Goodbye Glenn!

AUSTRALIAN bowler McGrath wound up a 14-year international career on Saturday, earning an unprecedented third straight World Cup winner’s medal.

McGrath (37) postponed his retirement plans by three months to play in the Caribbean. He was a stalwart of the dominant Australia team for more than a decade and famously spurned the opportunity to sit out occasional matches to rest in favour of maintaining the rhythm and routine that was so important to his game.With his unerring accuracy and variations in pace, he took 563 wickets in test cricket, more than any other fast bowler, and 381 in 250 one-day internationals.At this World Cup, he overtook Pakistan great Wasim Akram as the tournament’s all-time leading wicket-taker and set the record of the greatest number of wickets at a single competition.McGrath cites India’s Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies’ Brian Lara, who also stepped down after his team’s final match of the World Cup, as the best batsmen he played.”I feel, from bowling to those two guys, that Brian was probably slightly in front of Sachin when they were both at their peak,” McGrath said.Perhaps the biggest indication of where McGrath stood in the game comes from how much Australia missed him when he was not there.In 2005, he missed two of the five Ashes tests against England.Australia lost both and the series 2-1 to surrender the Ashes after 18 years.Nampa-APHe was a stalwart of the dominant Australia team for more than a decade and famously spurned the opportunity to sit out occasional matches to rest in favour of maintaining the rhythm and routine that was so important to his game.With his unerring accuracy and variations in pace, he took 563 wickets in test cricket, more than any other fast bowler, and 381 in 250 one-day internationals.At this World Cup, he overtook Pakistan great Wasim Akram as the tournament’s all-time leading wicket-taker and set the record of the greatest number of wickets at a single competition.McGrath cites India’s Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies’ Brian Lara, who also stepped down after his team’s final match of the World Cup, as the best batsmen he played.”I feel, from bowling to those two guys, that Brian was probably slightly in front of Sachin when they were both at their peak,” McGrath said.Perhaps the biggest indication of where McGrath stood in the game comes from how much Australia missed him when he was not there.In 2005, he missed two of the five Ashes tests against England.Australia lost both and the series 2-1 to surrender the Ashes after 18 years.Nampa-AP