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Top 10 Greatest Fast Bowlers of All Time in Tests?

S

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
rtramdas said:
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.
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Really, so Bob Willis, Walsh and Anderson are better than Imran Khan and Wasim Akram?
 
TheJediBrah

TheJediBrah

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Migara said:
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.
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I think it's highly dubious to say that SA's batting was a match for Australia's. They batted deep, sure, but comparing top 6s Aus were generally quite a bit stronger. Even moreso when Gilchrist came along post 2000.

I think it's fair to say however that SA's fast bowling was possibly even better than Aus in the 90s.
 
Gob

Gob

International Coach
ankitj said:
Marshall
Barnes
Hadlee
McGrath
Ambrose

Steyn
Trueman
Imran
Lillee
Donald
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Was he a fast bowler though? Didn't see him obviously so like to think he was like underwood whom i also didn't get to see but felt must have been like Kumble which i did see
 
Starfighter

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Gob said:
Was he a fast bowler though? Didn't see him obviously so like to think he was like underwood whom i also didn't get to see but felt must have been like Kumble which i did see
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He was similar to, even a little quicker than, Bedser who I've just posted about in my history of fast bowling thread. Much quicker than Underwood or Kumble.
 
R

rtramdas

U19 12th Man
stephen said:
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.
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Each and every person derives conclusions based on some basic facts in which they give more weightages and me too is no different. For instance some people give more weightage to mammoth individual inns scored at a bit better str: and for them Lara would be the better batsman.And for those who gives more weightage to consistancy and uniform records Sachin would be the better batsman. it is that simple

I strongly believes that Warne was a huge factor in Mcgrath being as successful as he turned out to be. To be more precise, every quality bowler would benefit in the company of other quality bowlers like 'Ambrose in the company of Walsh'. But with Mcgrath that benefit was lot lot more because Warne was not only great but was soo different than normal.And based on the nature of the game itself that a bowler can be brought in at any moment against any opposition batsman , there is no doubt Mcgrath gained a lot in Warne's company.
 
Lillian Thomson

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
rtramdas said:
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.
Click to expand...
Just out of curiosity here, does the presence of 11 players in this Top 10 indicate an inability to separate the two number 1's or an inability to count?
 
Gob

Gob

International Coach
In all honesty, you send 20 year old Marshall to 1901 and let him stay there till 1915, he will most likely end up averaging 10 or something with the tools that he had at his disposal plus the unprotected wickets but I guess that's not how it works
 
E

Engle

State Vice-Captain
1. M.Marshall
2. C. Ambrose
3. D. Lillee

4. G.McGrath
5. Imran Khan
6. R. Hadlee

7. F. Trueman
8. D. Steyn
9. Wasim Akram

10. M. Holding
 
TheJediBrah

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
rtramdas said:
there is no doubt Mcgrath gained a lot in Warne's company.
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There's a lot of doubt. Take Warne away completely and McGrath doesn't come out even an iota worse off

even just looking at his stats in the games Warne didn't play his average is virtually the same.

Similar to your reasoning for not rating Wasim & Imran, looks to me like you've clearly decided which ones you like and come up with reasons to justify it as an afterthought, rather than the opposite as you claim. Though tbf most people are probably doing the same thing but they're just more subtle about it.
 
R

rtramdas

U19 12th Man
Lillian Thomson said:
Just out of curiosity here, does the presence of 11 players in this Top 10 indicate an inability to separate the two number 1's or an inability to count?
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ohh.. it was my mistake ..... Really Hadlee is at 2nd position ...nice of you to remind me that I could actually select first 11 , even if it is based on my criteria
 
Gob

Gob

International Coach
TheJediBrah said:
There's a lot of doubt. Take Warne away completely and McGrath doesn't come out even an iota worse off

even just looking at his stats in the games Warne didn't play his average is virtually the same.

Similar to your reasoning for not rating Wasim & Imran, looks to me like you've clearly decided which ones you like and come up with reasons to justify it as an afterthought, rather than the opposite as you claim. Though tbf most people are probably doing the same thing but they're just more subtle about it.
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Having a great support cast can go both ways. Both Holding and Garner could well have taken 350 plus wickets had they played as the lone wolf of a struggling team with less competition for wickets
 
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