CW's Ranking of Pace Bowlers (Tests)

[PlayerComparisons]

Davidson

 

[gftw]

Willis - 1
Davidson - 14
Roberts - 1
Larwood - 2
Cummins - 1

The List
1. Malcolm Marshall
2. Glenn Mcgrath
3. Richard Hadlee
4. Curtly Ambrose
5. Dale Steyn
6. Imran Khan
7. Dennis Lillee
8. Fred Trueman
9. Wasim Akram
10. Allan Donald
11. Joel Garner
12. Ray Lindwall
13. Michael Holding
14. Waqar Younis
15. Alan Davidson

The vote for the #16 test pace bowler of all-time begins now.

 

[srbhkshk]

Pollock

 

[trundler]

In hindsight Holding over Davidson seems very odd to me.

Walsh though.

 

[Nikhil99.99]

Harold larwood

 

[kyear2]

Roberts

 

[ankitj]

Shaun Pollock

 

[Bitmap]

Roberts

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Larwood

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Yep Larwood should not get in ahead of any of these three...

Why? Larwood was amazing.

1427 1st class wickets at 17.51
and tamed the most dominant sports star of all time on an away tour

 

[ankitj]

It says tests in the thread title though

 

[Fuller Pilch]

He was also the best test fast bowler of his era and pre-Lindwall and won perhaps the most famous test series of all time for his captain against the GOAT batsman.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

Why? Larwood was amazing.

1427 1st class wickets at 17.51
and tamed the most dominant sports star of all time on an away tour

Great domestic stats don't excuse ordinary international stats. Pretty sure we're making this list based on international performances.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

Roberts

 

[Fuller Pilch]

He bowled to a genius in a batting era who averaged 100. Therefore an average of 28 is world class. Apart from Bradman, Larwood was as much a star of that era as Hammond, Headley, O'Reilly, Grimmett, and Verity.

 

[The Sean]

I am interested to see how much we value longevity here in cw. Anderson Broad Walsh Pollock Kapil Botham Ntini Vaas Etc are among the top ten wicket taking pacers of all time but yet to get a single vote.

I assumed we'd vote for Anderson when we do the medium-pacers ranking.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

He bowled to a genius in a batting era who averaged 100 and was clearly the best quick of a generation. Therefore an average of 28 is world class.

His averages in the two series against Bradman before bodyline were 40 and 73. You're pretty much just rating him that high based on one series where he had to use a pretty dangerous strategy that was seen as not in the spirit of the game. Bradman still averaged 57 in the series. Without the bodyline series, his stats are quite mediocre. Average pops up to 35 and tbh that's still inflated by performances against some pretty average/weak South African and West Indian sides.

 

[The Sean]

My controversial and clearly very unpopular take - there are several blokes who I reckon should come in now before Andy Roberts, as good as he was.

 

[PlayerComparisons]

I assumed we'd vote for Anderson when we do the medium-pacers ranking.

Is Anderson slower than Mcgrath?

 

[The Sean]

In hindsight Holding over Davidson seems very odd to me.

Walsh though.

Yeah agreed - wonderful bowler, but I reckon he's a couple of spots too high.