Hurricane
Hall of Fame Member
I have always enjoyed having a yarn with the spearhead opening bowler in any team I have played for. Without question they are always the smartest guy in the team when it comes to cricketing nous. Batsman have a different form of intelligence, bowling intelligence is more about man on man interplay. They have studied you in the nets as a batsman and know more about your batting than you probably know about your game.
You can be a thick batsman e.g. David Warner and score runs (won't be apologising for that comment).
But it is extremely difficult to be an elite bowler and have average intelligence.
Here are some of my current views on the intelligent bowlers I have spent watching around the traps.
My ranking of the Kiwis is:
Tim Southee
Daylight
Daylight
Trent Boult
Corey Anderson
Neil Wagner
Daylight
Mark Craig
Some observations of the Aussies
Ryan Harris (yes I know he has retired) at the very top of this list.
Daylight
Peter Siddle (would bowl to a plan and play a role)
Daylight
Mitchel Johnson (understands he is a one dimensional bowler and uses his assets to his best advantage. Has thought about how to be effective. Loses points for no nuances to his approach).
Mitchel Starc (Learning his craft at the top level - too soon to say)
The English
Stuart Broad (have stuart listed first as he moves the ball less than our Jimmy but has been able to be extremely effective. Best English bowler at bowling to a plan and possibly the best bowler in the world at bowling to specific plans. He never gives up on a plan. He just keeps going with it till it pays dividends).
James Anderson (uncanny ability to know when to bowl the inswinger. Never overdoes it. And uses the outswinger as his main weapon).
Daylight
Whatever hack they put on as 3rd seamer
Perhaps that is enough for an opening post. How do you rate the current bowlers in the world for intelligence. And how do you rate some of those from history.
You can be a thick batsman e.g. David Warner and score runs (won't be apologising for that comment).
But it is extremely difficult to be an elite bowler and have average intelligence.
Here are some of my current views on the intelligent bowlers I have spent watching around the traps.
My ranking of the Kiwis is:
Tim Southee
Daylight
Daylight
Trent Boult
Corey Anderson
Neil Wagner
Daylight
Mark Craig
Some observations of the Aussies
Ryan Harris (yes I know he has retired) at the very top of this list.
Daylight
Peter Siddle (would bowl to a plan and play a role)
Daylight
Mitchel Johnson (understands he is a one dimensional bowler and uses his assets to his best advantage. Has thought about how to be effective. Loses points for no nuances to his approach).
Mitchel Starc (Learning his craft at the top level - too soon to say)
The English
Stuart Broad (have stuart listed first as he moves the ball less than our Jimmy but has been able to be extremely effective. Best English bowler at bowling to a plan and possibly the best bowler in the world at bowling to specific plans. He never gives up on a plan. He just keeps going with it till it pays dividends).
James Anderson (uncanny ability to know when to bowl the inswinger. Never overdoes it. And uses the outswinger as his main weapon).
Daylight
Whatever hack they put on as 3rd seamer
Perhaps that is enough for an opening post. How do you rate the current bowlers in the world for intelligence. And how do you rate some of those from history.
