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Top 3 fast bowlers in tests ATM?

Who are the 3 best fast bowlers today ?

  • Total voters
    38
  • Poll closed .
popepouri

popepouri

State Vice-Captain
Based on the theme of the thread:

Steyn, Asif, Anderson

It'll change when Aamer and Anderson fail to do anything the next match.
 
Top_Cat

Top_Cat

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Uppercut said:
Compare it to the video of his 7fer against them earlier that Aussie summer- his arm comes down much, much straighter. The point where I disagree with TEC is that he can still be a good bowler with a low arm, and that 7fer is a good example of him bowling very well. But in South Africa he briefly touched the realms of superhuman. None of the pace was gone- if anything he was bowling faster than ever- and he had excellent control of line, much better than he ever manages bowling with a low arm. And of course, he swings it. That makes a huge, huge difference, even when it isn't the swinging deliveries that get the wickets. You can say he doesn't need the inswinger to be effective, but it certainly makes him a much better bowler when he can swerve the ball towards the stumps at the last minute bowling 150Ks. I say "one of the best", but really it's the single best bowling spell I've ever seen.

The point is that I don't see him reproducing that again, or at least, not often enough that we can consider it when thinking of his current quality as a bowler. Headingley was the closest he's come but in truth that spell didn't even come close. There are two Midge Johnsons as far as I'm concerned- the quality bowler that comes on first change for Australia and the all-time great that bowled for two tests in South Africa last Spring. And I don't think the former is the third best bowler in the world at the moment.
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Personally think Mitch is just one of those personalities trying to make everyone happy. Even when he was blowing everyone away, people/press here were saying "Wow, just think of how good he'll be when he gets his in-swinger going properly!" In chasing absolutely everyone's approval, he's bowling arse. On top of just being a bit of a rhythm bowler anyway, as I said earlier, he's bowled his best spells when he's just concentrated on bowling naturally and letting the movement take care of itself. Lee was in a similar category, "Yeah what a spell but you can't be a great without an out-swinger" and such bollocks.

Mind you, the ability to filter out that which doesn't matter is what separates a great from blokes with potential too. Glenn McGrath started the 94/95 Ashes series trying to bowl out-swingers because he believed those who said you couldn't be great without it. Bowled arse, was dropped, came back for Perth, bowled hostile seamers and wrecked them. By the end of the next series he played in the WI, was the Aussies' best pacer, within two years he was challenging for the best in the world and another two years after, was heading towards being an all-time great.

And then he eventually developed an out-swinger anyway. :p But the point is he did well without it and developed it on his own terms.
 
BoyBrumby

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Top_Cat said:
Personally think Mitch is just one of those personalities trying to make everyone happy. Even when he was blowing everyone away, people/press here were saying "Wow, just think of how good he'll be when he gets his in-swinger going properly!" In chasing absolutely everyone's approval, he's bowling arse. On top of just being a bit of a rhythm bowler anyway, as I said earlier, he's bowled his best spells when he's just concentrated on bowling naturally and letting the movement take care of itself. Lee was in a similar category, "Yeah what a spell but you can't be a great without an out-swinger" and such bollocks.

Mind you, the ability to filter out that which doesn't matter is what separates a great from blokes with potential too. Glenn McGrath started the 94/95 Ashes series trying to bowl out-swingers because he believed those who said you couldn't be great without it. Bowled arse, was dropped, came back for Perth, bowled hostile seamers and wrecked them. By the end of the next series he played in the WI, was the Aussies' best pacer, within two years he was challenging for the best in the world and another two years after, was heading towards being an all-time great.

And then he eventually developed an out-swinger anyway. :p But the point is he did well without it and developed it on his own terms.
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Some truth in that, I suspect. He doesn't strike me as being cut from the same cloth as some Aussie seamers of yore, personality-wise. Seems a more diffident soul,eager to please and needing approval; I couldn't imagine Thomson or Hughes for instance giving that much of a public toss if their mothers and partners weren't bosom buddies.
 
Teja.

Teja.

Global Moderator
Assuming Asif and Aamer are out for a while/for good, what would your picks be now?

For me,

Steyn
Zaheer
Mitch
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Teja. said:
Assuming Asif and Aamer are out for a while/for good, what would your picks be now?

For me,

Steyn
Zaheer
Mitch
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Suppose I'd agree with that. Could easily go with Bollinger ahead of Zaheer or Johnson on another day though. I still think it's too early to put Aamer in this sort of class anyway, even if he was part of the discussion.
 
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Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
As a matter of interest, the officially ICC rankings have the fast bowlers as follows:

1. Dale Steyn
2. Mohammad Asif
3. Zaheer Khan
4. James Anderson
5. Morne Morkel
6. Mitchell Johnson
7. Doug Bollinger
8. Mohammad Aamer
9. Stuart Broad
10. Makhaya Ntini
11. Jerome Taylor
12. Umar Gul
13. Peter Siddle
14. Ben Hilfenhaus
15. Jacques Kallis

So they'd answer your question as Steyn, Zaheer and Anderson. Which is interesting because they're definitely the best three exponents of swing bowling going around at the moment.
 
Faisal1985

Faisal1985

International Vice-Captain
Prince EWS said:
As a matter of interest, the officially ICC rankings have the fast bowlers as follows:

1. Dale Steyn
2. Mohammad Asif
3. Zaheer Khan
4. James Anderson
5. Morne Morkel
6. Mitchell Johnson
7. Doug Bollinger
8. Mohammad Aamer
9. Stuart Broad
10. Makhaya Ntini
11. Jerome Taylor
12. Umar Gul
13. Peter Siddle
14. Ben Hilfenhaus
15. Jacques Kallis

So they'd answer your question as Steyn, Zaheer and Anderson. Which is interesting because they're definitely the best three exponents of swing bowling going around at the moment.
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Zaheer, Steyn are good picks...but i would pick Broad (even though i don't really like him) ahead of Anderson.
 
aussie

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
If i picked a world XI. Steyn, Asif, Bollinger should be the 3 quicks picked in most conditons. But i'd replace Asif with either Aamir or Zaheer if the pitch is flat.
 
flibbertyjibber

flibbertyjibber

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aussie said:
If i picked a world XI. Steyn, Asif, Bollinger should be the 3 quicks picked in most conditons. But i'd replace Asif with either Aamir or Zaheer if the pitch is flat.
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Apart from in England as Bollinger can't hit the right strip over here.:laugh:
 
vcs

vcs

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Zaheer was all kinds of awesome this series but I'm not completely sold that he's a sub-30 averaging bowler consistently for one main reason : he doesn't look enough of a threat to right-handers. He has an absurdly high percentage of lefties in his 250+ Test scalps. The Australian team are well-suited opponents for him because they don't like the swinging ball and are filled with lefties. He got 7 out of his 12 wickets in this series against left-handed batsmen.

I'd like to see him getting more LBW dismissals against right-handers playing across their pads because that seems to be somewhat of a stock dismissal for left-arm bowlers. Irfan Pathan (used to) and Nehra thrive on it. I see no reason why he can't do it given he bowls good deliveries that leave the left-handers.
 
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