Clarrie Grimmett's Test Debut — 11 for 82 at Sydney, 1925

Grimmett, small and round-shouldered, had developed an unusual sliding action that produced very low trajectory — the ball arrived flat and then turned, rather than the looping flight of Mailey or Bosanquet. His selection at 33 was forced on the Australian board by Mailey's tour-end fatigue and his own ten-wicket Sheffield Shield haul earlier in the summer.

Grimmett was born in New Zealand but had played for Sydney clubs since 1914. Repeatedly overlooked because Arthur Mailey held the Australian leg-spin slot, he had moved to Adelaide in 1923 in search of regular Sheffield Shield cricket and was finally selected for the dead-rubber fifth Test at Sydney in 1925, with Australia 4-0 up. He was 33 years old and almost out of patience with the selectors.

The Test was played in late February. Australia made 295; England replied with 167, Grimmett bowling unchanged for over two hours and finishing with 5 for 45 — Hobbs caught at point, Sutcliffe stumped, Hendren bowled. Australia made 325 in the second innings, leaving England 453. Grimmett returned figures of 6 for 37 in 19.4 overs, dismissing Sutcliffe again, plus Whysall, Chapman and Tate, as England were bowled out for 146. Australia won the Test by 307 runs and the series 4-1.

Grimmett's match figures of 11 for 82 stood at the time as the second-best by any bowler on Test debut, behind only Frederick Spofforth's 13 for 110 in 1879. He immediately became Australia's leading spinner, partnering Bill O'Reilly in the early 1930s, and remained so until his last Test in 1936. He finished with 216 wickets in 37 Tests at 24.21.

“He was the most accurate bowler I ever faced. The ball did not come at you, it crept at you, and then it spun.”

Grimmett toured England in 1926, 1930 and 1934 and was the most successful Australian spinner of his era. His partnership with Bill O'Reilly in the early 1930s gave Australia the strongest spin pair Test cricket had yet seen.