Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the tallest cricketer of them all? It is Pakistan’s 28 year-old new left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, who stands at 6’9” (6 feet, 9 inches)! Like ages, dimensions are not Pakistanis’ strong points.
Some measure him at 6’8”, others at 6’10’, while some stretch our credibility limit and proclaim he is 7’1”.
But he is tall, very tall.
Selected for Pakistan’s team in Asia Cup in Sri Lanka next month, he has requested the authorities in Sri Lanka to arrange for a special large-sized bed for him.
“I am being told that all arrangements would be in place. I also need special sized bats and pads to play”, Irfan told Indian journalist Bipin Dani from Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore, where he is attending the team camp.
“My father, Mohammad Aslam, a farmer, is 6’10″ and my mother is 6’6″, but I am tallest among my five brothers and two sisters”, he added.
“He is a potential bowler and with passage of time he will be a utility bowler”, Intikhab Alam, the former coach said from Islamabad, where he was busy for his son’s wedding.
Before he was given a lucrative break in first-class cricket, Irfan contemplated giving up the game and was working for a plastic pipe company for a salary of Rs 8000 ($180) a month.
The previous tallest international cricketers have been West Indies fast bowler Joel Garner and Australian beanpole quickie Bruce Reid, both standing at 6’8” in their socks.
Garner took full advantage of his height while taking 259 wickets at 20.97 in 58 Tests, while Reid captured 113 wickets at 24.63 in 27.
Who were other tall cricketers?
A former Kent opening bowler, Norman Graham, stood at 6’8”. In his first-class debut in 1964, he took a wicket off his third delivery. Perhaps the batsman was looking up in awe rather than down the line!
Norm played for Kent for 14 seasons. He was at his best in 1967 and 1968, taking 104 wickets at 13.90. He was effective in one-day cricket and his real value can be gauged from his economy rate as much as his wickets.
His fourth one-day match was the 1967 Gillette final where he took 1 for 26 from 12 overs in Kent’s victory. He was a genuine No. 11 and is one of the rare breed who finished with more first-class wickets than runs.
His ground fielding was often entertainingly poor, but at 6’8″ that was understandable.
In the company of Garner, Reid, Graham and now Irfan, Tony Greig at 6’7”, Glenn McGrath over 6’5” and another Australian fast bowler Tony Dale at 6’5” would appear almost short!
If Irfan plays in the Asia Cup, the organisers may have to increase the height of the sightscreen. Garner and Reid had troubled the batsmen at the point of delivery with the ball coming from above the sight screen at many venues.
Roarers are requested to add to my list of tall (6’6” and above) first-class cricketers.
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Fivehole said | June 8th 2010 @ 8:53am | Report comment
Tom Moody anyone?
Chris said | June 8th 2010 @ 9:07am | Report comment
What a game cricket is where a bowler that is 6’10 can compete on equal footing with a batsman that is 5’4. Cricket really is a game for fat, thin, short and tall and everything in between.
Brett McKay said | June 8th 2010 @ 9:20am | Report comment
Kersi, where does “the next Glenn McGrath”, new English quick Steve Finn fit in to your mix?? Isn’t he 6’8″ plus some??
Kersi Meher-Homji said | June 8th 2010 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Thank you, Fivehole. CricInfo measures Moody at 1.98m (6’6″).
CricInfo measures Mohammad Irfan at 7’1″ but also gives 6’8″, 6’10′ as alternatives. But do see his pic in CricInfo (Statistics/Players/ Pakistan/ Mohammad Irfan).
Anyone else?
I came across an old yellow clipping of the Sydney Morning Herald dated 12 October 1989. In it Phil Wilkins interviewed Balmain’s first grade left-arm fast bowler Chris ‘Moose’ Fitzgerald, 6’6″ tall , weighing 17 st 12 lb (250 kg) and wearing size 15 boots.
Apart from all-rounders Tony Greig and Tom Moody, all 6’5″ plus cricketers are fast or fast-medium bowlers. Does height give fastish bowlers an advantage?
sheek said | June 8th 2010 @ 4:40pm | Report comment
Kersi,
South African paceman Vincent van der Bijl comes to mind. Along with countryman Clive Rice, probably the best two cricketers never to play official tests.
Van Der Bijl was about 6’7” or 6’8″ tall, & with the frame of a rugby lock. Unbelievably good bowler – the white Joel Garner!!!
Kersi Meher-Homji said | June 8th 2010 @ 9:30am | Report comment
Thank you, Brett.
Checking on CricInfo, England’s right arm fast-medium bowler Steve Finn is 6’7″.
Keep it coming, my learned Roar friends.
Jameswm said | June 8th 2010 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
Wasn’t Bruce Reid about 6 foot 10? Or was it 6 foot 8? He was taller than Tom Moody for sure.
Brett McKay said | June 8th 2010 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
yeah, 6’8″ I believe James..
Kersi, what about a couple of NSW quicks, Phil Alley and Warwick Adlam, both reaching similar heights from memory??
And, of course, we can’t leave NZ bat “Two Metre Peter” Fulton out either…
sheek said | June 8th 2010 @ 12:33pm | Report comment
Yeah, poor old Bruce Reid. Extraordinary talent in a fragile, stick body.
He could’ve been one of the truly great fast bowlers, as good as if not better than McGrath, & I don’t say that lightly.
Apparently the constant air travel, especially around the Caribbean in smaller jet aircraft in 1991, stuffed his body some, giving him constant back complaints.
If he had managed to remain injury free & fully fit, who knows what kind of stats he might have ended up with….. ?
Wylie said | June 8th 2010 @ 3:09pm | Report comment
Great player. I remember seeing him play for the Australian Indoor team several years after he had retired and he’d bulked up remarkably. Apparently he tried to put on weight while playing and couldn’t. I guess it’s a common scenario – retire and get fat.
Vinay Verma said | June 8th 2010 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
Kersi,can’t think of any tall ones but the shortest would have to be the pocket rocket Ramakant Desai.
Kersi Meher-Homji said | June 8th 2010 @ 1:59pm | Report comment
Vinay,
Ramakant Desai was 5’4″ tall (short?!).
According to Basil Easterbrook, Lancashire’s Harry Pilling was the shortest first-class cricketer at 5’3″. That means taller than the Indian trio of Sunil Gavaskar, GR Viswanath and Sachin Tendulkar, all nearly 5’5″!
To quote Colin Shindler, “Harry Pilling [who played for Lancashire from 1962-80] is remembered because he was 5ft 3in tall, which does him a major injustice because he was a brave, underrated batsman who was desperately unlucky never to play for his country. He was the first man to reach 1,500 runs in the John Player League and at Lord’s in 1970 his outstanding unbeaten innings of 70 against Sussex steadied all our nerves and brought Lancashire their first Gillette Cup. Although not a big driver of the ball, he was an expert at nudging and nurdling and was a model of consistency at No. 3. His partnerships with the 6ft 4½in Clive Lloyd gave much pleasure to those who appreciated the comic vision of their mid-wicket conversations, even if the TV cameras struggled to keep them both in the same frame.”
Ditto for Sunil Gavaskar and Tony Greig for the World XI against Australia in 1971-72. “One is a dot and the other a dash, and they communicate to each other by Morse code”, joked commentator Norman May!
Brett McKay said | June 8th 2010 @ 2:06pm | Report comment
Kersi, if we’re coming down from the heights, we certainly can’t overlook (!) WI ‘keeper David Williams, described on Wiki as “A diminutive man, at 5 foot 4…”
(I’m here all week….)