Exactly 40 seasons ago in 1971-72, a 22-year-old Dennis Lillee, bowling alongside his idol Graham 'Garth' McKenzie, destroyed a strong World XI batting line-up that included Sir Garry Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai and Sunil Gavaskar by taking 8-29 here at the Western Australia Cricket Association Ground (WACA).u00a0 Lillee's burst helped Australia win by an innings and 11 runs. He was only his second season for Australia.


Dennis Lillee in full flight. Pic/Getty Images

Lillee marks down that Perth Test as his most memorable hour. That's because he was about to be taken off the attack before wrecking havoc at his home turf. He was quoted as saying by Wisden: "I felt shocking when I got to the ground - some sort of virus was going around Perth at the time - and, after bowling a couple of overs for the wickets of (Sunil) Gavaskar and (Farokh) Engineer, I felt terribly tired and asked Ian Chappell (the captain) if I could possibly have a rest. He talked me into having one more over and things suddenly began to happen after McKenzie dismissed (Rohan) Kanhai and Zaheer (Abbas) was run out. I think that was the most memorable match I've played in from a personal performance point of view."


Graham McKenzie

McKenzie revealed that Lillee was feeling uneasy. "The first few overs he bowled weren't at his best. He was hesitant to bowl and was breathing very heavy. I was bowling at the other end. Dennis was ready to go out of the attack. I was supposed to replace him from that end, with Doug Walters being brought on. But, Chappelli told me, 'let's give him (Lillee) another over. What to do you think?' Ian and I went up to Dennis and convinced him to bowl another one. He was still little hesitant but couldn't say no to us.

"Then, he got Tony Greig out caught at slip - a good catch by Keith Stackpole. After that, he got into Sir Garry with some short-pitched stuff before having him caught behind with an absolute pearl. Sir Garry will never forget that ball. I think that spell made him believe that he could get into the best of the best. After that summer, he went to England and destroyed them too," fast bowling legend McKenzie told
MiD DAY.