Dennis Lillee leads tributes at funeral for former Australian cricket great Rod Marsh

The Australian cricket great died at 74 in an Adelaide hospital on March 4, just over a week after suffering a heart attack

Dennis Lillee led the tributes Thursday at a funeral service for his friend and former Australian teammate Rodney Marsh at the Adelaide Oval.

The Australian cricket great, who formed a prolonged and prolific wicket-taking partnership with pace bowler Lillee, died in an Adelaide hospital on March 4, just over a week after having a heart attack during a fundraising event in Queensland state. He was 74.

Marsh was half of a catchphrase that was synonymous with the era of test cricket: “caught Marsh, bowled Lillee." They combined a record 95 times to dismiss opposition batters in test cricket.

Marsh's casket, with purple and white flowers on top, was in front of the podium as a number of speakers came forward during the service. At the end of the service, the casket made a final circuit of the pitch at Adelaide Oval, with past cricketers forming a guard of honor.

Lillee attended Thursday's service at the stadium's William Magarey Room, as did former national captains Ian Chappell and Allan Border, pace great Jeff Thomson and former test player David Boon. Other more recent ex-test players included Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden and Ian Healy.

“I still can't believe that our mate and mate to many isn't around anymore,” Lillee told a gathering of about 300 people.