Nothing beats the sight of a tall, lanky pace bowler running in to bowl. The ball, delivered from an ‘eiffelesque’ height is enough to extract maximum bounce and get the batsmen hopping around in the crease. Cricket has had its fair share of skyscraping fast men. From the West Indian Joel Garner to Kolkata Knight Rider's recent import, Mohammad Irfan, News India takes a look at all the 'giants' of cricket of all the 'hot' countries of international cricket.'
From the backwaters of Punjab has risen Pakistan's tallest bowler ever, Mohammad Irfan. Irfan shot into limelight when he was signed by the Kolkata Knight Riders for the next season of the Indian Premier League. The giant fast bowler caught KKR's bowling coach, Wasim Akram's eye when he was invited to play for the team on their tour to Sri Lanka. At 6'10, putting in some 'towering' performances for his IPL side should not be tough, after which he can set sights on representing his country in international cricket.
Moment of glory: To brush shoulders with the likes of Dada and SRK...
Joel Garner was a part of the fearsome West Indian pace attack which had the batsmen running for cover in the 70's and the 80's. What gave Garner the edge was his formidable height. Batsmen would shiver in their boots as the prospect of facing the 'big bird'. Garner was never the fast bowler who just blew away his opponents. His bounce and superb accuracy were more than enough to threaten and ultimately remove the batsmen.
Moment of glory: Garner's 5-38 left England with no hope in the 1979 World Cup finals.
Bruce Reid was a tall left-armer who made his debut for Australia during the horrific days when rebel tours and Kerry Packer packaged cricket got more limelight than international cricket. Reid, thin and wiry, swung the ball considerably both ways. Plus, his height gave him the ability to get steep bounce on any sort of wicket.
Moment of glory: Reid was all over the English batsmen in the Melbourne Test in 1990-91 Ashes series. He grabbed 13 wickets in that match.
England are sudenly a team of invincibles as they around beating every team in the world these ays. A reason for that is their 'tall' and fearsome bowling attack and one name that has caught the imagination is the lanky Steve Finn. Finn was called in for the tour to Bangladesh in the absence of Broad, Onions and Sidebottom, and immediately impressed with the bounce he got on a placid Chittagong wicket. With the Ashes round the corner on the bouncy wickets of Australia, England would be hoping for a bounty from Steve Finn.
Moment of glory: Finn took four wickets in the first innings against Bangladesh in the Lord's Test and followed it up with a five-wicket haul in the second
Abey Kuruvilla was probably India's tallest bowler to play international cricket. Roped in to strengthen a pace attack without its spearhead Javagal Srinath, Kuruvilla found himself on the flight to the Caribbean for the 1996-97 tour. His 5-68 put India in a winning position in the Barbados Test match, where India infamously capitulated for 81 runs chasing a target of 120.
Moment of glory: Kuruvilla's 5-68 in the second innings of the Barbados Test set up a winning position for India in 1996-97
At one point of time in his international career, Jacob Oram was one of the leading all-rounders in world cricket. Oram's aggressive ways with the bat bought in runs and his medium pace combined with the 'spongy' bounce he could extract made him a difficult proposition for the batsmen. A spate of injuries forced Oram to retire from Tests in 2009, but the big boy from New Zealand continues to play for his country in the other two formats of the game.
Moment of glory: Oram's fiver against India in the Auckland ODI in 2002 was his crowning glory in international cricket.
Another bowler blessed with a good height, Nuwan Zoysa was once in the forefront of the Lankan bowling attack. Zoysa prospered well in ODIs and completed 100 wickets. Unending injuries though brought a tall career to its short end
Moment of glory: In 1999-2000 Zoysa claimed a hat-trick off his first over of the match, against Zimbabwe at Harare.
