Style
Bowling primarily from over the wicket, his accuracy, changes of pace, and movement in both directions, coupled with a leg stump line to a packed leg-side field, made scoring off him difficult. He achieved his success in a manner not dissimilar to Derek Underwood a generation later. His accuracy and stamina allowed Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, one of Australia's finest fast bowling pairs of all time, to draw breath between short and incisive bursts of pace and swing. Standing 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm), he was particularly effective on sticky wickets, reducing his speed to slow medium pace and using a repertoire of off cutters, inswingers, outswingers and leg breaks. Bowling a leg-stump line from over the wicket with a leg side cordon of two short legs and a silly mid-on, he was described by Bradman as "unique in every way". Bradman further added "I cannot remember another of the same type...He worried and got out the best bats, was amazingly accurate and must have turned in fine figures had not his cartilage given way." He usually bowled with four men on the off side including a slip, and five on the leg. When the pitch was wet, he moved a further man to the on side to field at leg slip.
Nicknamed the "Black Prince" because of his tanned skin, Toshack's looks and sense of humour made him a crowd favourite, as did his theatrical appealing, which was more reminiscent of later eras of cricketers. His vocal appealing prompted the journalist and former Australian Test batsman Jack Fingleton to dub him "The Voice", while teammate Sid Barnes called him "The film star" because of his looks. His sense of fun was often on show. While on the 1948 tour, he would often wear a bowler hat, grab a furled umbrella, and place a cigar in his mouth, parodying an Englishman.
Read more about this topic: Ernie Toshack
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