I would pick Wasim & Waqar. What a deadly combo.
Remember reading this piece on bowling pairs. Great insight esp Martin Crowe talks about Marshall & Holding
Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding
West Indies, 1980-1987; 291 wickets in 33 Tests together
By Martin Crowe
A quartet drawn from Marshall, Garner, Holding, Roberts, Clarke and Croft could put fear into anyone. Marshall, the greatest, formed an incredible pair with Garner or Holding, as Roberts did with Garner or Holding. But if pushed, I'm going for Marshall and Holding; and there's virtually nothing between them and the great Wasim and Waqar.
Maco was 5' 9", so in theory he had no bounce to call upon, yet somehow he had it all. Mikey moved like the wind and sent it down like lightning. Maco became revered for his intelligence, stamina, his humour, and his strike rate of 46.7 balls per wicket - a cut above anybody in the 1980s. Mikey, gliding in gracefully off 40 yards, destroyed many a nervous batsman with just his run-up. Together they were an irresistible force, different in style yet similar in method.
I first felt the Maco-Mikey sting in 1985. I had played 19 Tests without much to show, and in the cauldrons of the Caribbean, life wasn't about to get easier. In the first Test in Port-of-Spain, Mikey accounted for me easily in the first dig, Maco in the second. On a flatter Georgetown pitch in the second Test, I was whacked in the side of the head early on by Mikey. That woke me up. I began to move swiftly and avoided further damage, batting through on a featherbed. Maco, at one point frustrated with Ian Smith and our long partnership, yelled, "Wait until I get you in Barbados!"
When we got to Barbados he was waiting. He put Smith in hospital with a near-broken arm and dealt with the rest of us along the way. When I walked out to bat, the score was 1 for 2, 11 balls into the match. Soon to become 1 for 3 in 13. Coming in, my brother Jeff scored a single off his first ball from Maco. I then faced Marshall for a protracted period, receiving four balls in my half. At the other end, Jeff somehow survived Garner and received none at all in his half, registering what was then, at 91 minutes, close to the record for the longest period without scoring a run.
When Maco took his sweater to signal a break, Mikey marked out his run next to the sightscreen. He settled in with a few subtle outswingers, some cutters, the odd bouncer. Then a slower ball, a wide-of-the-crease rib-tickler and so on. After three overs, Jeff advised me I was within inches of hitting the wicket with my back leg as I played a short ball down to gully. Forward and back, forward and back. No runs, no respite, and worst of all, the heart rate climbing. Then another fierce kicker. As I played it mid-air, my back foot took out off stump - hit-wicket for 14. I hadn't done much wrong. Mikey had disorientated my footwork and created havoc with my pulse. It was a wonderful spell, so subtle in style and yet so brutal in its method. Maco, then Mikey. It was the worst kind of hell and the best calibre of bowling I ever encountered.
West Indies won that match comfortably and Maco delivered on his promise - 11 wickets, the best return of his career till then. Then came the cry, "Wait until I get you in Jamaica."
Which is the finest bowling pair? | The Cricket Monthly | ESPN Cricinfo
