Wally Grout - Style and Personality

Style and Personality

Don Bradman noted the similarity in footwork, "swoop" and aggression between Grout and Don Tallon.

Grout described Australian teammate Alan Davidson as his "bread and butter", and snared 48 of his first 100 victims from his bowling. He took plenty of outside edges from late-swinging balls. He hated keeping to off-spinners as the ball is often obscured by the batsman until it is too late; this is in contrast to leg spinners where the ball is visible from the time it is bowled.

"Asked by an Englishman if he'd attended a public school, he replied: "Eton. And drinkin'.""

Grout loved billiards, and met champion Indian billiards player Wilson Jones in Kolkata in 1960; the test team cheered Wilson in the World Amateur Billiards Championship, which was being held at the same time as the test.

In sports, prominent athletes often receive nicknames that then become widely used once they meet with popular approval. Grout's personality added his last name as a rhyming slang for a "Shout" (round). This poetic colloquialism arises in the context of drinking in a drinking establishment such as a pub, as in "And be sure to get your Wally Grout (shout) in." Here, a statement such as "It's your Wally" is a notification that it is the listener's turn to buy a round of drinks (a shout).