"Glenn McGrath must be the only person who owns a grand piano and yet can play just one song," wrote Trevor Marshallsea, in the Sydney Morning Herald.
He is also the only bowler with a huge canvas to sketch his bowling. Still, he chooses just one stroke for perfection. Ball after ball, match after match, he keeps bowling few centimeters around the off stump to produce one masterpiece, which he displayed in Nagpur during day 2 of the third Test against India on Wednesday. His figures of 20-12-18-2 don't say much, but they surely have the McGrath stamp over it.
"The better I felt, the better I bowled," commented McGrath, while reflecting on his economy rate after play on day 2 of the Test.
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"There was bounce with the new ball, not quick bounce. Some [balls] were skidding through, others were just about bouncing, just jumping off the wicket a bit."
Viender Sehwag got the Indian innings off in cavalier fashion, carting four boundaries in Jason Gillespie's opening over, but McGrath kept him under check from the other end. In fact, Sehwag rarely got hold of him, and when he did, he nicked the ball to Adam Gilchrist.
"The second wicket [Dravid] was a bit of a surprise. I was just trying to get through the last ball [of the spell]," said McGrath, who is playing his 100th Test.
Having got half the Indian side out cheaply, he is hopeful that he and his fellow-bowlers will "knock India over early tomorrow".
"We were in a very strong position even in 2001. We will try and knock them off early in the first innings and build pressure on them, hopefully get a big first innings lead and keep plenty of time on our hands to get them out second time around," he said.
Of the five wickets remaining, McGrath will be hoping to snap at least two that will enable him swell his career haul to 450 wickets in Tests.
With every wicket, each carved in his mind, since he made his Test debut in the 1993-94 series against New Zealand, the 34-year-old New South Wales bowler has taken a step towards greatness, his legend built on the pillar of consistency.
Bjorn Borg wrote in his autobiography, "I had just two strokes, backhand and forehand. I couldn't get confused with that." He did not and went on to win five consecutive Wimbledon crowns with a game that experts smirked was least compatible to grass.
In many ways, McGrath's exploits are similar. Be it the fast and hard Australian tracts or the dry ones of the subcontinent, he keeps the ball straight and picks wickets. Now the 'Pigeon' just a flight from a unique milestone.
