Bruce Yardley, the former Australian spin bowler, coach and commentator, has died in far north Western Australia after a prolonged fight with cancer at the age of 71.
Starting his cricketing life as one of many swing and seam
bowlers in WA, Yardley found his niche after converting to off-breaks spun
idiosyncratically from his right middle and ring fingers, first earning Test
selection in the summer of 1977-78 during the World Series Cricket split that
spirited away a host of Australian players to Kerry Packer's breakaway
competition.
Not immediately successful for Australia, Yardley gradually
improved as a bowler generating turn and bounce from a long, angled run-up and
high action, while also smiting the intimidating West Indian attack for a
memorable, 29-ball half century in a Test at Barbados in 1978 - a tour on which
he was also called, once, for throwing in the tour match against Jamaica.
The following season he turned out for Graeme Yallop's
"lambs to the slaughter" against England, and notably took the old
ball for the start of the second innings of the final Test of the series at the
SCG, as Yallop stretched the game's laws by opting not to take a new ball, much
to the indignation of his opposite number, Mike Brearley.
Yardley returned to state ranks when Packer and the
Australian Cricket Board reached a compromise ahead of the 1979-80 season,
having toured India ahead of the home summer.
A season later, however, Yardley returned as the nation's
No. 1 spinner, and enjoyed three summers in the national spotlight from 1980 to
1983.
The most striking of these was 1981-82, when he plucked no
fewer than 38 wickets in six home Tests against Pakistan and the West Indies,
winning a cult following for the quality of his bowling and the infectiousness
nature of his celebrations, his fielding at gully and his pesky lower order
batting. These feats earned him the crown of International Cricketer of the
Year, and he also winkled out 13 New Zealand wickets in three Tests across the
Tasman.
Yardley was to fall out of favour with the national selectors
in 1983 despite taking seven wickets against Sri Lanka in his final Test, and
retired from the game in 1985, though he returned to represent Western
Australia in 1989-90.
Following the end of his playing days, Yardley coached both
close to home for Midland Guildford in Perth club cricket, and further afield
as the national team coach of Sri Lanka from 1996 to 1998, where he was a noted
advocate for Muttiah Muralitharan and a defender of his bowling action in
contrast to many of his countrymen.
He also coached and commentated internationally, before
battling cancer back home in Western Australia, where he died at Kununurra
District Hospital.
"Bruce was a significant figure in Australian cricket,
contributing in many ways on and off the field," Cricket Australia's chief
executive Kevin Roberts said. "As a player, it took him more than ten
years of persistence playing First-Class and Premier cricket to find the art of
off-spin, earning him a Test debut at the age of 30.
"Bruce's bowling dominates his career highlights with
126 Test wickets, holding the mantle as Australia's most successful Test
off-spinner before being surpassed by Nathan Lyon. He was also an excellent
fielder and handy batter, holding the record for the quickest Test fifty for 38
years.
"Off the field, Bruce had an infectious personality
and was regarded as one of the best spin-bowing coaches in the world, coaching
Sri Lanka and mentoring the greatest Test wicket-taker of all time, Muttiah
Muralitharan. On behalf of the Board and staff at Cricket Australia, we
acknowledge Bruce's outstanding contribution to Australian cricket, and our
thoughts are with his family, friends and many of those in the cricketing
community who knew him."
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