Sky Sports - England in Australia

With 563 scalps from 124 Tests to his name, McGrath is a worthy rival to Dennis Lillee for the crown of Australia's finest paceman of all time.

He went wicketless on his Ashes debut at Brisbane in November 1994 as Craig McDermott and Shane Warne masterminded a 184-run victory.

But it was to prove a false dawn for England's batsman, 157 of whom fell to the rangy seamer between then and his retirement at the end of the 2006/07 whitewash.

McGrath's nagging off-stump line and consistency of length - the quality of which would later be underlined by pitch-map and beehive television technology - quickly took effect and, standing at 6ft 5in tall, he was able to find extra bounce when it mattered.

He demolished England's line-up in the second Test of the 1997 Ashes, bagging 8-38 as England were shot out for just 77 first time around.

One of those wickets was opener Mike Atherton - a batsman McGrath targeted as a threat and went on to dismiss no less than 19 times over 17 Tests to give Australia the impetus they needed in the field. He finished with 36 wickets in the series, which Australia won 3-2.

His efforts earned him the accolade of Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1998 and for almost the next decade McGrath and Warne would spearhead Australia's domination of the cricket world, continuing with the 2001 Ashes in which they claimed 32 and 31 wickets respectively.

He had England under his spell once again in 2005 as he took 5-53 and 4-29 to inspire Australia to victory in the first Test at Lord's but then chance intervened; McGrath stood on a cricket ball 75 minutes before the second Test at Edgbaston began and by the time he was fit to return, in the fifth Test at the Oval, England held a 2-1 lead they would not surrender.

But fortune would not rescue England in 2006/07. McGrath returned after 10 months out of the Test arena to claim 6-50 in the tourists' first-innings in Brisbane and set the tone for more Australian domination. By the end of the series, when he announced his Test retirement, he had taken 21 wickets at 23.90 apiece.