Top 10 Greatest Fast Bowlers of All Time in Tests?

[stephen]

My top 10 test fast bowlers

1.Curtley Ambrose - Nasty, fastness, adequate longevity, great record against the best team of his era, uniform record in all countries and yet a mammoth average of 20.99 ...such a complete fast bowler.
1. Richard Hadlee - lone warrior, great longevity, well rounded record in all nations
2. Dale Steyn - great longevity, performed in a relatively batting friendly era
3. Shaun Pollock - great longevity , well rounded record in all nations, was well below his standard against best team of his era.
4. Allan Donald - well rounded record in all nations , lacks adequate longevity
5. Glenn Mcgrath - presence of Warne helped him immensely otherwise would have put him much higher,such uniform record & mammoth longevity
6. Malcolm Marshall - statistically has the best average, posses a uniform record etc , but being in the company of other 3 great fast bowlers helped him a lot.
7. Joel Garner - one of the greatest averages ever for a fast bowler , such amazing uniformity , but lacks adequate longevity . Also being a part of such a strong bowling unit helped him a lot.
8. Courtney Walsh - such amazing longevity & uniform record, was below par against the best team of his era though.
9. James Anderson - completely turned it upside down in this relatively batting friendly era ,has a stretch of 460 wkts @23.93
10. Bob Willis - had enough longevity for the era he played in, had great uniformity, but was below par against the best team of his era.

Pollock ahead of McGrath is ITSTL. McGrath has one of the best records against the best opposition batsmen of any bowler in history. And McGrath benefiting from Warne and Marshall and Garner benefiting from the other bowlers in their sides is contentious at best, especially when you have both Donald and Pollock.

 

[TheJediBrah]

And McGrath benefiting from Warne and Marshall and Garner benefiting from the other bowlers in their sides is contentious at best, especially when you have both Donald and Pollock.

Haha good spot. I think it's fair to rank these guys however you want but definitely a logical inconsistency there

 

[Lillian Thomson]

That top 10 and all the reasoning within it is utter bollox. The author is either a troll or in need of urgent remedial surgery.

 

[Flem274*]

i like it. i don't agree with all of it but it's nice.

 

[Teja.]

Post 1980:

1. Marshall
2. Hadlee
3. McGrath
4. Imran
5. Ambrose
6. Steyn
7. Akram
8. Waqar
9. Donald
10. Garner

 

[Jack1]

Donald underrated here compared to McGrath. Especially considering McGrath played in a much stronger team. Donald has extremely good stats in terms of average and wickets per game. Very good bowler and was in my top 10.

 

[h_hurricane]

A lesser known White Lightning stat: The only quick bowler in history to take 80 or more wickets in a calendar year at a sub 20 average.

At his absolute peak in 1998, he took 80 wickets in 14 matches at 19.63 (SR 40.4) with 7 five wicket hauls.

 

[Victor Ian]

Top 10s always seem like they are missing someone.

 

[ParwazHaiJunoon]

Top 10s always seem like they are missing someone.

Jack Bird is missing

 

[Gob]

This is a bot right

Akilana? He is a moron

 

[Gob]

Haha good spot. I think it's fair to rank these guys however you want but definitely a logical inconsistency there

McGrath's record in 00's should imo put him ahead of the 90s guys just like you put Tendulkar and Lara over the 00s guys.

 

[Burgey]

Don’t think he’s a top tenner, but good to see Bob Willis at least get some recognition. He really was a fine bowler.

 

[rtramdas]

Pollock ahead of McGrath is ITSTL. McGrath has one of the best records against the best opposition batsmen of any bowler in history. And McGrath benefiting from Warne and Marshall and Garner benefiting from the other bowlers in their sides is contentious at best, especially when you have both Donald and Pollock.

there is always

Pollock ahead of McGrath is ITSTL. McGrath has one of the best records against the best opposition batsmen of any bowler in history. And McGrath benefiting from Warne and Marshall and Garner benefiting from the other bowlers in their sides is contentious at best, especially when you have both Donald and Pollock.

Did I place Mcgrath far below the SAF duo in my list.?? He is only just immediately below them. Despite taking into account all the highlights of Mcgrath's career , I have no doubt in my mind that the presence of Warne(not only great but soo different from 'support bowlers of other great bowlers ' that created such variety in that Aussie unit) helped Mcgrath immensely. Another point is that Mcgrath belonged to such a complete 'all round ' great team due to another man named 'Gilchrist' . Gilly added such depth to Aussie batting unit and there by such an invincible aura to that Aussie team that immensely benefitted Mcgrath. I, for one gives this factor a lot of weightage. That is why Hadlee is the no:2 in my list.

 

[stephen]

Donald underrated here compared to McGrath. Especially considering McGrath played in a much stronger team. Donald has extremely good stats in terms of average and wickets per game. Very good bowler and was in my top 10.

Much stronger? Nonsense. Australia in the 90s were a bit stronger than South Africa, but not by a huge amount. Australia had a win/loss ratio of 2.5 in the era and South Africa had one of 2.0. There really wasn't much between the sides in the 90s, but Australia consistently came out on top against South Africa.

Australia were dominant in the 00s, but that era of dominance wasn't until after the bulk of Donald's career was over. 90s South Africa were an extremely good side, mental weaknesses aside.

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;spanmax2=01+Mar+2002;spanmin2=01+Apr+1992;spanval2=span;team=2;team=3;template=results;type=team

 

[stephen]

there is always

Did I place Mcgrath far below the SAF duo in my list.?? He is only just immediately below them. Despite taking into account all the highlights of Mcgrath's career , I have no doubt in my mind that the presence of Warne(not only great but soo different from 'support bowlers of other great bowlers ' that created such variety in that Aussie unit) helped Mcgrath immensely. Another point is that Mcgrath belonged to such a complete 'all round ' great team due to another man named 'Gilchrist' . Gilly added such depth to Aussie batting unit and there by such an invincible aura to that Aussie team that immensely benefitted Mcgrath. I, for one gives this factor a lot of weightage. That is why Hadlee is the no:2 in my list.

So you mark McGrath down because he had Gilchrist batting at number 7? WTF?

It also doesn't explain why Marshall and Garner are rated below the South African duo.

Now I honestly don't really care how you rate players, but your reasons listed are flawed. Your list is one of the rare few that would place Pollock ahead of Donald and McGrath. It's your right to do so, but your reasoning for doing so is flimsy.

McGrath only played 20 tests without Warne in his side, which isn't enough to look too deeply into the statistics. But his average is within 10% of his career average. It's not really enough to say one way or the other that having Warne boosted his performances.

 

[TheJediBrah]

there is always

Did I place Mcgrath far below the SAF duo in my list.?? He is only just immediately below them. Despite taking into account all the highlights of Mcgrath's career , I have no doubt in my mind that the presence of Warne(not only great but soo different from 'support bowlers of other great bowlers ' that created such variety in that Aussie unit) helped Mcgrath immensely. Another point is that Mcgrath belonged to such a complete 'all round ' great team due to another man named 'Gilchrist' . Gilly added such depth to Aussie batting unit and there by such an invincible aura to that Aussie team that immensely benefitted Mcgrath. I, for one gives this factor a lot of weightage. That is why Hadlee is the no:2 in my list.

One of the reasons McGrath stands out ahead of all other fast bowlers was his stats against the top order. Cbf finding the numbers but he had an absurdly good average against proper batsmen compared to the lower order, and a very high percentage of top order wickets compared to Steyn and the rest.

Can't really see the logic to saying that being supported by Warne helped him much. Definitely no. 1 for me, or 2 at worst with Marshall.

 

[Migara]

My top 10 test fast bowlers

1.Curtley Ambrose - Nasty, fastness, adequate longevity, great record against the best team of his era, uniform record in all countries and yet a mammoth average of 20.99 ...such a complete fast bowler.
1. Richard Hadlee - lone warrior, great longevity, well rounded record in all nations
2. Dale Steyn - great longevity, performed in a relatively batting friendly era
3. Shaun Pollock - great longevity , well rounded record in all nations, was well below his standard against best team of his era.
4. Allan Donald - well rounded record in all nations , lacks adequate longevity
5. Glenn Mcgrath - presence of Warne helped him immensely otherwise would have put him much higher,such uniform record & mammoth longevity
6. Malcolm Marshall - statistically has the best average, posses a uniform record etc , but being in the company of other 3 great fast bowlers helped him a lot.
7. Joel Garner - one of the greatest averages ever for a fast bowler , such amazing uniformity , but lacks adequate longevity . Also being a part of such a strong bowling unit helped him a lot.
8. Courtney Walsh - such amazing longevity & uniform record, was below par against the best team of his era though.
9. James Anderson - completely turned it upside down in this relatively batting friendly era ,has a stretch of 460 wkts @23.93
10. Bob Willis - had enough longevity for the era he played in, had great uniformity, but was below par against the best team of his era.

Definite lack of Imran, Wasim and Waqar. And oh, I can see the reason too.

 

[Migara]

Did Marshall ever get the ball to reverse? I ask because I've always thought of him and Akram as mirror images of sorts (Akram being a slight downgrade), capable of doing absolutely anything with the ball at the outset.

Given that an obscure pacemen like Brett Schultz got it to go, a crafty operator like Marshall would have figured it out at least on some occasions.

Or it can be argued, he never wanted it.

 

[Migara]

You just know if Lillee averaged 7 against SL Migara would just say SL was too weak and irrelevant back then (as they are now)

Apart from the obvious baiting, It would have been nice to read prose and analysis from Lillee fans, how stats against minnows matter, if it was the case.

 

[Migara]

Donald underrated here compared to McGrath. Especially considering McGrath played in a much stronger team. Donald has extremely good stats in terms of average and wickets per game. Very good bowler and was in my top 10.

Donald played in a team with greater fast bowling strength. The difference between those two sides was Warne. SAF and AUS had like to like batsmen (when not playing each other). Infact SAF had great batting depth with Pollock at 8, Symcox / Boje at 9. Donald / Schultz / DeVilliers / McMillain / Pollock / Mathews / Elworthy / Snell was pretty strong mix to pick from. If SAF had a spinner like Murali / Kumble or Saqlain, they would have beaten Australia many more times.