I've reminisced before about the inaugural World Cup but, following the death of Gary Gilmour, it's only right I should do so again. After all, until that memorable tournament, few had heard of the man from Waratah. He scored a century on his New South Wales first-class debut and a 50 on his Test debut against New Zealand at the MCG at the end of 1973. Gilmour took 2-19 in his first ODI a few months later in Dunedin but his next was the match that defined his career, tragically short as it turned out to be.
In 1975, England was clinging on grimly to its position at the centre of the cricketing universe but it was certainly the place to be that hot summer. Hosting the first global tournament ever and an Ashes series within a few short months, it was a great time to be a cricket-loving schoolboy. One-day internationals were still rare despite their accidental birth three and a half years earlier. As Australia and England met in the first World Cup semi-final, it was still only the 31st fixture of that ilk. The format was 60 overs a side so there was plenty of cricket to enjoy, weather permitting!
We all knew about Lillee and Thomson but Gilmour didn't make an appearance in the competition until that humid Headingley day on 18th June. The clips now form a potent reminder of how cricket has changed in the intervening four decades. Not only did everybody boast a scary full head of hair but the Leeds ground still possessed an air of old-school semi-rurality; mostly low-rise tiers of seats against a verdant backdrop of trees and suburban rooftops rather than the towering corporate pavilions we see at every Test venue these days.
England were highly fancied to win the tournament, largely on the basis of it being 'our competition' and the fact that foreigners couldn't possibly sustain top cricket over a few weeks in an unfamiliar format. That was, of course, ignoring the presence of players such as the aforementioned Aussie pace duo, Glenn Chappell, Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai, Andy Roberts, Sunil Gavaskar, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee et al. Anyway, Ian Chappell won the toss and opted to field on a day made for swing and seam. It was, in other words, made for a skilful left-arm seam bowler like Gary Gilmour.
Bowling his twelve overs in a single spell from the start, he proved unplayable. While Dennis Lillee was a fairly benign presence at the other end, Gilmour claimed the first six wickets to leave the home team in tatters at 36-6. Four of the dismissals were LBWs to fast inswingers, Barry Wood was bowled by a similar ball while Tony Greig fell to an atrocious shot to a wide one which was taken superbly by a horizontal Rod Marsh in front of first slip. England were skittled for 93 and Gilmour finished with figures of 12-6-14-6.
My misty-eyed memories of the Final the following weekend hadn't included Gilmour's 5-48 as Australia struggled to contain Lloyd, Kallicharran, Boyce and co. He made 14 in the riposte in the fading light of a glorious summer Saturday, but it wasn't to be. The burly left-armer played only one more ODI. He played just a single Ashes Test match, too, taking nine wickets, again at Headingley. By the time of the Centenary Test in early 1977, a debilitating foot injury had left him a pale shadow of that swing sensation who blew away Mike Denness' men just a few years earlier.
By his own admission, his personality and lifestyle would not have gelled with the tight ultra-professional approach to modern cricket which developed from the 1980s. He had a reputation for hard drinking and fast living which made him a popular bloke to have around the dressing room. He was neither the first nor the last Aussie cricketer to fit that particular description; just think Walters, Boon, Merv Hughes and Symonds. Flintoff's pedalo escapade pales into insignificance! However, his charisma, brisk batting, sharp fielding and those devastating in-swinging yorkers might have earned him a fair few dollars at the IPL had he been born thirty years later
Whether or not it was related to his prodigious beer intake, Gilmour suffered more and more from liver problems. He needed a transplant in 2005 and remained in poor health until he passed away today at the age of 62. His rather thin career statistics do not reflect the popularity accorded him in Aussie cricketing circles. Lillee, Thomson and another swing merchant Max Walker boast superior hauls of wickets but Gilmour's 6-14 in that World Cup semi thirty-nine summers ago will always stand the test of time. Watch YouTube to experience swing bowling at its best.
