Bowling at the
SCG in 2007 McGrath's bowling was not of express pace. Rather, he relied on unerring accuracy and subtle
seam movement, which he derived from his high wrist action and lengthy follow-through. His height (195 cm), combined with a high arm action, allowed him to extract extra bounce, which often surprised batsmen. In the later years of his career he developed as a
swing bowler. His uncomplicated method and natural physical fitness were significant factors in the longevity of McGrath's career. In 2004, he became the first Australian fast bowler to play 100 Tests. In the first innings of the
ICC Super Series Test match in 2005, McGrath passed
Courtney Walsh to become the greatest wicket-taker among fast bowlers in Test history. McGrath was regarded as one of the best fast bowlers in the world and has had success against every opposition team, in both Test and
one-day cricket. He deliberately (and publicly) targeted the opposition's best
batsmen prior to a series in an attempt to distract them, a ploy that regularly worked. At the beginning of the Frank Worrell series against the
West Indies he stated in interviews before the match that he would dismiss
Sherwin Campbell for his 299th wicket, then remove star batsman
Brian Lara for his 300th wicket the very next ball. This happened as planned, and he followed this with the dismissal of captain Jimmy Adams to complete a memorable
hat-trick. The targeting of opposition batsmen was generally successful; he dismissed
Mike Atherton of England 19 times—the most times any batsman has been dismissed by one bowler in cricket history. On the other hand, he targeted
Michael Vaughan prior to the 2002/03 Ashes series in Australia, with Vaughan going on to score three centuries at an average greater than 60. He targeted
Andrew Strauss in the 2005 series in England, who went on to score two centuries. He also tended to engage in
sledging of opposition batsmen and teams, though it did not always pay off. Before the
2005 Ashes series he predicted a 5–0 whitewash for Australia, and even said that if England won the Ashes he would return to Australia by boat, but England prevailed 2–1. However, this did not dissuade him from making a similar 5–0 prediction for the next Ashes series, in Australia in 2006/07, which turned out to be true. He finished his career as the most successful Test fast bowler and third-highest Test wicket taker. McGrath established the tradition of a bowler raising the ball to the crowd at the completion of a
five-wicket haul in 2001.
Fielding McGrath was a competent outfielder with a strong and accurate throwing arm; while not known for his athleticism, he took an exceptional outfield catch on one memorable occasion in 2002 at the
Adelaide Oval against England, dismissing English batsman
Michael Vaughan from the bowling of
Shane Warne, running many metres before leaping into the air and catching the ball with arms outstretched and body horizontal. His captain,
Steve Waugh, described the famous catch as "a miracle" and "one of the great catches in history".
Batting McGrath's batting prowess, in the early phases of his career, was poor; in fact, he scored first-ball
ducks (zero runs) on both his Test and One-Day International debuts, and his batting average hovered below 4 for the first few years of his career. Years of patient tutelage from captain and friend Steve Waugh improved this aspect of his game to the point where he scored a Test half-century, which came on 20 November 2004 at
the Gabba. His final score in that innings was 61, sharing a last wicket stand of 114 with
Jason Gillespie (54*) to hilarity and the acclaim of their team-mates. Nevertheless, McGrath was, for the duration of his career, regarded as a batting '
bunny', although he pushed his average above 7.00 runs/dismissal by the end of his career. In the first
World Cricket Tsunami Appeal charity match, he was promoted to bat at number 6 ahead of specialist batsmen
Stephen Fleming and
Matthew Hayden, but was dismissed first ball trying to slog
Muttiah Muralitharan. Towards the end of his international career McGrath, while not scoring many runs himself, became rather more difficult for opposing bowlers to dismiss, being dismissed only once during the
2005 Ashes series. With a contribution of 11 runs in the first innings of the
MCG 2005 Boxing Day Test versus South Africa, he stood his ground for 53 deliveries, helping
Michael Hussey push the Australian tail to a record tenth-wicket stand against South Africa of 107 runs. ==Career best performances==