Lillee, a fairy, says Tony Greig

Updated on: 19 May,2011 08:33 AM IST |
IANS |

A day after he called for an end to India's domination in the International Cricket Council (ICC), former England captain Tony Greig stirred another controversy by saying that legendary Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee was a "bit of a fairy" if he got hit himself.

In an interview to the BBC, Greig, who is now settled in Australia, said: "If you treated the Aussies in the way they treated everyone else, they found it a little bit foreign. I think they thought they had some sort of exclusivity on it and they didn't like it."

"There were people like Dennis Lillee, who was a past master at letting people have it, but he was a bit of a fairy when he got hit himself," he said.

Greig shared a great rivalry with Lillee, a legendary fast bowler, when the Australian was at the height of his powers during the 1970s. But the England all-rounder, who was born in South Africa, scored a brilliant century in the 1974 Brisbane Test against Lillee and Jeff Thomson.

"I must say I got a lot of pleasure out of that. I was an all-rounder so I could afford to dish it out, because I was going to get it anyhow. Having come from South Africa I was brought up in the same way as the Aussies," he said.

Greig, however, feels that Lillee was a true great. "Lillee was up there with the two best fast bowlers I have ever played against and Thomson was as quick as the quickest," he said.