Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)

Bill O'Reilly

O'Reilly in the 1930s
Personal information
Full name	William Joseph O'Reilly
Born	(1905-12-20)20 December 1905 White Cliffs, New South Wales, Australia
Died	6 October 1992(1992-10-06) (aged 86) Sutherland, New South Wales, Australia
Nickname	Tiger
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Right-arm leg break
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 140)	29 January 1932 v South Africa
Last Test	29 March 1946 v New Zealand
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1927/28–1945/46	New South Wales
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 27 135 Runs scored 410 1,655 Batting average 12.81 13.13 100s/50s 0/1 0/1 Top score 56* 56* Balls bowled 10,024 37,279 Wickets 144 774 Bowling average 22.59 16.60 5 wickets in innings 11 63 10 wickets in match 3 17 Best bowling 7/54 9/38 Catches/stumpings 7/– 65/–
Source: CricketArchive, 19 August 2007

William Joseph O'Reilly OBE (20 December 1905 – 6 October 1992) was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.

O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers ever to play cricket. He delivered the ball from a two-fingered grip at close to medium pace with great accuracy, and could produce leg breaks, googlies, and top spinners, with no discernible change in his action.^[1] A tall man for a spinner (around 188 cm, 6 ft 2 in), he whirled his arms to an unusual extent and had a low point of delivery that meant it was very difficult for the batsman to read the flight of the ball out of his hand. When O'Reilly died, Sir Donald Bradman said that he was the greatest bowler he had ever faced or watched.^[2] In 1935, Wisden wrote of him: "O'Reilly was one of the best examples in modern cricket of what could be described as a 'hostile' bowler."^[3] In 1939, Wisden reflected on Bill O'Reilly's successful 1938 Ashes tour of England: "He is emphatically one of the greatest bowlers of all time."^[4]

As a batsman, O'Reilly was a competent right-hander, usually batting well down the order. O'Reilly's citation as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1935 said: "He had no pretensions to grace of style or any particular merit, but he could hit tremendously hard and was always a menace to tired bowlers."^[1]

As well as his skill, O'Reilly was also known for his competitiveness, and he bowled with the aggression of a paceman. In a short biographical essay on O'Reilly for the Barclays World of Cricket book, contemporary England cricketer Ian Peebles wrote that "any scoring-stroke was greeted by a testy demand for the immediate return of the ball rather than a congratulatory word. Full well did he deserve his sobriquet of 'Tiger'."^[5]