It is shocking to see Grimmett ommitted not just because he is not in the last five but because he isn't in the 25 at all. Before the Warney 'phenomenon' swamped the cricketing world (despite the Murali miracle) it was widely accepted that Oreilly and/or Grimmett were way ahead of any spinners to come out of Australia. Bradman, in fact considered O'reilly the greatest bowler of all times - all types ! Of course there were those who felt Syd Barnes was better but thats another debate.
The debate about who was better between Grimmett and O'reilly wasn't settled during their cricketing years as well. It was only when Bradman, whose differences with Grimmett and whose famous dropping of the maestro are part of cricketing folklore, rooted for O'reilly as the better bowler that the support for O'reilly grew with latter day cricket lovers in general.
It is well known that Grimmett took 216 wickets in just 37 tests (the first man to take 200 test wickets). Grimmett and O'reilly bowled together in 15 tests before Grimmett was unceremoniously dumped by the Don. They bowled in an era when Australia had virtually no top fast bowling combination and batsmen like McCabe bowled more overs with the new ball than any other regular new ball bowler ! Yet, in an era dominated by some of cricket's tallest scoring, these two, between them took 169 wickets in the 15 test matches ! With Bradman in the batting line up, these two were all Australia needed to retain a firm grip as the number one Test nation (bodyline series excepted).
Here are their figures for these 15 tests :-
Code:
Bowler Tests Overs Runs Wkts 10-fors 5-fors Avg St. Rt Ec. Rt
Grimmett 15 986 1835 88 4 9 20.85 67.2 1.86
Oreilly 15 900.4 1739 81 2 6 21.46 66.7 1.96
The period was 1932 to 1936. It is important to remember, however, that these were the last 15 Tests for Grimmett who, as mentioned earlier, did not play after this. Oreilly went on to play for ten more years.
The figures are telling not just of how great the two bowlers were and how devastating but also that the debate of Grimmett versus O'reilly defies even the number -crunchers :-))