Doug Marillier: birth of a legend

Well, perhaps the title is an exaggeration. But few cricketers have given their names to any aspect of the game even for a short while. Maybe the most famous example is the `Bosie', as the googly is sometimes known in Australia, named after the Englishman Bernard Bosanquet who is credited with inventing it and brought it to fame against the Australians. I can also think of the `Carmody field', an ultra-attacking field setting named after the Australian Services captain who used to pack his slips to an unusual degree for his pace bowlers, but that I think is now an obsolete term. Perhaps readers can remember some more.

During the last couple of weeks, there is a stroke that has been named the `Marillier', in South Africa as well as Australia at least. To play the Marillier, you move across your stumps and scoop a full-length ball from a fast bowler to the fine-leg boundary - just as Doug Marillier did successfully twice to Glenn McGrath in that crucial final over against Australia at Perth. It hasn't become legendary yet, as it will have to pass the test of time, and will no doubt slowly slip from the memories of most. But it has given the courageous and innovative Doug Marillier at least a temporary place in the folklore of the game.

CricInfo spoke to Doug on his return from Australia and here he tells about how the `legend' was born.

I walked to the crease with seven balls left in the game, 15 runs needed for victory, and Heath Streak was on strike at the time. I figured that Heath would probably take one off the last ball of that over and then see out most of the last over, obviously playing a couple of big shots and getting as close as he could to the target. Then to my disgust he got out to the very next ball, to a great catch by Ian Harvey.

That left me and Dirk Viljoen, neither of us having played a shot as yet, or faced a ball. It was also my first game of the series, so it was a big ask, shall we say! We had to try and hit 15 runs off an over from the best bowler in the world.

I have played against McGrath once before, in a warm-up match that we played when they toured here a year and a half ago. I got one in the first dig, out to McGrath, caught behind, and nought in the second dig, lbw to Fleming, so I had only faced a few balls from him.

Dirk came to the crease and asked me, "What do you think?" I said, "Quite honestly, I can taste the adrenaline," and that was how fast my heart was pumping. There wasn't an awful lot going through my head at the time except fear. It did help me focus because although the whole stadium was clapping and banging, all I could see was the ball in his hands.

We had discussed it off the field, and my mates had asked me, "What are you going to do to McGrath if you get to face him?" I said, "Fine leg is up, so I think I'll probably sweep him." A lot of the guys thought I was trying to be humorous and crack a joke! But that is really what I thought. I knew he was probably going to bowl it full, and all I had to do was pick the length early and perhaps walk across my stumps and help it along its way. With fine leg up, all I had to do was to hit it a metre either side of him and with the pace of the ball it would be four.

The first ball he bowled me, I did exactly that, and it went for four. Having done that, I thought he might consider it a touch cheeky, so I figured he might try and bowl a shorter one next ball. So I gave myself a bit of room, hoping he would, with the idea of cutting it over point. He didn't; he bowled another yorker and I ground it out and got a two just to the right of point. This pretty well told me that every ball he bowled would be a full-length ball.

So the next ball I walked inside and did it again. Then he had no choice but to send fine leg back and bring mid-on up. So then I thought I would either hit it wide of point or deep extra cover, or behind square to fine leg. I got another good yorker, and I managed to run a single. Then Dirk got a single - we might have been able to get two, actually, because we got in a bit of a muddle with our calling.

So we had one ball left, and we needed two runs to tie and three balls to win. Fine leg was back and mid-on was up. So Dirk and I had a chat in the middle and Dirk asked, "What do you think?" so I said, "I think I'm going to sweep him again." This fine leg was so fine that I thought I would try and sweep him forward of his position and hopefully get two at least. Dirk said, "That's a good option, but how about trying to hit him back over his head?" - the reason being that even if I didn't hit it properly it would probably go for four, because the man at mid-on was up, and if I went over his head and hit it at least half-well, I would get at least two, if not four.

So we thought about it and had a bit more of a chat, and decided that was the best option; I should rather be playing straight. However, we should have known that McGrath, having brought mid-on up, wasn't going to bowl it straight enough for me to hit over mid-on unless I played across the line. What perhaps I should have done was hit it through backward point; I'd been practising the shot so that the bat actually faces short extra cover, and the ball goes towards point if you hit it well enough.

But I tried to give myself enough room, swung maybe I bit too hard - that's the thing when you come so close to winning a game, you can blame a loss on so many different things. But it was a good experience, and I'm happy that I got the chance to get out there and show that I was up to it.