Joel Garner biography
Joel Garner, byname Big Bird or Big Joel, (born December 16, 1952, Christ Church, Barbados), West Indian cricketer who was one of many recreation’s dominant bowlers within the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s.
Garner grew up in Barbados. He made his Test (worldwide two-innings, five-day match) debut for the West Indies in 1977 and have become an integral a part of the excellent West Indian cricket groups of his period, combining his very reside arm with these of Colin Croft, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, and Malcolm Marshall to kind a number of the most daunting bowling partnerships in cricket historical past. He additionally loved nice success in English county cricket, enjoying for Somerset throughout the crew’s greatest years within the Eighties.
At greater than 6 ft 8 inches (2 metres) tall, he delivered his pitches from an unprecedented peak (some 8 ft [2.4 metres]). Although he was a quick bowler, Garner relied extra on accuracy and bounce than on lightning tempo. He additionally possessed the flexibility to bowl among the many recreation’s most threatening yorkers (a supply by which the ball bounces simply on the ft of the batsman, negotiating the wonderful line between a virtually unhittable supply and the seldom-thrown “full toss,” by which the ball doesn't bounce in any respect and is often pushed solidly by the batsman). Garner was one of many stingiest bowlers in one-day (limited-overs) cricket, and his Test report was equally spectacular, as he averaged simply lower than 5 wickets per Test all through his profession. In the 1979 World Cup last, Garner fired in unplayable deliveries relentlessly and took 5 wickets in solely 11 overs as England collapsed from 183 runs for two out to 194 runs all out. He was chosen Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1980. In the 1983–84 Test sequence in opposition to visiting Australia, Garner took 31 wickets. Garner ended his profession at age 34 after enjoying 58 Tests and 98 one-day internationals.
Garner remained concerned within the sport, and he later served as president of the Barbados Cricket Association. He was inducted into the International Cricket Council Cricket Hall of Fame in 2010.