Feature

'The little man has hit the big fella for six'

Memorable lines from the commentary of Tony Greig

ESPNcricinfo staff
29-Dec-2012
Three decades worth of international cricket commentary can't be put down in a short list of memorable lines, but these quotes from Tony Greig will let us relive some of his and cricket's great moments. We have only used the ones for which we could find Youtube videos, which means "The Indians have come alive" and "These little Sri Lankans... they never give up, do they?" aren't in this list. Send us your favourites (with links, if possible).
"They are dancing in the aisles in Sharjah."
Greig captures the mood during Sachin Tendulkar's assault on Australia in the Desert Storm series in 1998
"The little man has hit the big fella for six! He's half his size!"
Tendulkar's straight six off Tom Moody in the final of the same series amuses the commentator immensely
"It's miles in the air… it's a wonderful catch! What a catch! The greatest catch! Unbelievable Steven Waugh."
Greig at his excited best while watching Steve Waugh take a running catch on the boundary
"Straight up in the air… Waugh won't drop this… oh he's dropped it! I can't believe it! What's going on here?"
He's forced to splutter when Waugh drops a dolly off Tendulkar
"Oh boy, doesn't she look gorgeous?"
As the camera pans on an attractive female spectator, Greig airs his opinion and prompts Bill Lawry to say something too.
"Changing behind the bowler's arm? That's enough to put any batsman off."
Npower sponsor girls by the sightscreen distract the batsman and Greig
"These Sri Lankans are giving the Aussies a real hiding."
And they did too, in the 1996 World Cup final
"What a biggie! It's gone into the trees."
During Sanath Jayasuriya's world-record fastest one-day fifty
"Viv Richards has obviously decided that tonight is going to be his night."
And it was, as Richards's 40-ball 60 helped West Indies win the Benson & Hedges World Series 2-1 in a best-of-three final
"No, we don't want him to go there, that's for sure. That would not help at all."
Greig's struggles with a Channel 9 graphic for slip fielding has his colleagues in splits
"That was hit really hard by Rod Marsh… no it wasn't, Rod Marsh has just walked into the dressing room, and what's more, he's retired!"
Greig confuses Allan Border with Rod Marsh three years after the keeper quit Test cricket
"He's blazed that one through the off-side field… go and fetch that!"
On Asanka Gurusinha's assault on the Indian bowlers during the 1996 World Cup
"That's a great shot. What a little beauty! That's gone miles over the top of midwicket."
On Ajay Jadeja's six of Waqar Younis in the 1996 World Cup quarter-final
"Kumble's playing a blinder."
Words you never thought you'd hear
"India have won in dramatic style! The whole of Bengal are on their feet!"
India's historic win over Australia in Kolkata 2001, in the words of Greig
"Looks like Inzamam is making a comeback… Sorry Inzy, don't want you charging into the dressing room here trying to beat me up."
A tubby fielder playing a match in the desert in the Middle East reminds Greig of a certain great Pakistan batsman
"They'll probably need Gillette to work on one of those Gillette G2 double-edged swivel heads to get through those valleys they have got here."
One of Greig's many memorable pitch reports, in which he uses a key and a scythe