian record.
Mar 1936
Reaches 200 Test wickets at Durban.
1936-37
Dropped from home Ashes side.
1940-41
Final Sheffield Shield season.
“Grimmett bowled like a man counting coins.”
“If you played him forward you were lbw; if back, you were stumped.”
Grimmett continued at first-class level until 1940-41, taking 73 wickets in his final season aged 49. He lived in Adelaide, kept a chicken farm, and died in 1980 at the age of 88. The Grimmett-Tendulkar Trophy and the Allan Border Medal honour his name in Australian cricket. His biography, by David Frith, appeared in 1991.
The first man to 200 Test wickets, the inventor of the flipper, and the most successful spinner of the 1930s — quietly dropped before his Test career was finished.
Grimmett's 216 wickets stood as the world Test record until Alec Bedser passed it in 1953. His 44 wickets in a series remains the Australian record. His invention of the flipper — a back-spinning delivery that skids on after pitching — was later perfected by Richie Benaud and Shane Warne. Bradman, with whom relations were difficult, called him 'the best slow bowler I ever played with.'
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.