In the 130 Test matches played at Lord’s, no bowler has made such a stunning debut than Australian medium-pacer Bob Massie with his match figures of 16-137 in June 1972.
It is still the home of cricket’s record for most match wickets, most wickets on debut, and was the all-time debut record until Indian leggie Narendra Herath broke it by the barest possible margin with 16-136 against the Windies at Chennai in January 1988.
But in one of Test cricket’s great mysteries, Massie came, saw, conquered, and was gone from the Test arena in just six months – after just six caps.
That was a combination of poor form and poor health, but to fall from such lofty heights in so short a time left Massie bewildered, and cricket-lovers scratching their heads in disbelief.
So where did Bob Massie come from?
Born in Subiaco, Massie made his Sheffield Shield debut for Western Australia in the 1965-66 season and while he had success the national selectors of Sir Donald Bradman, Jack Ryder and Dudley Seddon took their time before giving him a baggy green cap.
That was until the Rest of the World series in Australia that replaced the cancelled South African tour for the 1971-72 season.
Massie made his presence felt in three unofficial ‘Tests’ claiming 11 wickets at 27.27 apiece, including 7-76 off 20.6 eight-ball overs at the SCG where he dismissed the top six in the batting order – Sunil Gavaskar, Hylton Ackerman, Asif Masood, Zaheer Abbas, Graeme Pollock, and skipper Gary Sobers.
Selected for the 1972 Ashes tour toEngland, Massie wasn’t picked for the first Test at Old Trafford where Dennis Lillee, David Colley, Graeme Watson and Doug Walters were the pace attack.
Australia lost by 89 runs, so Massie replaced Watson for Lord’s.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Massie bowled Geoff Boycott in the first dig for 12, and had his opening partner John Edrich caught by Rod Marsh in the second dig for 6.
Mike Smith was bowled for 34, and caught by Ross Edwards for 30.
Basil d’Oliveira was leg before for 32, and caught by Greg Chappell for 3.
Tony Greig was caught by Marsh for 54, and caught by Ian Chappell for 3.
Alan Knott was caught by Colley for 43, and caught by Greg Chappell for 12.
Skipper Ray Illingworth was leg before for 30, and caught by Keith Stackpole for 12.
John Snow was bowled for 37, and caught by Marsh for a duck.
And Norm Gifford was caught by Marsh in the first dig for 3, and John Price was caught by Greg Chappell for 19 in the second.
Bob Massie had the spectacular stats of 8-84 off 32.5 in the first dig, and 8-53 off 27.2 in the second for his 16-137 off 60.1
A simply magnificent display of pin-point accurate swing bowling, mixed with off-cutters. In the humid, cloudy conditions, Bob Massie made the ball talk to the best England batsmen in the land.
That was the first of Massie’s six caps.
He followed that with 4-43 and 1-49 at Trent Brdiege, 0-34 at Headingley, and finished the Ashes series with 0-69 and 2-77 at The Oval.
Back home in the next summer, Massie played twoTests against Pakistan wirh 4-70 and 0-26 at Adelaide, and 3-123 and 1-49 at the SCG.
And that ended Bob Massie’s Test career with 31 wickets at 20.37, still very cheap by any standards.
Just 18 months later, he was dropped from the Western Australian side, his cricket career over.
Years later Bob Massie popped up on ABC radio as an expert commentator, and he was just as brilliant in that capacity as he was at Lord’s.
And they don’t come any better than that.
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