Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE (3 October 1921 – 23 June 1996) was an Australian cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St. George, appearing in two grand finals for the club.

One of five children of Irish-Swedish descent, Lindwall had a difficult childhood during the Great Depression, with both parents dying before he finished high school. During his teenage years, Lindwall rose through the ranks of Sydney Grade Cricket at St. George under the tutelage of Test leg spinner Bill O'Reilly. Lindwall made his first-class debut for New South Wales in 1941–42. At the same time, Lindwall was playing for St. George in the first-grade of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership as a full back.

With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, interstate cricket was cancelled and in 1943, Lindwall joined the army and served in New Guinea until 1945. Lindwall returned to Australia still suffering from the after-effects of tropical disease, but he quickly made an impact upon the resumption of first-class cricket. He did well enough to gain selection for a tour of New Zealand, where he made his Test debut in March 1946 in a match that was retrospectively accredited. Lindwall returned to Australia and spent the winter playing football for St. George, helping his team to the grand final of the 1946 NSWRFL season, after which he retired to concentrate solely on cricket.

A right-arm fast bowler, Lindwall was widely regarded as the greatest pace bowler of his era and one of the finest of all time. He modelled his action on the England fast bowler Harold Larwood. Together with Keith Miller, Lindwall formed a new-ball pairing regarded as one of the greatest to have played cricket. Lindwall was known for his classical style, with a smooth and rhythmic run-up and textbook side-on bowling action, from which he generated his trademark outswinger. Lindwall mixed his outswinger with a searing yorker, subtle changes of pace and an intimidating bouncer that skidded at the heads of opposing batsmen. Later in his career, Lindwall developed an inswinger, which together with his variety, pace and control made him the most feared paceman of his time. Lindwall was a fine all round cricketer; he was a hard-hitting batsman who scored two centuries at Test level. His best-known performance was his role in leading the Australian bowling during the 1948 tour of England under Don Bradman; the team gained the sobriquet The Invincibles and is regarded as one of the finest teams in cricketing history. Lindwall was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 1996 as one of the ten inaugural members. In 2000, Lindwall was named in the Australian Cricket Board's Team of the Century. In 2009, Lindwall was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Lindwall was born in Mascot, in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, the fourth of five children. He had one younger sister, two older sisters one of which was Eileen Lindwall who married Frank Weston and an older brother. The grandson of Swedish and Irish immigrants, Lindwall had a difficult childhood with his mother Catherine dying of pneumonia when he was seven. His father Arthur had a job at the Water and Sewerage Board, but the children were aware that their father could not financially support them beyond school-leaving age.

At the age of 11, Lindwall and his elder brother Jack were spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground on the second day of the First Test of the 1932–33 Ashes series. The series saw the usage of the notorious Bodyline tactics by England's pace battery led by Harold Larwood under the captaincy of Douglas Jardine. Larwood, a man of relatively short stature like Lindwall, was less than six feet and intimidated opposition batsmen with express pace bowling, aiming short pitched bouncers at their upper body. Larwood also had a smooth, rhythmic run-up and a classical side-on action, something for which Lindwall became famous. The match was also remembered for Stan McCabe's much-celebrated 187 not out, aggressively resisting the Bodyline tactics as Australia fell to a heavy ten wicket defeat.

The Lindwall brothers returned to their home in Hurstville, where Ray henceforth attempted to emulate Larwood. He wanted to replicate the physical threat posed by Larwood to batsmen, as well as the dynamic batting of McCabe. Lindwall attempted to copy Larwood's action in his routine street cricket matches, before terrorising his classmates at primary school. Lindwall said that "he was the most famous fast bowler in the world and I naturally wanted to copy him". Lindwall's formal cricket education began the following year when he commenced his secondary schooling at Marist Brothers Kogarah. The school had teachers that had a habit of scouting around for athletic boys who could bring sporting honour to the institution. The headmaster, Brother Aidan O'Keefe, was a competent player and invested time into training Lindwall. O'Keefe taught Lindwall batting repertoire while also encouraging him to remain aggressive. He taught Lindwall to add accuracy and variation to his raw speed. By the age of 13, Lindwall was leading the under-15 school team, opening both the batting and bowling. Aged 14, Lindwall played in two distinct Saturday competitions – in the morning against schoolboys and with adults in the afternoon in a B-grade competition with Carlton Waratahs. On one outing, he scored 219 and an unbeaten 110 in two different matches on the same day.

Lindwall's physique had matured by the time he was 15, and he was also successful at athletics and swimming. Aware that he needed a good education with his family in poverty during the Great Depression, Lindwall lifted himself for his final year of junior high school and won a half-scholarship to Marist Brothers Darlinghurst for 1937 and 1938. However, Lindwall's focus on rugby league and cricket saw him fail his Leaving Certificate in his final year.