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

[Bolo]

Funnily enough when I went through a period a little while ago of looking at a few mid-nineties series I saw him described in a few videos and articles as being a 'turn up once a series' (on a favourable pitch), sporadic sort of bowler. Particularly with respect to 94/95 against Australia where he took nine wickets on the grossly underprepared, shaggy, sodden, out-of-character Trinidad pitch and took a pathetic four wickets in the other three matches despite sometimes appearing threatening.

A couple of the AUS pitches he ran riot on would have seen the march abandoned these days as well.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

Wow. Didn't expect Ambrose to finish behind Donald, Waqar etc. But then what's the point of a list like this if it doesn't force us to reconsider our viewpoints.

90s
1. Wasim
2. Donald
3. Ambrose
4. Waqar
5. Mcgrath
6. Walsh
7. Pollock

Will be happy if Donald features in top 10.

 

[trundler]

Donald ahead of Ambrose is certainly very interesting and enlightening.

 

[MartinB]

Funnily enough when I went through a period a little while ago of looking at a few mid-nineties series I saw him described in a few videos and articles as being a 'turn up once a series' (on a favourable pitch), sporadic sort of bowler. Particularly with respect to 94/95 against Australia where he took nine wickets on the grossly underprepared, shaggy, sodden, out-of-character Trinidad pitch and took a pathetic four wickets in the other three matches despite sometimes appearing threatening.

The Perth wicket in 1993 where he took 7/25 had cracks that you could stick a bat in. He aimed at a crack, some went through at head height, some at ankle height

 

[OverratedSanity]

The Perth wicket in 1993 where he took 7/25 had cracks that you could stick a bat in. He aimed at a crack, some went through at head height, some at ankle height

Pretty sure that was Perth 1997, where he bowled Blewett with a grubber, not 93. The 1993 pitch had loads of pace and bounce in it, but was otherwise a relatively normal deck. Nothing particularly wrong with it.

 

[smash84]

ok, now let's not go overboard and pretend ambrose could only bowl on pitches that were exploding

 

[trundler]

Can we allot points for badassery? Ambrose would rank only second to Marshall on that measure.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

T-shirts on the go...

 

[vcs]

Absolutely loved him as a kid.

(I mean when I was a kid)

 

[Days of Grace]

No.11

Allan Donald (South Africa) 874

Quality Points: 784
Career Points: 90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYdVEumQO1Y

Career: 1992-2002
Wickets: 330
Gold Performances: 1
8/71 vs. Zimbabwe at Harare 1995 (15.81)
Silver Performances: 13
Bronze Performances: 9

Overall Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 22.04 (22.25) 46.94 (47.03) 5.31 (rank 10)
50 Innings Peak Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings (1996-1999): 18.83 39.94 6.74 (rank 8)
Non-Home Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 22.59 49.35 4.93 (rank 19)
Quality Opposition Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 22.75 45.65 5.43 (rank 16)

"White lightning" just misses out on the top 10. In a sense, Donald did very well to take over 300 test wickets considering that he made his debut at age 25 and took 216 wickets at 20.56 (adjusted from 20.87) as a fast bowler in his 30s. He probably played one season too many which cost him a few points but one could say that of many bowlers. His solitary gold performance but very high PPI suggests that unlike Ambrose he was very consistent without really delivering a mind-blowing performance for the ages, which certainly is not the image I had previously of these two bowlers. Donald has a superb record, ranking in the top 20 and averaging under 23 in all the criteria.

 

[Days of Grace]

As an aside, just done the 1990s stats for Wasim Akram. 289 wickets in 62 matches.

Overall points: 843
Quality points: 764
Career points: 79


Career: 1990-1999
Wickets: 289
Gold Performances: 3
Silver Performances: 6
Bronze Performances: 9

Overall Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 21.89 (21.45) 50.61 (48.91) 5.24
50 Innings Peak Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings (1996-1999): 19.98 46.46 6.37
Non-Home Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 23.51 54.60 5.15
Quality Opposition Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 22.00 49.38 5.06

Improved a little to 843 points, but not enough to be ranked the best bowler of the 1990s considering that Ambrose and Donald would probably improve slightly on their overall points as well.

 

[stephen]

Donald is the kind of bowler that gets underrated (by me too) because he's not that flashy and didn't take huge hauls. There was also a good part of his career when Pollock was seen as better than him.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah I have to say I think Pollock is generally a bit over rated around these parts by a lot of people, but in saying that he's certainly no mug. Think Donald was comfortably better tbh.

 

[Starfighter]

Waqar up next?

 

[morgieb]

Donald is the kind of bowler that gets underrated (by me too) because he's not that flashy and didn't take huge hauls. There was also a good part of his career when Pollock was seen as better than him.

Seems weird to under-rate him because he wasn't flashy, because the impression I got from him was that he was really flashy. I think he just slid under the radar a bit because there was equally good (if not better) fast bowlers as his contemporaries (whereas Waqar and McGrath had periods where they were clear cut #1's), plus also his Australia record is kinda iffy (unlike Wasim and Ambrose).

 

[stephen]

When I say he wasn't flashy, I mean he wasn't as intimidating as Ambrose or move the ball as much as Waqar. He was quick, he was accurate and he was effective. But we had plenty of bowlers in the 90s who matched that criteria.

 

[morgieb]

When I say he wasn't flashy, I mean he wasn't as intimidating as Ambrose or move the ball as much as Waqar. He was quick, he was accurate and he was effective. But we had plenty of bowlers in the 90s who matched that criteria.

Fair enough. Though his speed/movement combo I think was by the average bowler's standard rather extreme....just not as extreme as Waqar.

 

[stephen]

Pollock averaged fractionally less than Donald while they played together but Donald took more 5+ wicket hauls. Great new ball pairing. Probably South Africa's greatest.

 

[stephen]

My prediction for the top 10:

10 Waqar
9 Warne
8 Imran
7 Barnes
6 Lillee
5 Steyn
4 McGrath
3 Marshall
2 Hadlee
1 Murali

 

[OverratedSanity]

That Donald inswinger to Sachin in 1997 probably one of the best balls I've ever seen. Always the first thing to pop up in my head when I think about Donald.