• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Wasim Akram vs Allan Donald

Who was the greater bowler?

  • Wasim Akram

    Votes: 24 51.1%
  • Allan Donald

    Votes: 23 48.9%

  • Total voters
    47

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
Again. Your memory is wrong. Or possibly based on ODIs if you are talking about stuff like 2002-2003. He was never a Wasim quality ODI bowler, but this is not what we are discussing. Donald played 2 tests in 2002 and then retired, much like Wasim.

Donalds MO was express. But he he also had prodigious lift, could seam the ball, and bowl conventional and reverse. When express left him in the 2000s he was fine. Im not gonna argue that Donald bowling 135-140> Donald at 150, but he did fine. Was taking 4.X WPM @ 20 as a FM.

He went sub 25 @3.5 WPM in the 2000s, despite his precipitous decline at the end, when he was literally hobbling in at 125 or so.

Wasim went at 2.4 WPM @30 in the 2000s. Ya, he was still capable of doing some great bowling in the decade. But you cant compare these records.

You can rip into Donalds record in the 2000s if you want within the context of ATG discussions. But it is utterly ridiculous to rip into his 2000s record when comparing him to Wasim. There are many legit reasons to rank Wasim ahead of Donald, but the argument you are clinging to is just categorically wrong.
Yeah I think I was basing it off their ODI performances and remembering comparing them in the 2003 World Cup when Wasim still seemed a reasonable threat while Donald was a shadow of himself.
 

Bolo.

International Captain
Yeah I think I was basing it off their ODI performances and remembering comparing them in the 2003 World Cup when Wasim still seemed a reasonable threat while Donald was a shadow of himself.
Wasim was good enough in ODIs to survive a severe drop in pace. If he was a 115 kph bowler, I think he would have found a way to make it work, at least to a tolerable standard, and even in 2003 he was still hitting 130+ IIRC.

Donald was not good enough in ODIs to get that 130 kph junk that he was bowling after 2002 to work for him.
 

Kirkut

International Regular
Yeah I think I was basing it off their ODI performances and remembering comparing them in the 2003 World Cup when Wasim still seemed a reasonable threat while Donald was a shadow of himself.
Wasim was absolute gun in ODIs, easily beats Donald there. Because of a disappointing World Cup he had to retire or else he could have played ODIs till 2006 as he could still get late swing @85-86 mph.
 

Pap Finn Keighl

International Debutant
Wasim was absolute gun in ODIs, easily beats Donald there. Because of a disappointing World Cup he had to retire or else he could have played ODIs till 2006 as he could still get late swing @85-86 mph.
Donald - 3rd greatest ODI bowler in the last 30 years ( after Akram and Mcgrath)
 

Slifer

International Captain
Seriously, how old are some of you lot?? No bowler is easily or any of that rubbish better than Donald in ODIs. His stats are amazing but beyond that the dude was box office. I assume some are basing this on his performance in his last world cup (bs) because in the decade prior he excelled. In the world cups prior he also excelled.
 

smash84

The Tiger King
Seriously, how old are some of you lot?? No bowler is easily or any of that rubbish better than Donald in ODIs. His stats are amazing but beyond that the dude was box office. I assume some are basing this on his performance in his last world cup (bs) because in the decade prior he excelled. In the world cups prior he also excelled.
This
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
Seriously, how old are some of you lot?? No bowler is easily or any of that rubbish better than Donald in ODIs. His stats are amazing but beyond that the dude was box office. I assume some are basing this on his performance in his last world cup (bs) because in the decade prior he excelled. In the world cups prior he also excelled.
I watched Donald from his peak mid-90s onwards, no doubting he was great, but yeah I would still put Starc ahead. Easily not best word though, I agree.
 

Anil

Hall of Fame Member
can we stop with the silly, never-ending comparisons and just accept that they were both outstanding exponents of their craft, just spectacular to watch in full flight?
 

GoodAreasShane

Cricketer Of The Year
can we stop with the silly, never-ending comparisons and just accept that they were both outstanding exponents of their craft, just spectacular to watch in full flight?
So you basically want to get rid of two thirds of the discussion in the entire subforum?



I would be all for that
 

Migara

International Coach
Pollock was the best ODI bowler from SAF. May have had a higher average, but that ER of 3.65 is ATG stuff.
Steyn was the best from Tests.

1643429910951.png

And all hail Fanie!
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Craig Matthews was another one of the robotic players from SA team of that era who seemingly could do no wrong in ODIs (except when ...)
 

Top