Ian Chappell had never heard anything quite like it. Dennis Lillee was charging in at the England tail with Australia on the verge of reclaiming the Ashes, and the cacophony was enormous. "It was a full house and it was the first time I really became aware of the crowd chanting his name," Chappell said of the fourth Test at Sydney, 1974–75. "It made the hair stand up on the back of your neck. It really was spine-tingling stuff."

Another of Australia's finest, Richie Benaud, later observed this ritual from the rarefied atmosphere of the commentary box. "No-one ever chanted Benaud," he observed drily.

Dennis Lillee turned 50 in July, and almost a quarter of a century after that Ashes series, he is still widely regarded as the greatest fast bowler of all time.

Greg Chappell says Lillee was a defining character in a defining era. He arrived during a momentous period of generational change, with young defiance characterised by the divisions created with the Vietnam War.

In 1972, the year Gough Whitlam became Australia's prime minister, Ian Chappell led a young and exciting side to England which included Lillee, Greg Chappell and Rod Marsh, reinvigorating Test cricket in Australia. Greg Chappell, who later became Lillee's captain, believes it was the powerful persona of the fast bowler more than anything else which changed the face of Australian cricket.

"He made a huge impact. He was the Shane Warne of the era, the person who got people's emotions and passions flowing," he said. "I can still hear the pounding of the advertising hoardings around the various grounds and the Lill-ee chants. This was the beginning of the fanfare and colour and razzmatazz which became attached to the marketing of the game.

"Dennis just stood out because of his ability and charisma and because fast bowling is so emotional and energetic."

Lillee believes his legacy is twofold. First, he was part of a group that favoured a strong approach to fitness. Indeed, Lillee's case was legendary because of the work he did to return from a career-threatening back injury in 1974. Second, it was the strength he and his colleagues showed in taking part in World Series Cricket, which helped them to be taken seriously as international entertainers and paid accordingly.

   "Australian cricketers were paid the same for more than a decade," Lillee recalled. "Des Hoare [a Western Australia fast bowler] was paid the same in 1961 as we were in 1973." Lillee and his team-mates could not understand how a quarter of a million people could attend a Boxing Day Test, with millions of dollars taken at the gate, and yet the players would receive cheques for a few hundred dollars each.

"This is now the era of the super-paid," he said. "Players are well highlighted and promoted, as they should be. I hope they realise that a lot of us guys stuck our necks out in World Series Cricket, not only for our own sake but for the players of the future."

A quarter of a century later those players remain close. Ian and Greg Chappell and Marsh were among half-a-dozen from that golden era who attended Lillee's 50th-birthday bash in Perth.

"I would like to have invited more people I played with over the years because friendships are one of the greatest things about the game, but you can't fit 400 people into the space for a hundred," he said.

  Lillee was reluctant to talk about his enormous on-field performances, which left him with 355 wickets in 70 Tests. It is a career made all the more remarkable given that he lost four of his best years through injury and World Series Cricket. Yet his record of more than five wickets a Test for such a sustained period may never be bettered by an Australian. Before the start of the Sri Lankan series, Glenn McGrath, 29, had 232 wickets in 49 Tests (4.7 per match) and Shane Warne, 30, had 317 wickets in 71 Tests (4.5 per game).

Some officials and cricket writers still regard Lillee as the most difficult player they have ever had to deal with. Yet Greg Chappell believes that Lillee was often misunderstood and wrongly condemned for his behaviour. "He's my hero," Chappell said in what must be the ultimate accolade. "I never found an easier person to deal with. There were a couple of high-profile incidents but they were misjudged totally."

The infamous clash with Javed Miandad at Perth, when Lillee shaped to kick the Pakistani antagonist, only took place, said Chappell, because Miandad made contact with Lillee first.

"People have to understand that the effort it took Dennis to build himself up mentally sometimes overflowed," Chappell said. "Sometimes the adrenaline pumped too hard."

Ian Chappell described Lillee as a batsman's night-mare and a captain's dream. "People used to criticise me for over-bowling him. Taking the ball off Dennis was a bit like trying to take the bone off a Doberman," he said. "He would bowl himself to a standstill. He had an iron will to succeed and was easily the most competitive in a pretty competitive bunch of us."

Chappell recalled a typically hot and humid day in Trinidad on the 1979 WSC tour of the West Indies, when the outfield was more dust than grass and Lillee had bowled a dozen overs on the trot. "Breathing was a bit of problem in those conditions but Dennis hadn't missed a beat so I let him go," he said. "After a while I thought I'd better check to see how things were going. He opened his mouth to reply and nothing came out, he was so exhausted."

Among a growing list of business interests, Lillee still spends about 30 per cent of his time coaching in Australia and overseas. While his fitness regime is obviously no longer what it was, he still manages to turn out for the now-traditional season opener against the touring side at Perth's Lilac Hill and surprise a few of the next generation.

"One more will be enough," Lillee conceded. "At 50 I think it will be time to stop."

So there is one last chance to see the champ in action, against Pakistan on October 26. For the many thousands of cricket fans who had the pleasure of watching Lillee at his peak, the memories will last a lifetime.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd