Len Pascoe

Photos: Len Pascoe

Len Pascoe: Fast and furious to a mentor and entertainer

Len Pascoe Biography

Len Pascoe bowled with a primal ferocity matched by none, perhaps not even by his childhood friend Jeff Thomson. Barrel-chested, dusky, and enormous, Pascoe generated his tremendous pace from his enormous physical power, one that had its roots in hauling 2,000 bricks a day in his childhood to help his father. He later remodelled his action somewhat on Dennis Lillee and the West Indian fast bowlers, but not significantly.

He hurled them at tremendous pace, for by his own admission he “liked to see fear in a batsman.” Unfortunately, he often got carried away with his bouncers, over-bowling them to a level that was borderline unnecessary, but then, that was what the man was about. But then, he believed that “to be a really, really good player there needs to be an element of the maniac about you”.

He played a mere 14 Tests, for his career coincided with Lillee, Max Walker, Rodney Hogg, and Thomson, but he still got 64 wickets at 26. His ODI average of 20 is the second-best in history with a 50-wicket cut-off. Curiously, he never played Test cricket outside Australia and England, though he played a few ODIs in New Zealand.

Being a part of one of the greatest fast-bowling line-ups had its problems: Pascoe got a solitary five-wicket haul, in the 1980 Centenary Test at Lord’s. However, he went without a wicket only twice in 27 innings, and took at least 3 wickets in every Test he played.

The Lord’s Test deserves mention for at least two other reasons. First, it included a spell of 5 for 15 in 32 balls. But more importantly, Pascoe might not have played the Test at all. Picked ahead of Thomson, Pascoe believed that Thomson was a more suitable candidate for a Test of such significance, and insisted he would “pull a hamstring” so that Thomson would play. Thomson issued a similar warning, and Pascoe eventually played.

Pascoe also famously unleashed a bouncer barrage on Viv Richards at Adelaide in 1979-80. The great
man Richards counterattacked in characteristic style; the duel became a YouTube favourite in later decades. He also hit Sandeep Patil at Sydney over the ear as the batsman collapsed in a heap.

Pascoe was of Macedonian origins, and was named Leonard Stephen Durtanovich at birth (Pascoe was his grandfather’s surname). Pascoe and Thomson both went to the same school and played for the same club. They injured so many batsmen in club cricket that the local hospital had a ward named after them.

He was a part of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. In fact, he was the first to propose the idea of day-night cricket (“Why can’t we play cricket under lights? Baseball, soccer, etc are all played under lights!”)

On a trip to Ashfield to a manufacturer of prosthetics and helmets, Pascoe and Ian Davis came across a horse-riding helmet. They were one of the earliest to propose the use of a helmet in cricket.

Pascoe later coached New South Wales and currently runs a sports entertainment company.

Abhishek Mukherjee

Len Pascoe Batting & Fielding Averages

Career

Avg

100s

50s

Test

ODIs

T20s

World Cup

Len Pascoe Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
ODIs	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--