Australian mystery spinner John Gleeson dies at 78

Australia’s ‘mystery spinner’ of yesteryear John Gleeson has passed away at the age of 78 at his home in Tamworth in New South Wales. Gleeson was a prominent part of the Australian revolution wherein he played alongside Richie Benaud during the golden age of Australian cricket. The announcement was made by former Australian skipper Ian Chappell during the Matador Cup.

“He’s sadly passed away in the Tamworth hospital, aged 78,” the former Australia captain Ian Chappell relayed to viewers during Channel Nine’s coverage of a Matador Cup game.

“The folded finger-spinner they called him,” Chappell said. “He came from Tamworth, started out his cricket life as a wicketkeeper and he fiddled around flicking these balls … I think he started with a table tennis ball and developed into a very fine finger spinner.

Chappell also revealed the conversation he had with Gleeson a few days prior to his demise. “I spoke to him the other day, he’d come to grips with his situation and his last words were to me, ‘Don’t fret, mate, I’m in good shape’.”

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“The first time I saw it was a photograph in a 1951 Sporting Life magazine,” he said of Iverson’s grip in a 2008 interview. “I would bowl with the same grip with a tennis ball in backyard cricket, with a jacaranda tree as the wicket. It was quite natural for me to bowl a leg-spinner even if it looked like an off-spinner – it was basically a reverse wrong’un: looks like an off-spinner but is a leg-spinner.”

Gleeson spoke about the time he ran into the great Sir Don Bradman. “He stood there, in his suit, at the batting crease, without a bat. I ran up and bowled. To get the ball to turn a fair bit I had to bowl a lot slower than I normally did,” Gleeson said. “I bowled him that ball [an off break] and he tried to let it hit the net, but it went the other way, flew up, and hit him on the hip. His eyes lit up and he just picked the ball up and threw it back to me. Next ball, I bowled him the wrong’un and then he wasn’t quite sure which way to go as he wasn’t reading from the hand.”

James Sutherland, the CEO of the Australian Cricket Board went on to pay his respects to the departed Gleeson, “John captured the imagination of cricket fans everywhere as he bamboozled batsmen with his odd bowling grip, borrowed from another mystery Australian spinner, Jack Iverson.”

“We were deeply saddened to hear of John’s passing and are truly appreciative of his contribution to the game, which, beyond his distinguished playing career, included time as an administrator with World Series Cricket. As a cricketer, he will be remembered as someone who played for his country at the highest level and, with his unique skills, had the ability to regularly dumbfound the best batsmen in any team.”

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