Perth: Bruce Yardley, the former Australian spin bowler and coach, has passed away at the age of 71. Yardley was fighting with cancer ever since he was diagnosed in 2016. He succumbed to the battle in far north Western Australia.
The off-spinner in his five years of Test career played 33 Test matches and took 126 wickets. He debuted for Australia in 1978. He was also a handy batsman down the order as he scored 978 runs with a highest of 74 runs in 54 innings.
Yardley held the record for the quickest half-century by an Australian in Test cricket for 38 years. David Warner broke his record in 2017.
The West Australian was a medium pacer initially before switching to off-spin bowling. He also played seven ODIs for Australia.
He had a big influence on the career of Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan and suggested him to start bowling his famous "Doosra" delivery.
After retiring from cricket Yardley turned coach and led Sri Lanka, before battling cancer back home in Western Australia, where he died at Kununurra District Hospital.
