Dennis Keith Lillee, the former bowling magician of Australian cricket team was born on 18 July, 1949 in Subiaco, Western Australia and was known for his fiery temperament, ‘never-say-die’ attitude and popularity with the fans. Lillee was an extremely quick bowler and by the time of his retirement from international cricket in 1984 he had become the then world record holder for most Test wickets showing 355 batsmen the way back to pavilion.

Lillee made his debut in the first-class cricket at the age of 20 in 1970 and impressed with his raw pace. His Test debut happened in the sixth Ashes Test at Adelaide. Lillee was selected as Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year for 1973.

In the England tour in 1975 at the inaugural World Cup he captured eight wickets in five matches, including 5/34 against Pakistan at Leeds. He along with Jeff Thomson maintained a powerful and fiery bowling pair that caused panic in the opposite side. Lillee took 37 wickets in six Tests against New Zealand in 1980-81 and was the leading bowler in the World Series Cup for the second successive season.

Bowling as a first-change, Lillee had an uneventful tour of New Zealand in March and April 1982 before suffering a serious knee injury in the first Ashes Test at the WACA Ground in November of the same year. This forced him to miss the rest of the series and Australia’s 2–1 victory, which reclaimed the Ashes. Returning to the team for the latter stages of the World Series Cup, Lillee was no longer an automatic choice to take the new ball. Nevertheless, his 11 wickets in six ODIs helped Australia win the tournament with a victory over New Zealand in the final.

Throughout his Australian career Lillee was also famous for his partnership with wicketkeeper Rod Marsh. The scorecard entry ‘c Marsh b Lillee’ appeared 95 times in Tests, a partnership record between wicketkeeper and bowler still unbroken.

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Philip Veraint Simmons, popularly known as Phil Simmons was an important part of the West Indies cricket team for a long time. Born on April 18, 1963 in Trinidad, this skilled all-rounder played as an opening batsman a useful bowler and a talented slip fielder for the Carrebean side. He played cricket for a number of First-class sides in the West Indies and England as well as international cricket for the West Indian cricket team and was voted a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997.

Simmons had an outstanding career in First-class cricket with an average of 35.61 with the bat and 28.68 with the ball. In the 1996

season, he accumulated 1244 runs and took 56 wickets and 35 catches with Leicestershire, helping his side to win the County Championship of the year for only the second time in their history. But like many cricketers before him, Simmons found the transition to Test level difficult, even though he proved more adept to at the international one day game.

His international career failed to get off to the most auspicious start. Simmons in his debut match against Gloucestershire in 1988 was struck on the head by a fast ball from David Lawrence in bad light at Bristol. His heart stopped functioning and had to undergo emergency surgery at Frenchay hospital, from which he recovered fully.

Simmons retired from international cricket in 2002 but continued to be involved in the sport as a coach. His was appointed as the head coach to the Zimbabwe cricket team in 2004. But this was a hard job due to the mass dismissal of most of the senior players. He found himself having to defend the Test status of his country after an appalling losing streak, including a loss to Bangladesh who were widely seen as the worst Test side in the world. Simmons was sacked under farcical conditions in August 2005. Simmons succeeded Adrian Birrell as coach of the Ireland National Cricket Team after the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.

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