Kagiso Rabada

[Tom Flint]

Archer cant bowl nearly as quick as rabada. And rabada maintains his pace all day

 

[stephen]

Rabada is a machine. The question in my mind is when will he overtake Donald as SA's second best quick of all time. Whether he can eventually eclipse Steyn is yet to be seen but then again, I'm not entirely sure Steyn isn't a genetically engineered superhuman.

 

[SeamUp]

If you fit you bowl. Just keep him out the T20s that is all.

 

[StephenZA]

If you fit you bowl. Just keep him out the T20s that is all.

You do have to look after his workload. But he seems to be holding up well though and I think at 23 he got through that bad period of 18-23 age period where young bowlers seem to break down.

 

[Gnske]

Rabada is a machine. The question in my mind is when will he overtake Donald as SA's second best quick of all time. Whether he can eventually eclipse Steyn is yet to be seen but then again, I'm not entirely sure Steyn isn't a genetically engineered superhuman.

He'll go past Steyn, if and when he comes back I doubt he has more than a year left in him playing tests. .

 

[FBU]

He'll go past Steyn, if and when he comes back I doubt he has more than a year left in him playing tests. .

I think he will get at least 500 wickets. 12 or 13 Tests in 2018.

 

[SeamUp]

Youngest bowler to hold top spot in the ICC Test Rankings & the 7th SA bowler outside isolation to be number 1 after Aubrey Faulkner, Hugh Tayfield, Peter Pollock, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

https://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/Proteas/rabada-youngest-no-1-bowler-since-19th-century-20180110

 

[StephenZA]

We've had a good few fast bowlers over the years since we re-entered the arena..... long may the conveyor belt continue.

 

[harsh.ag]

Youngest bowler to hold top spot in the ICC Test Rankings & the 7th SA bowler outside isolation to be number 1 after Aubrey Faulkner, Hugh Tayfield, Peter Pollock, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

https://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/Proteas/rabada-youngest-no-1-bowler-since-19th-century-20180110

Donald was never number 1?!

 

[OverratedSanity]

Donald was never number 1?!

Neither was Wasim. 90s were a bit crowded for great fast bowlers.

 

[SeamUp]

Donald was never number 1?!

Was also surprised by that. When he had his peaks he must have just had someone having a better peak is all I can think of which is understandable for the 90s. His career was ATG. His peak was 895 points in November 1999 vs England.

Next highest without being Number 1 is Ntini (863) in December 2006 & Neil Adcock (840) in February 1962 which I think must have been close even with the competition he had.

Isolation I suppose Procter, van der Bijl and Le Roux had real shots at it.

 

[Dendarii]

It looks like Donald was in fact number 1 - from March 1998 to November 1999 (when he dropped to second behind Pollock).

ICC Player Rankings

 

[SeamUp]

It looks like Donald was in fact number 1 - from March 1998 to November 1999 (when he dropped to second behind Pollock overtook him).

ICC Player Rankings

So much for me relying on journalism then

 

[Son Of Coco]

I have it on good authority that his name directly translates as "no worries for the rest of your days".

 

[Gob]

Love his work on Youtube as well

 

[Daemon]

Makes me so mad that people find this dude funny. So cringe.

 

[burr]

Sweet

Be even better to get Nel off that list and have Procter, van der Bijl and Le Roux there. (maybe even 1 or 2 others)

Geez, SA produce some decent bowlers. Read Rabada has already taken 7 5-ers and 3 10-ers in tests. At 22. Insane.

 

[stephen]

Geez, SA produce some decent bowlers. Read Rabada has already taken 7 5-ers and 3 10-ers in tests. At 22. Insane.

Yeah honestly they have had great quicks since readmission. They've probably consistently had the best fast bowling attack in world cricket over the 25 years or so that they've been back. From Donald-Pollock-De Villiers to Donald-Pollock-Kallis to Pollock-Steyn-Ntini to Steyn-Philander-Morkel and now to Rabada-Philander-Morkel. They've had a couple of poorer third bowlers over the years, but there's generally been one or two ATG quicks backed up by an ATVG or two.

Ranking them:

Steyn
Donald
Pollock
Philander
De Villiers
Ntini
Rabada*
Morkel
Nel and the rest.

*will probably rise above Pollock.

By comparison, in that time the WI have had:

Ambrose
Walsh
Bishop

Pakistan:

Wasim
Waqar
Akhtar
Asif
Aamir

And Australia:

McGrath
Hazlewood
Gillespie
Johnson
Clark
Starc
Cummins
Lee/Kasper/Bichel

No other teams have had anywhere near the quality of quicks come through. But on the whole I'd rate South Africa's quicks as being consistently better than Australia's. The West Indies had some ATG bowlers in the 90s and nothing since. Pakistan have had some greats but a lot of mediocre bowlers and Australia have generally had a great first bowler, a very good second and a rubbish third quick. Australia's attack has been helped over the time by Warne and Lyon.

 

[Spark]

is atvg gonna be a thing now

 

[stephen]

is atvg gonna be a thing now

We'll see if it sticks. It's kinda nice to recognise someone who isn't quite a Curtley Ambrose but is pretty damn good anyway.