Joel Garner
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Christ Church, Barbados | 16 December 1952|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Big Bird | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Right arm fast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side |
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Test debut (cap 160) | 18 February 1977 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 15 March 1987 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ODI debut (cap 21) | 16 March 1977 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last ODI | 28 March 1987 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1975–1987 | South Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Source: Cricinfo, 13 September 2009 |
Joel Garner (born 16 December 1952) is a former West Indian
In conjunction with fellow fast bowlers
In 2010, Garner was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.[3]
Early life
Joel Garner was born in Enterprise, Christ Church, Barbados. Enterprise was a "scattering of houses among fields of sugar cane". Garner was the older of two boys. When he and his brother were very young, his parents migrated to Canada and the United States and they were left in the care of their grandparents. Cricket was popular and Garner played it as a child. He first attended St Christopher's boys primary school which was held in the local Anglican Church. He attended secondary school at Foundation Boys and played cricket for the school where he played as an all rounder. When selected for a school team coached by Seymour Nurse, He was told by Seymour Nurse "What's a big fellow like you doing batting or trying to bat? You're much too big to be a batsman...with your height, son, you should be bowling, fast". Seymour Nurse spent time coaching Garner on how to take full advantage of his height when bowling. He then attended coaching sessions organized by Charlie Griffith and Gary Sobers. Griffith taught Garner to bowl a yorker that swung in the air and how to use a bouncer effectively.[4]
Career
Garner first came to the attention of Somerset whilst playing for Littleborough in the Central Lancashire League. He replaced Sir Garry Sobers as the club's paid man for the 1976 season, continuing in the role for the 1977 and 1978 seasons. During his three-year stay at Littleborough he amassed over 1500 runs with the bat and took 334 wickets at 9.34 runs apiece.
Joel Garner signed for Somerset for the start of the 1977 season. Brian Rose, who captained Garner at Somerset thought that when Garner bowled, his bounce was "always too steep to drive, often to even play forward".[5] He took 338 First Class wickets at an average of 18.10 during his time at Somerset and was considered the best fast bowler to play for the county.[6] Garner said of Somerset “The people are relaxed and I found people friendlier here. They never hassled you, you could go about your business and I just fit in”.[6]
He was at Somerset in the most successful time in the county's history in winning five trophies.[6] In the 1979 Gillette Cup final at Lords, Garner took six wickets for 29 runs to help defeat Northamptonshire[7] and in the 1981 Benson & Hedges Cup final at Lords, Garner took five wickets for 14 runs to help defeat Surrey.[8]
Garner appeared in 58 test matches for the West Indies between 1977 and 1987 and took 259 wickets at an average of barely above 20, making him statistically one of the most effective bowlers of all time. He made his test debut against Pakistan in 1977 and took 25 wickets in his debut series.[9]
Garner took seven five wicket bags in test cricket but never took ten wickets in a test match. As he shared the bowling duties with Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft, and later Malcolm Marshall, competition to take wickets was plentiful.[10]
At 6 feet 8 inches (an inch taller than
Garner was dropped for the final test of the Indian tour of the West Indies in 1983 and again for the West Indies tour of India later that year. Battling injuries, he spent the time building his fitness and returned for the 1983-84 one day series in Australia. Garner missed six one day games due to a knee injury but was able to return for the final few games where his form and fitness had returned. In the following Australian tour of the West Indies, Garner took 31 wickets in the test matches.[11] He described himself as "probably the most happiest man on the team. Dropped from the side the previous season, called washed-up even by friends I hoped hadn't meant it, plagued by recurring injuries to knees and shoulder, I still bowled 208 overs in the tests".[12]
However, it was in
His 5 for 39 in the 1979 Cricket World Cup final against England remains the best ever performance by a bowler in a final; it included a spell of 5 wickets for 4 runs, and he was on a hat-trick twice.[15][16]
He was also the part of the West Indian team which was runner-up in
Garner played for
In Barbados, his club team was YMPC.[19] During his time playing for Barbados, he was captain in 1986. He revealed his tactics to Derek Pringle as “It’s quite simple. Me and Macko [Malcolm Marshall] open the bowling and nip out the top order. We have a rest and the other bowlers come on and keep it tight. Then me and Macko come on and blast out the tail. We have a bat, get a hundred lead and bowl them out again.”[10]
Until the appearance of the 7-foot-1-inch (2.16 m) tall
were the equal-tallest players ever to play international cricket.Geoff Boycott said of Joel Garner "They should cut Joel Garner off at the knees to make him bowl at a normal height".[20]
After retirement
In October 2010 Garner was named interim manager of the
In the 2013 election he was the BCA candidate for vice-president of the
References
- ^ a b ICC Highest-Ever ODI Ratings, Reliance ICC rankings, accessed 21-Jan-2020
- ^ ICC Highest-Ever Test Ratings, Reliance ICC rankings, accessed 21-Jan-2020
- ^ Staff (6 October 2010). "Walsh, Garner inducted into Hall of Fame". Guardian Media. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
- ^ Garner, Joel (1988). Big Bird. Flying High. The autobiography of Joel Garner. Great Britain: Arthur Barker. pp. 20–35.
- ^ "Joel GARNER - Test Profile 1977 - 1987 - West Indies". Sporting Heroes. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
- ^ a b c "Joel Garner interview: "Somerset is still one of the better places in the world to live"". Somerset County Gazette. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Full Scorecard of Somerset vs Northants Final 1979 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Full Scorecard of Surrey vs Somerset Final 1981 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Has there ever been a more underrated bowler than Joel Garner?". The Roar. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
- ^ a b "Joel Garner: 16 facts you should know about the Big Bird". Cricket Country. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Joel Garner | Biography, Stats, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
- ^ Garner, Joel (1988). Big Bird Flying High. Arthur Barker. pp. 128–139.
- Rashid Khan.
- ^ RECORDS / ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS / BOWLING RECORDS / BEST CAREER ECONOMY RATE, ESPNcricinfo, 20 January 2020
- ^ "Final: England v West Indies at Lord's, Jun 23, 1979 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ "ENGLAND v WEST INDIES". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ "Cricket Records | Records | World Cup | Highest partnerships by wicket | ESPN Cricinfo". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ "4th Match: India v West Indies at Manchester, Jun 9-10, 1983 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ "MPC rewards Barbados under-15 cricketers". Caribbean Sports Network. 26 March 2010. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
- ^ Svoboda, Martin. "They should cut Joel Garner off at the knees to make him…". Quotepark.com. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "West Indies v Sri Lanka: Joel Garner named interim West Indies manager | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- ^ "Whycliffe Cameron elected new WICB president". ESPNcricinfo. 28 March 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
- ^ "Current BCA Board Members". Barbados Cricket Association. 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
External links
- Joel Garner at ESPNcricinfo
- Barbados Cricket Association Profile