Tony Greig will be remembered for far more than his all-round abilities on the cricket field. He was to become more than a bit of a showman but even in that persona he helped change the game of cricket forever. Some of the tributes being paid to him talk of him as the greatest salesman of the game. Considering the commercial era we live in, that is the tribute that fits best.
All cricketers around the world earn far more today than their predecessors did before the birth of World Series Cricket in 1977. Kerry Packer’s “circus” may have had more to do with the media honcho fighting for television rights in Australia than genuine altruism for the players of the game. Greig ensured that the movement took off, featuring as it did some of the world’s best players in high-quality cricket.
Greig was not universally loved for his role as Packer’s chief recruiting agent. He was even lampooned as the organ grinder’s monkey in a famous cartoon of those conservative times, but he had few equals in furthering the players’ interests. He could charm the world into working for him as he did in cleverly praising Indian umpires while landing here for the 1976-77 series and making such gestures as greeting the crowds with a “Namaste” while bowing his gangling frame as far as possible.
As a voice behind the ubiquitous microphone he told a good tale while preserving his pervasive sense of mischief. He endeared himself to Asians as a sage of cricket.