It's great to be able to share opinions. In my lifetime, I've seen nearly 50 years of Test cricket. I've seen the West Indian & Australian eras of bowling, let's face it, no other country can match these two powerhouses in their pomp. Malcolm Marshall is unquestionably their greatest. His skills are all that is widely mentioned. He was not express as everyone makes out. He was in the 88-90 mp/h bracket, 140-145km/h. His strike rate of around 46 is incredible, but one must remember with a pace quartet still unequalled in history, he was always fresh & not overloaded. Opposition batting orders could not afford the luxury to play naturally, hence the tail was exposed earlier, cheap wickets.
In Australia, Glenn McGrath is a true great, but not the greatest. There's a matter of a certain Dennis Keith Lillee, whom seen by all, including Commentators, Journalists, Test Players & the public, is rated as the greatest of all time. He is seen as the Rolls Royce of fast bowlers, his armoury, ability, stamina, aggression & skill with the ball remains unequalled. We all know about his back injuries, twice, which reduced his pace, yet 3 years afterwards, Lillee was clocked at 97 mp/h, 155 km/h. His perfect, flowing action, run up, delivery action, ability to out think batsmen & intimate drew the fans. He taught Marshall how to bowl innies, cutters & outties. Enough said. He bowled to some of the greatest batsmen in history, when Australia weren't always the best team. Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Gary Sobers, Martin Crowe, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham, David Gower, Imran Khan, Sunil Gavaskar, Richie Benaud etc etc rate him as the greatest. Umpire Harold Bird, whose seen a plethora of bowling from the middle, rates Lillee as the greatest that ever lived, alongside Bradman.
Strike rates mean nothing! If a guy averages 1 wicket every 46 balls but only bowls 120 balls (20 overs) in an innings (IE: 2 wickets), is he better than a guy averaging 52 balls a wicket, but bowls 150+ balls in an innings (IE: 3 wickets?) & takes out the top order? Any captain will take the man who can bowl all day. One must remember, that Lillee didn't bowl in a quartet & often shouldered the workload. He was outstanding against the mighty West Indies, England, Pakistan & India.
If you do the maths, Lillee was bowling 60+ overs a Test. At his peak, he took over 130 wickets in 20 Tests. He is to this day, rated the best bowler ever to grace the Carribean. He missed over 2.5 years of Test cricket due to injury. He took 103 wickets in 4 World XI matches, including 79 in 15 Supertests, playing West Indies & World XIs. He took 11 in the incredible Centenary Test in a superhuman display. He was the highest wicket taker in WSC & the 1st bowler to take 100 1 day international wickets. He took 85 Test wickets in a Calendar Year, still the fast bowling world record! You factor his "missing" wickets & his 355 become closer to 458 wickets in 90 Tests, let alone the injuries which robbed him of another say 15-20 Tests!!! He took over 1,100 1st Class Wickets, (23x) 5 Wicket & (7x) 10 Wicket hauls in just 70 Tests. He's still the fastest bowler to take 250 & 300 wickets, taking 300 in 56 Tests. Even Murali couldn't break it! In Australia, the order is: Lillee (by a street), McGrath, Lindwall.
