DoG's Top 100 Test Bowlers Countdown Thread 100-1

[ankitj]

No.80

Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan) 681

Quality Points: 622
Career Points: 60

Career: 1995-2004
Wickets: 208
Gold Performances: 1
8/164 vs. England at Lahore 2000 (16.89)
Silver Performances: 6
Bronze Performances: 6

Overall Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 28.67 (29.84) 69.32 (67.64) 4.63
50 Innings Peak Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings (1999-2002): 24.78 65.33 5.14
Non-Home Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 28.83 69.94 4.96
Quality Opposition Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 27.43 64.82 5.48

Woosh. Too low. I would have thought some of his 4 fivers n 2 back to back tests against India in India in 98 would be ranked as Gold performances.

 

[smash84]

Yeah, wow, saqlain comes at 80. Would have thought him to be at least between 60-70 if not higher

 

[trundler]

I am now wondering who's going to be finish high on this list. Perplexed. O.o

 

[Days of Grace]

I imagine a lot of posters will be perplexed as to why some bowlers are not in the top 20 or 30, without realizing that you can’t fit 50 bowlers into 20 spots.

 

[trundler]

I imagine a lot of posters will be perplexed as to why some bowlers are not in the top 20 or 30, without realizing that you can’t fit 50 bowlers into 20 spots.

Yeah that's fair. At first glance, most players would look too low.

80 is a bit harsh though. Verity surprised me too. As did Bedi.

 

[harsh.ag]

Short careers mostly, I think. Saqlain has an outsized presence in the mental landscape of 90s cricket cause of the doosra and some thrilling performances and ODIs. And yet he played just 49 matches.

 

[ankitj]

Yeah Saqlain definitely is stuck in mind as one of the uniquely gifted players of 90s

 

[Flametree]

Regarding great performances, they are worth considerably less than overall career wickets and points per innings (i.e. consistency). You can view great performances as a tie-breaker between bowlers rated very similarly.

Kaneria averaged 38.97 unadjusted against quality opposition, but he bowled in an era of flat wickets and against many great batsmen, so it is adjusted downwards a lot. Matches played in the U.A.E. count as non-home for Pakistani bowlers, so perhaps that could be changed in the future.

And, in reply to Starfighter, yes, match conditions do play a part in adjusting the averages and strike-rates.

Kaneria has a terrible record in the UAE (7 wickets at 70) so if you do allocate the middle-east to be home performances, he'll go up a bit as his away from home record will improve.

 

[stephen]

I'd only have him ahead of Starc in dead subcontinental conditions.

Assuming you meant behind?

Regardless, Hazlewood two years ago was verging on looking like an ATG. Now he's dropped off a bit.

I also think Cummins is a better bowler than him right now.

 

[Starfighter]

Assuming you meant behind?.

Ah... yes.

 

[Days of Grace]

No.78

Merv Hughes (Australia) 685

Quality Points: 629
Career Points: 56

Career: 1985-1994
Wickets: 212
Gold Performances: 1
8/87 vs. West Indies at Perth 1988 (18.00)
Silver Performances: 1
Bronze Performances: 7

Overall Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 28.13 (28.38) 57.40 (57.95) 4.28
50 Innings Peak Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings (1989-1993): 23.49 50.31 5.18
Non-Home Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 30.48 59.74 3.93
Quality Opposition Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 25.40 51.09 4.85

 

[Days of Grace]

Woosh. Too low. I would have thought some of his 4 fivers n 2 back to back tests against India in India in 98 would be ranked as Gold performances.

5/94: 13.74
5/93: 13.06
5/94: 9.85
5/122: 8.20

The second test performances were in a loss so naturally those are rated lower. The first test match performances don't quite make the gold standard because it was quite a low scoring match.

 

[Bolo]

There's been a bit of a pattern of players averaging just under 30 and around 200 wickets, with the odd player taking less wickets cheaper or more wickets for more runs.

 

[Brian Lara]

I think pacers rank higher than spinners in general so nothing has surprised me so far.

Edit: except kaneria being so high and verity so low

 

[ankitj]

5/94: 13.74
5/93: 13.06
5/94: 9.85
5/122: 8.20

The second test performances were in a loss so naturally those are rated lower. The first test match performances don't quite make the gold standard because it was quite a low scoring match.

Thanks for pulling those numbers. We remember that series for being one where a spinner troubled famed Indian batting in all innings. Saqlain got Tendulkar 4 times IIRC in those 2 games. WAG!

 

[ankitj]

I imagine a lot of posters will be perplexed as to why some bowlers are not in the top 20 or 30, without realizing that you can’t fit 50 bowlers into 20 spots.

Here's my top 20. Will be fun to see how many of them make it to top 20 of this list:

Muttiah Muralitharn, Malcolm Marshall, Sydney Barnes, Richard Hadlee, Glenn McGrath
Curtly Ambrose, Shane Warne, Dale Steyn, Fred Trueman, Imran Khan
Bill O'Reilly, Allan Donald, Dennis Lillee, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram,
Clarrie Grimmett, Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Shaun Pollock, Ray Lindwall

 

[Days of Grace]

No.77

Brett Lee (Australia) 688

Quality Points: 609
Career Points: 79

Career: 1999-2008
Wickets: 308
Gold Performances: 0
Best Performance: 5/77 vs. New Zealand at Hamilton 2000 (13.57)
Silver Performances: 7
Bronze Performances: 5

Overall Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 28.35 (30.71) 56.05 (53.32) 4.20
50 Innings Peak Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings (2005-2008): 23.47 50.36 5.41
Non-Home Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 31.59 59.97 3.40
Quality Opposition Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 31.52 61.22 3.76

 

[Starfighter]

About 1000 places too high.

 

[Days of Grace]

No.76

Maurice Tate (England) 691

Quality Points: 642
Career Points: 48

Career: 1924-1935
Wickets: 155
Gold Performances: 0
Best Performance: 5/75 vs. Australia at Melbourne 1925 (13.65)
Silver Performances: 4
Bronze Performances: 5

Overall Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 24.73 (26.16) 71.44 (80.79) 4.38
50 Innings Peak Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings (1924-1930): 24.12 68.97 5.01
Non-Home Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 25.54 73.60 4.58
Quality Opposition Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 26.94 75.89 5.31

 

[The Battlers Prince]

Wow, I consider Tate quite highly. I’ll be interested to see if everyone from here in is worthy of their positions