Tony Greig - Telegraph A brilliant fielder, he also proved adept at exerting pressure by standing alarmingly close to batsmen in the field. If all-round capability may be judged by averages, his achievement matches up well to that of Andrew Flintoff, who in 79 Tests claimed 226 wickets at 32.78. Ian Botham's record with the ball - 383 wickets at 28.40 in 102 Tests - was decidedly superior to both. With the bat, however, Greig's average of 40.43 stands well above those of both Botham (33.54) and Flintoff (31.77). As captain of England for 14 Tests from 1975 to 1977, Greig took over the reins when the team was at a low ebb, and inspired some recovery. It was no disgrace to lose against the all-powerful West Indies in 1976. Greig, however, received some well-deserved stick because he had predicted that he would make the tourists "grovel." He showed himself far more canny in India in 1976-77, when he began the tour by announcing that he had the greatest faith in Indian umpires. England won the series by three Tests to one. And if the centenary Test against Australia in March 1977 was lost by 45 runs - exactly the same margin as in the first Test in 1877 - there were universal plaudits for a splendid match. At this point, however, with his career at its zenith, Greig entered into negotiations with Kerry Packer to defy MCC and the Australian Board in setting up World Series Cricket, which would operate outside the traditional structures of the game. He himself became Packer's chief publicist and set about recruiting the best players in the world. Sacked in consequence from the captaincy of England, Greig still played under Mike Brearley in the official home series against Australia in 1977, which England won - validation of the team's improvement under Greig's leadership. He also made some valuable runs, notably innings of 91 at Lord's and 76 at Old Trafford. To the traditionalists, however, he had become a pariah. John Woodcock, cricket correspondent of The Times, explained Greig's behaviour by pointing out that "he was not English through and through." Yet Greig had certainly done the state some service. He was, moreover, admirably unhypocritical about his motives in throwing in his lot with Packer: "I did it for Tony Greig first, and for my family. Secondly I did it because the Establishment deserved it. There was something in that, given that cricketers had been so abysmally paid up to 1977. No one could plausibly maintain that the Packer experiment, which ended in 1979, ruined the game. Indeed, in the long run it strikingly improved the lot of professional cricketers. Anthony William Greig was born on October 6 1946 at Queenstown, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. His father Sandy Greig, DSO, DFC, moved to Queenstown, South Africa, with the RAF . After marrying a local girl in 1945, he decided to stay . Tony soon acquired two sisters and, in 1955, a brother, Ian, who would also play for England. A serious challenge to Tony's sporting ambitions became evident at 14, when he suffered an epileptic fit. He learned the importance of getting sufficient sleep, even developing the capacity to nod off while waiting to bat. Though he remained liable to the occasional fit, his malady was generally kept secret, even from his fellow cricketers. He made his debut in first-class cricket early in 1966, playing for Border against Transvaal B in East London. Yet after he was turned down for National Service his horizons began to shift. Brought up in a liberal family which despised apartheid, he felt no strong attachment to the nationalist government of South Africa. He decided to make his cricketing career in England, and applied to Sussex, which agreed to give him a trial in 1966 at £15 a week. At the end of that season he was offered a three-year contract. Typically, in his first county championship match, against Lancashire in May 1967, Greig demonstrated his flair by hitting a brilliant 156 . That summer he went on to make well over 1,000 runs, and also took 67 wickets, helping Sussex to beat Hampshire with match figures of 10 for 79, and then Gloucestershire with a second innings haul of eight for 25, the best analysis of his career. Having obtained a British passport, Greig was soon being spoken of as a potential England player. But the years came and went and it seemed that his chance had gone. Then Garry Sobers recommended him for a place in the World team that visited Australia in 1971-72. Arriving in Adelaide, Greig left his bags with an inconspicuous elderly man who seemed eager to give him coffee; only later did he discover that he had snubbed Sir Donald Bradman. Greig did unexpectedly well for the World XI, and in 1972 was at last selected for his first Test match proper, against Australia at Old Trafford. He made the most of the opportunity, top-scoring in both innings with 57 and 62, and then helping to bowl England to victory with figures of four for 53 in Australia's second innings. His performances for the rest of that series were less impressive. On the tour of India in 1972-73, however, he was England's outstanding player. In the first Test at Delhi he guided the side to victory with scores of 68 not out and 40 not out. In the narrow defeat at Calcutta he returned an analysis of five for 24 in India's second innings before making a battling 68. And in the fifth Test in Bombay he again held off the Indian spinners with a score of 148, his maiden Test century. In 1973 Greig took over the captaincy of Sussex. Full of zest, energy and enthusiasm, though never shy in berating error, he won the affection of both members and players. That summer he led the county to the final of the Gillette Cup, though they lost to Gloucestershire at Lord's. Ultimately, though, his record as county captain was disappointing, due in some part to his frequent absence on Test duty. At Test level, meanwhile, Greig continued to excel. In June 1973 he helped England to a narrow victory over New Zealand at Trent Bridge, scoring 139 in the second innings and returning bowling figures of four for 33 and three for 101. England's tour of the Caribbean in 1973-74 saw him at his cricketing peak. He hit two centuries in successive Tests; at Bridgetown he became the first England player to score a century and take five wickets (he took six) in an innings of the same Test. There was, however, a controversial incident when Greig ran out Alvin Kallicharran, who was walking back to the pavilion after the last ball of the day. In the face of an incipient riot, the England team wisely decided that the appeal should be withdrawn. His success with the bat continued with a fine century against India in 1974 and against Australia in 1975. His appointment as captain of England for the second Ashes Test of that summer certainly had no effect on his form: he reeled off successive innings of 96, 41, 51 and 49. Having lost the first Test, however, England failed to square the series, as three successive matches were drawn. His association with Packer, however, not only cast him in the role of Judas; it also damaged his prowess as a cricketer. Though appointed captain of the World XI, he suddenly seemed unequal to the challenge on the field. This may have been because his energies were taken up by his work as Packer's factotum. For whatever reason, his performances were so poor that he felt bound to drop himself from the second World Series. Back in England, the renegade was dismissed from the Sussex captaincy at the beginning of 1978. Though he played a few more games for the county, it was now clear both that his cricket career was over, and that his future lay in Australia. Kerry Packer remained supportive, making Greig managing director of Lion Insurance brokers in Sydney, and installing him as a commentator on Channel Nine. Greig proved a success before the microphone, especially enjoying his banter with Bill Lawry and his old rival Ian Chappell. His voice was heard in Britain once more when Sky employed him in 1990 to comment on England's Test series in the West Indies. He also worked for Channel 4 during the thrilling Ashes series of 2005. Meanwhile in 1998 MCC had offered an olive branch by making Greig a honorary life member. And in 2009 he was extremely well received when he spoke at a dinner in London for 19 former England captains. Tony Greig married first, in 1970, Donna Reed; they had a girl and a boy. After divorcing in the late 1980s he married, secondly, Vivian; they too had a daughter and a son. Tony Greig, born October 6 1946, died December 29 2012