We Aussies love him, but the rest of the world – not so much. The 2007 World Cup final will be the last hoorah for Glenn McGrath, one of the world’s truly great fast bowlers.

For nearly 14 years, McGrath, or Pigeon as he affectionately know to fans and teammates, has been the go-to man of the Australian team. Whenever a wicket was needed in a Test, or the opposition needed slowing down in a one-dayer, McGrath was called on to do the job. It was a rare occasion when he didn’t deliver.

There is no doubt that McGrath, in partnership with spin-king Shane Warne, is the primary reason that Australia has dominated world cricket. His figures are extraordinary. He has the most Test wickets by a fast bowler (563 at an average of 21.64), the fifth-highest number of wickets by a fast bowler in one-dayers (380 at an amazing average of 22), and the most wickets in World Cup matches (70 – 15 more than his nearest rival).

McGrath has redefined the art of fast bowling. His metronomic action and ability to bowl very tight line and length is the key to his success, but his ability to produce the perfect delivery when needed most makes him stand out - just ask Jacques Kallis.

A measure of McGrath’s success is to look at the quality of his victims. In Tests, he has dismissed Mike Atherton 19 times and Brian Lara, arguably the greatest batsman of his generation, on 15 occasions. In one-day internationals, he has Sachin Tendulkar, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis and Sanath Jayasuriya as his most frequent scalps. Not a bad collection!

Of course, Glenn has also attracted his fair share of controversy. He is accused of bullying his opponents, he is aggressive and intimidates batsmen. McGrath is also not shy when it comes to letting his opponents what he thinks of them although, to be fair, he also spends an awful lot of time muttering at himself.