Famous Cricketers No 96 - Clarrie Grimmett

133. AUSTRALIA v WEST INDIES, Melbourne, February 13, 14 (Australia won by an innings and 122 runs) did not bat - 328-8d 19 7 46 2 C.A.Roach c A.F.Kippax 99 L.N.Constantine c A.Jackson 4.4 0 10 2 G.N.Francis c A.Jackson 107 H.C.Griffith b 134. South Australia v Victoria, Adelaide Oval, February 20, 21, 23, 24 (Match drawn) c J.Ryder b H.Ironmonger 32 439 48 13 105 4 W.M.Woodfull b 369 H.S.T.L.Hendry lbw J.Ryder b H.H.Alexander b c and b H.H.Alexander 6 154 13 7 13 1 H.S.T.L.Hendry lbw 131-4 135. AUSTRALIA v WEST INDIES, Sydney, February 27, 28, March 2, (3), 4 (West Indies won by 30 runs) not out 15 224 33 7 100 3 C.A.Roach lbw 350-6d J.E.D.Sealy c A.F.Kippax E.L.Bartlett b c L.N.Constantine b H.C.Griffith 12 220 18 4 47 1 F.R.Martin c S.J.McCabe 124-5d SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 50 Ct Test matches 5 5 1 43 15* 10.75 - 2 Sheffield Shield 3 5 0 71 32 14.20 - - Other matches 3 4 0 144 54 36.00 2 3 Season 11 14 1 258 54 19.84 2 5 Career 135 175 25 2953 71* 19.68 10 89 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Test matches (6b) 239.2 61 593 33 7-87 17.96 2 1 Sheffield Shield (8b) 126.7 28 352 19 5-31 18.52 2 - Other matches (8b) 134.1 11 472 22 5-43 21.45 3 - Season (8b) 261 39 } 1417 74 7-87 19.14 7 1 (6b) 239.2 61 Career (8b) 2556.7 275 } 17275 753 10-37 22.94 68 17 (6b) 2988.1 759 1931/32 Having beaten the West Indies by four Tests to one, the following season saw the Australians facing the South Africans, at home for the first time since 1910/11. Once again, they found themselves overwhelmed and were never able to come to terms with Grimmett, let alone Bradman who hit 806 runs in the series at an average of 201.50. After warming up with 6-50 for South Australia against the South Africans, taking a wicket with his first delivery, he played little part in the opening Test, easily won by Ironmonger and Wall, although his 2-49 came off only 41.1 overs. The Second Test provided another straight forward innings defeat, Grimmett finishing with eight wickets at 72 in the match. His first haul of five wickets came in the Third Test at Melbourne, when after taking 2-100 in 63 overs in the first innings, he went on to win the match in the second with 6-92, taking the three last wickets on the final morning. He suffered a reverse just prior to the Fourth Test, appearing for South Australia against the South Africans, when despite taking 6-155 and making an unbeaten 63 in their second innings, adding 83 for the ninth wicket, the South Africans won by seven wickets. However his home ground at Adelaide for the Fourth Test provided the best figures of his career, his 7-116 in the first innings being followed by 7-83 in the second, giving him match figures of 14-199. It was the best return by an Australian bowler in Australia. His bowling was not even needed for the Fifth Test, as Ironmonger in particular bowled out South Africa. Once again Grimmett and Ironmonger had dominated the series, taking a maximum of 64 out of 99 wickets, Grimmett’s 33 costing 16.87 apiece. Surprisingly Grimmett also featured in five of the six Sheffield Shield games, taking 29 wickets at 22.27 each and not once in twelve matches failing to take a wicket in any innings. His final figure of 77 at 19.93 was still the highest by any Australian bowler in both Test and other games in 1931/32. He 33