Brook's side
International Regular
I wrote papers last year analysing the greatest test match bowlers, batsmen and all-rounders.
Amongst other things, the papers took account of the typical batting and bowling figures during each player's career, and also the players' home and away form, and form in different parts of the world.
I can't include the whole paper obviously, but here were my final rankings on the bowlers, together with the headline biography profiles that I did for each of them.
1. Sir Richard Hadlee (1973-1990) New Zealand Right Arm Fast
“Hadlee was a tearaway, placing speed far ahead of guile…. As his knowhow grew, however, so his run-up (and locks) shortened, and all the attributes of the model fast bowler fell into place. His lithe, whippy, side-on action made life uncomfortable for all the great batsmen of his era, as he extracted pace, bounce and movement from even the least responsive of surfaces” “Few players in the history of cricket have carried the fortunes of their team to quite the same extent as Richard Hadlee. By the time he retired from international cricket in 1990, at the age of 39 and with a knighthood newly conferred upon him for his services to the game, Hadlee had …lifted New Zealand to unprecedented feats in the Test arena. As the first player to reach 400 Test wickets….he was also a hard-hitting batsman of unquestioned skill” ESPNCricinfo (by Andrew Miller).
2. MD Malcolm Marshall (West Indies) 1978-1991 Right Arm Fast
“Allied to a massive cricket intelligence, stamina and courage, Marshall had all the toys and he knew how and when to play with them. His strike rate of 46.22 was phenomenal, his average of 20.95 equally so. He may well have been the finest fast bowler of them all.”
“Malcolm Marshall slithered to the crease on the angle, pitter-pat feet twinkling as if in dancing shoes. It was reminiscent of a sidewinder on the attack. Purists occasionally criticised his action as too open, but it had method: he maintained mastery of orthodox outswing and inswing from a neutral position without telegraphing his intent. He was lithe, with a wickedly fast arm that elevated him to express status. Only in inches was he lacking - but he even turned that to his advantage with a bouncer as malicious as they come, skidding on to the batsman. Later in his career, he developed a devastating legcutter which he used on dusty pitches.” Mike Selvey, via ESPNCricinfo
3. M Muralidaran (SL) 1992-2010 Right Arm Offbreak
“For the believers, he's among the greatest to ever spin a ball. For the doubters, he's…responsible for changes in the laws that they think have legitimised throwing. What was undeniable was his ability to turn the ball sharply on just about any surface, and bowl the sort of marathon spells that would have seen a lesser man retire after five seasons rather than 18. Whether Sri Lanka played at home, on pitches where he was often unplayable, or overseas, Murali was the go-to man for half a dozen captains. He seldom disappointed….The controversies always kept him company, yet Murali seldom lost his wide-eyed smile, or the ability to run through batting sides. Darrell Hair called him for throwing on Boxing Day in 1995, and Ross Emerson followed suit three years later. In 2004, he was asked to refrain from bowling his doosra, after it was found to exceed the 15-degree tolerance limit that had been agreed on after extensive analysis of his and other actions. While the sceptics continued to denigrate his achievements… he played his part in some of the country's greatest sporting moments. It was his 16 wickets that helped rout England at The Oval in 1998, back in the days when Sri Lanka were deemed worthy of only one Test. He…finished a remarkable Test career with more than 100 wickets against India, England and South Africa”. Dileep Premachandran ESPNCricinfo
4. Joel Garner (West Indies) 1977-1987 Right Arm Fast
“Batsmen would say that the overriding feeling when first confronted by the Big Bird was that he would trample on them such was the foreshortening effect of his 6ft 8 inches. Delivered from the clouds it seemed, and at a lively pace that when the mood took could be cranked up to the brisk side of rapid, the ball would rear alarmingly from barely short of a length. Allied to that was the most devastating toe crunching yorker” Mike Selvey, via ESPNCricinfo
5. Curtly Ambrose (West Indies) 1988-2000 Right Arm Fast
“Fee fi fo fum. A giant of the game in every sense, Curtly Ambrose was the most lethal pace bowler of his generation…two spells stand out: the 6 for 24 that hustled England out for 46 in Trinidad in 1993-94, and his series-clinching burst of 7 for 1 against Australia at the WACA the previous season. Perth's springboard of a pitch was ideal for a man who stood 6ft 7ins and released the ball from almost 10ft high, but there was more to Ambrose's game than bounce. When his extreme pace deserted him, he fell back on subtle seam movement and an immaculately grooved action. English batsmen saw a great deal of Ambrose's hand-jiving wicket celebration, which set his white wristbands flashing like doves taking to the sky.” Simon Briggs, via ESPNCricinfo
6. GD McGrath (Australia) 1993-2007 Right Arm Fast Medium
“He went on to beat Courtney Walsh's 519 wickets to become the leading wicket-taker among fast bowlers, and his claim to the title of Australia's greatest fast man is contested only by Dennis Lillee…McGrath's USP was an unremitting off-stump line and an immaculate length. He gained off-cut and bounce, specialised in the opposition's biggest wickets - especially Atherton's and Brian Lara's - and he was unafraid to back himself publicly in these key duels”. ESPNCricinfo
7. Bill O'Reilly (Australia) 1932-1946 Leg Spin (right arm)
“He delivered the ball from a two-fingered grip at close to medium pace with great accuracy, and could produce leg breaks, googlies, and top spinners, with no discernible change in his action” Wisden 1935 via Wikipedia
“He was 6ft 2in tall, gripped the ball in his enormous right hand and released it at a pace that could be almost fast-medium. It would then bounce ferociously on the hard pitches of his time and, on occasion, knock wicket-keepers off their feet. He bowled leg-breaks and, especially, top-spinners and googlies, backed up by an intimidating manner. Jack Fingleton said he was a flurry of limbs, fire and steel-edged temper.” ESPNCricinfo
8. SK Shane Warne (Australia) 1992-2007 Leg Spin (right arm)
“At first there were nerves and chubbiness. Then came wild soaring legbreaks, followed by fame and flippers…. He took a Test hat-trick, won the Man-of-the-Match prize in a World Cup final and was the subject of seven books. He was the first cricketer to reach 700 Test wickets. …At the end he was helped by his stockpile of straight balls: a zooter, slider, toppie and back-spinner, one that drifted in, one that sloped out, and another that didn't budge. Yet he seldom got his wrong'un right and rarely landed his flipper. More than ever he relied on his two oldest friends: excruciating accuracy and an exquisite legbreak, except that he controlled the degree of spin - and mixed it - at will. Like the great classical painters, he stumbled upon the art of simplicity. His bowling was never simpler, nor more effective, nor lovelier to look at” Chrstian Ryan and ESPNCricinfo staff
9. Allan Donald (South Africa) 1992-2002 Right Arm Fast
“If the credit for South Africa's success in the modern era could be given to one player, that cricketer would be Allan Donald. A classical action and top-drawer pace would have won him a place in any side in his prime, and for much of his career he was the only world-class performer in the South African team, spearing the ball in, shaping it away, and always making things happen” ESPNCricinfo
10. Clarrie Grimmett (Australia) 1925-1936 Leg Spin (right arm)
“After the standard legbreak, topspinner and googly there came the flipper - which took several years to perfect, and which, when batsmen tried to discern by the snap of his fingers, he smokescreened by snapping the fingers of his left hand as he released a legbreak!” Wisden Cricket Monthly, via ESPNCricinfo.
“Grimmett never insisted on spin as his chief means of destruction. To him it was no more than an important adjunct to unerring length and tantalising direction. Grimmett seldom beat a batsman by spin alone…(but) I cannot remember Grimmett bowling a long-hop” Bill O’Reilly, Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, via ESPNCricinfo
11. SF Sydney Barnes (England) 1901-1914 Right Arm Medium/Finger Spin
“Most cricketers and students of the game belonging to the period in which S.F. Barnes played were agreed that he was the bowler of the century. Australians as well as English voted him unanimously the greatest. Clem Hill…told me that on a perfect wicket Barnes could swing the new ball in and out "very late", could spin from the ground, pitch on the leg stump and miss the off. At Melbourne, in December 1911, Barnes in five overs overwhelmed Kelleway, Bardsley, Hill and Armstrong for a single. Hill (left hand bat) was clean bowled by him. "The ball pitched outside my leg-stump, safe to the push off my pads, I thought. Before I could `pick up' my bat, my off-stump was knocked silly.” Barnes was creative, one of the first bowlers really to use the seam of a new ball and combine swing so subtly with spin that few batsmen could distinguish one from the other…in 1928 when he was in his mid-fifties, the West Indies team of that year faced him in a club match and unanimously agreed he was the best they had encountered in the season.” Sir Neville Cardus, Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, via ESPNCricinfo.
11. Frank FS Trueman (England) 1952-1965 Right Arm Fast
“Trueman was fast and frightening: in his first Test series, in 1952, he helped reduce India to 0 for 4 on his debut, and took 8 for 31 - the best Test bowling figures by a genuinely fast bowler at the time - in the third match. In the second half of the '50s he formed an incisive new-ball pairing with Brian Statham, the legendarily accurate loose-limbed Lancastrian, who raced him neck-and-neck to the 250-wicket mark. By then "Fiery Fred" had great control of swing” Steven Lynch, ESPCricinfo
13. Dale Steyn (South Africa) 2006-2018 Right arm fast
“Scary eyes, throbbing veins and a chainsaw celebration have all made Dale Steyn South Africa's most feared fast bowler. Extreme pace, the ability to swing the ball both ways, and accuracy have perhaps made him the country's best ever. At the peak of his powers, Steyn possessed a lithe and wiry body, a steaming run-up that culminated in a aerodynamic action, and a ripper of an outswinger…. The flow of wickets became a gush, and in 2008, he became the fastest South African at the time, and the 15th fastest overall, to reach 100 Test wickets…. He was part of the South African side that beat England and Australia for the first time away from home since readmission, and then proved he could do it on the subcontinent. In 2010, Steyn summoned reverse-swing reminiscent of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and took 7 for 51 as South Africa beat India in Nagpur. He went on to win the Test championship with the team in England in 2012 and took his 300th Test wicket the following year, against New Zealand. He was only the fourth South African to rack up that many scalps. After he turned 30, Steyn's injury-free run ended.” Firdose Moonda, ESPNCricinfo
14. George A Lohmann (England) 1886-1896 Right Arm Fast Medium
"Rated by contemporaries as the most difficult opponent, he bowled at little more than medium pace but was able to make the ball seam both ways, and his constant experimentation led to variations in angle, flight and pace. Add into the equation his metronomic accuracy, and he was often unplayable. " Martin Williamson ESPNCricinfo
“he holds the lowest lifetime Test bowling average among bowlers with more than fifteen wickets and…the second highest peak rating for a bowler in the ICC ratings. He also holds the record for the lowest strike rate…in all Test history” Wikipedia.
15. Alan Davidson (1953-1963) Australia Left Arm Fast
“Alan Davidson suddenly translated potential into performance when Australia toured South Africa in 1957-58. A left-arm paceman with a model approach and an economical action…For the next five years, he would be the most menacing new-ball bowler of his day, not to mention a dangerous striker in the lower-middle order, and a versatile fielder at home in all positions”.
“A martyr to injuries real and imagined, some of his best performances were reserved for moments when he seemed down and out” from ESPNCricinfo
16=. Jack Cowie (New Zealand) 1937-1949 Right Arm Fast Medium
Following the 1937 our of England, Wisden commented: "He he been an Australian, he might have been termed a wonder of the age".
Wisden 1938 via Wikipedia.
16=. Courtney Walsh (West Indies) 1984-2001 Right Arm Fast
“A physiological phenomenon, Courtney Walsh probably bowled faster for longer than any man in history. His spirit was as unbreakable as his body, urging him on to the previously undreamed-of heights of 519 Test wickets…For the first half of his career, Walsh was the willing workhorse cantering into the wind while Curtly Ambrose or Malcolm Marshall galloped down the hill. But he grew stronger and wilier with age, graduating to the new ball around 1993, and forming one of the great opening partnerships with Ambrose….Walsh's action was neither elegant nor orthodox, but it was hugely economical, catapulting the ball down from 10 foot high with a simple snap of the hips”. Simon Briggs, via ESPNCricinfo
18. Neil Adcock (South Africa) 1953-1962 Right Arm Fast
“A tall aggressive fast bowler, he could lift the ball sharply off a length. He was the first South African fast bowler to take 100 Test wickets… Adcock was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1961. The previous year in South Africa's tour of England he took 26 wickets in the Tests and 108 wickets in total at an average of 14. In doing so he became the only fast bowler to take more than 100 wickets in a tour of England.” Wikipedia
19. Imran Khan (1971-1992) Pakistan Right Arm Fast
“Few would dispute that Imran was the finest cricketer Pakistan has produced, or the biggest heartthrob. Suave, erudite and monstrously talented”. “Thousands, if not millions, who had never dreamt of bowling fast on heartless baked mud suddenly wanted to emulate Imran and his lithe bounding run, his leap and his reverse-swinging yorker”. ESPNCricinfo (by Martin Williamson)
20. Frank Tyson (England) 1954-1959 Right Arm Fast
“Richie Benaud rated him the quickest he's ever seen…This was no brainless quickie, however - Tyson was a Durham University graduate, and had a penchant for quoting Shakespeare or Wordsworth to batsmen. Most famously, Tyson blew away Australia as England retained the Ashes in 1954-55. After starting off with 1 for 160 in defeat at Brisbane, he shortened his run and took 10 wickets at Sydney and nine more at Melbourne, when he took 7 for 27 in the second innings and frightened the life out of the Aussies. There can have been few faster spells in history than Tyson's in that innings…Injury plagued his career, though, and although he was tall and strong, he reached for the crease with his final stride and his action wasn't fluid, and he was finished by the time he was 30.” Martin Williamson.
21. Ravichandran Ashwin (India) 2011-2023*
“He is the fastest Indian bowler (also in some records the joint-fastest in the world) to reach the 50-, 100-, 150-, 200-, 250-, 300-, 350-,400- and 450- wicket mark in Test cricket in terms of number of innings. In 2016, he became the third Indian to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year award. He is currently the highest-ranked bowler in Test cricket, and the highest-ranked bowler ever for India on the ICC Player Rankings. He has won ten Man of the Series awards in Test cricket, which is the highest by an Indian cricketer.” Wikipedia
“R Ashwin took the tricks and skills he learned playing tennis-ball cricket on the streets of Chennai, particularly the soduku ball, a finger-flicked legbreak, to Test cricket, where he became perhaps the leading offspinner of the first quarter of the 21st century. All through his career Ashwin has been a cricket nerd with a deep appreciation of the nuances of the game and an acute knowledge of his craft” ESPNCricinfo
22. Peter Pollock (South Africa) 1961-1970 Right Arm Fast
“He was South Africa's leading bowler in the 1960s, playing every Test between 1962 and 1970.” ESPNCricinfo
23. Wasim Akram (Pakistan) 1985-2002 Left Arm Fast
“the only Pakistani cricketer to be named in an all-time Test World XI to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden….perhaps the finest exponent of, reverse swing bowling.” Wikipedia
“has complete mastery over swing and seam, and sometimes moves the ball both ways in one delivery… at high speed from a quick, ball-concealing action…backed up by the threat of a dangerous bouncer or deceptive slower delivery. Akram is rated by many as the best left-arm fast bowler of all time” ESPNCricinfo (Kamran Abbasi)
24. DK Derek Lillee (Australia) 1971-1984 Right Arm Fast
“Dennis Lillee, considered by many to have been "the complete fast bowler", was the heart of Australia's attack for more than a decade. Through a combination of ability, showmanship, a copybook action, and sheer hard work he won the loyal following of the nation's crowds, who often roared his name as he ran in to bowl. Lillee repaid their faith with interest - he was the type of character whom captains could rely on to bowl "one more over" at the end of a long spell, and the sort who often made breakthroughs when success seemed unlikely….
When Lillee came on to the international scene, he bowled with frightening pace. In December 1971 he decimated a powerful World XI side in Perth, taking 8 for 29 in the first innings, and he claimed 31 Test wickets at 17.67 during the 1972 Ashes tour…and inflicted great damage on England: rattling the tourists' batters in the 1974-75 series in Australia; and then setting up…an away series win a few months later in the first Test at Edgbaston….His best Test figures were achieved in a remarkable match against West Indies in 1981. To the delight of the MCG crowd, Lillee sent opener Desmond Haynes and nightwatcher Colin Croft back to the pavilion late on day one, and then bowled Vivian Richards to leave the tourists stunned at 10 for 4 at stumps…. Lillee…ended up with 7 for 83 in the first innings and ten wickets for the match, and Australia recorded a famous upset win.
…Lillee broke Lance Gibbs' world record of 309 Test wickets and finished with 355 dismissals from just 70 matches to underline his status as one of the all-time greats…(and)…was named in Australia's Test team of the 20th century and the national Hall of Fame, now has an international reputation as a fast-bowling coach”. ESPNCricinfo
25. Waqar Younis (Pakistan) 1989-2003 Right Arm Fast
“The man who really put the reverse into swing. Waqar Younis bucked the 1980s trend of pitching fast and short by pitching fast and full. Not an obvious recipe for success until you factor in prodigious late inswing, which was designed to smash into the base of leg stump or the batsman's toes. In his youth, he was one of the fastest ever. Waqar's surging run was a glorious sight - and an incredible strain on his body. His method of aiming for the stumps rather than the batsman earned him the best strike rate of any bowler with over 200 Test wickets, till Dale Steyn came along. It could have been better: back injuries cut short his prime, but determination has always resurrected him” ESPNCricinfo (Kamran Abbasi)
26. Michael Holding (West Indies) 1975-1987 Right Arm Fast
“It began intimidatingly far away. He turned, and began the most elegant long-striding run of them all, feet kissing the turf silently, his head turning gently and ever so slightly from side to side, rhythmically, like that of a cobra hypnotising its prey. Good batsmen tended not to watch him all the way lest they became mesmerised. To the umpires he was malevolent stealth personified so they christened him Whispering Death. No-one in the game has bowled faster. His over to Geoff Boycott in the cauldron of Kensington Oval early in 1981 has gone down in history as the finest, fastest, most ferocious gambit of all time. Five years earlier, towards the end of the drought-ridden summer of 1976, The Oval had become a wasteland, parched beyond recognition, with slow flat heart-breaking pitches, and it was on this, in the final Test of the season, through the simple device of bowling ramrod-straight at high pace and to a full length, that he conjured 14 wickets for 149, the finest match figures ever by a West Indian.” Mike Selvey (via ESPNCricinfo)
27. Hugh Trumble (Australia) 1890-1904 Right Arm Off-Break
“…could take wickets in all conditions. On the wet pitches often found in those days, especially the sticky wickets in his native Australia he was virtually unplayable. A tall man, he bowled offspin at close to medium pace with considerable variation in flight and pace. He turned the ball enough to beat the bat on true pitches, but on a wet wicket could make the ball bite, turn and lift spitefully. He fooled many a good batsman with a well disguised slower ball often resulting in a caught and bowled” Dave Liverman ESPNCricinfo “Trumble took 141 wickets in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement…He is one of only four bowlers to twice take a hat-trick in Test cricket.”
28=. Harold Larwood (England) 1926-1933 Right Arm Fast
“the key figure in the never-to-be-allowed-to-be-forgotten `Bodyline' Test series of 1932-33, when…captain Douglas Jardine instructed him to bowl what they both insisted on calling ` leg theory' at the Australian batsmen….Larwood spearheaded England to a 4-1 series victory, taking 33 wickets at just under 20 apiece as batsmen ducked, weaved and skipped, the heavy concentration of vulture-like leg-side fielders ready for catches from hurried defensive jabs…Larwood's classical action, copied by countless schoolboys - including Ray Lindwall in Sydney - culminated in a side-on delivery, the ball's velocity touching the highest ever recorded…”
“…Don Bradman, the prime target was reduced to comparative mediocrity with an average of 56 - he had made 974 runs (at 139.14) in England in the previous Ashes series of 1930- with Larwood hurrying him into indiscretions and taking his wicket four times in eight Test innings (and twice in the only other match in which they were in opposition, the Australian XI match at Melbourne before the First Test)” Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, via ESPNCricinfo
28=. Ernie Toshack (Australia) 1946-1948 Left Arm Medium
“With his accuracy (mainly from over the wicket), pace-change, and movement either way, to a strong leg-side field, he was hard to get away, and achieved his successes in a style not unlike Derek Underwood's a generation later. A damaged knee was a constant hindrance, but he was passed fit for the 1948 tour of Britain, which was to guarantee him a kind of immortality as a member of Bradman's Invincibles.” ESPNCricinfo
28=. Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 1995-2008 Right Arm Fast Medium
“Perhaps the straightest bowler in world cricket, Pollock is able to move the ball both ways at a lively pace. He also possesses stamina and courage in abundance” ESPNCricinfo (Peter Robinson/Jamie Alter) He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2003.
28=. Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) 2015-2023* Right Arm Fast
“A strapping, genuine quick who regularly bowls in the 140-150kph range, Kagiso Rabada is the most exciting talent to emerge from South Africa in the post No.1 Test ranking era. Before he had turned 21, Rabada had already established himself as a potential leader of the attack.
…In early 2015, Rabada showed his ability in the longer format. He claimed the South African record for the best bowling figures in a first-class match, 14 for 105, surpassing the haul taken by Dale Steyn seven seasons before.
Rabada…was then included on a tour to India…On inhospitable pitches, he worked hard, often without reward but displayed the stamina required of a Test bowler. Rabada has had more assistance from the surfaces at home, where he played against England in the absence of Steyn and Philander. In the final Test, with South Africa having already lost the series, Rabada became the youngest South African to take 10 wickets in a match when he finished with 13 for 144.” Firdose Moonda, ESPNCricinfo
32. Pat Cummins (Australia) 2011-2023* Right Arm Fast
“Pat Cummins made his Test debut as an 18-year-old but had to wait six years for his next appearance as injuries struck a body that could not withstand the workload. The bowler who emerged in 2017 was a thoroughbred quick… He became the No. 1 ranked Test bowler in the world and claimed Australia's coveted Allan Border Medal as the 2018-19 men's cricketer of the year.” ESPNCricinfo
33. Shane Bond (New Zealand) 2001-2009 Right arm fast
“Fast, fearsome and frustratingly fragile, Shane Bond will be remembered as much for his misfortune with injuries as for his wonderful ability. Bond was New Zealand's best pace bowler in the post-Hadlee era, but missed more games than he played. At times it seemed less like injuries interrupting Bond's career as Bond's occasional cricket matches interrupting his downtime. The most serious was a back problem in 2003 that led to nearly two years out and an operation in which his spine was fused with titanium wire. There were also various issues with knees, feet and other body parts, but Bond's desire to play could never be questioned. Some of the trouble came from his unwillingness to reduce his intensity; had he been happy to drop his pace and take things easier, he might have played more cricket. That he didn't take that path said much about his competitive nature; the game always lifted a notch when he had the ball. His athletic action was geared towards inswing and his 150-plus kph efforts meant the ball would swing late. Toe-crushing yorkers were a specialty and he feasted on the world's best batsmen” Brydon Coverdale, ESPNCricinfo
34. Bert Ironmonger (Australia) 1928-1933 Left Arm Finger Spin
“he achieved some remarkable performances during his brief Test career, chief among them being that in 1931-32 when he earned a match analysis of 11 wickets for 24 runs on an awkward pitch at Melbourne…His achievements were the more remarkable because he had lost the forefinger of his left hand.” ESPNCricinfo
35. Anil Kumble (India) 1990-1999 Leg Spin (right arm) “No bowler won India more Test matches than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn't been a harder trier either. Like the great tall wristspinners Bill O'Reilly and his own idol Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Kumble traded the legspinner's proverbial yo-yo for a spear: the ball hacked through the air rather than hanging in it, and came off the pitch with a kick rather than a kink. The method provided him stunning success, particularly on Indian soil, where his deliveries burst like packets of water upon the feeblest hint of a crack.
Kumble's fortitude was proved in Antigua in 2002, when he bandaged his fractured jaw to deliver a stirring spell. His ability to learn and refine his craft was highlighted in the mid-2000s when, after a decade of middling away performances, he influenced memorable wins in Headingley, Adelaide, Multan and Kingston, using an improved googly, bigger sidespin, and more variation in flight and on the crease.
In a brilliant though often downplayed career, Kumble claimed virtually every Indian record. In 1999 in Delhi he swallowed all ten wickets in an innings against Pakistan” ESPNCricinfo
36. Ken Higgs (England) 1965-1968 Right Arm Medium/Fast Medium
“Not only did he take his wickets at lower cost than any of his new-ball rivals, but at a superior economy rate (2.15 runs per over) than even Brian Statham, whose accuracy was a byword in the game….Higgs wasn't fast, but he was one of those who, by bowling a fuller length than most seamers of his pace, hit the splice persistently and jarred the hands. The ratio between specialist batsmen and tailenders among his 71 England victims was astounding.” John Thicknesse, ESPNCricinfo
37. Manny Martindale (West Indies) 1933-1939 Right Arm Fast
“with a long run up; although not tall for a bowler of his type he bowled at a fast pace. With Learie Constantine, Martindale was one of the earliest in the long succession of Test-playing West Indian fast bowlers. During the time he played, the West Indies bowling attack depended largely on his success….
Chosen for the West indies tour of England in 1933 despite having played little cricket and being an unknown quantity, he was a great success. He took over 100 first-class wickets and took over half of the West Indies' wickets in the three Tests played.[2] He was the leading bowler when West Indies won their first Test series, against England in 1935–36” Wikipedia.
38. Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) 1997-2007 Right Arm Fast
“About the worst way to assess Shoaib Akhtar would be to do so through his numbers; they aren't unimpressive but rarely have they revealed so little.…First there was the extreme pace and there was also the attitude; Shoaib was the fastest bowler in the world, he knew it, he made sure others knew it. He was a natural successor to the legacy of Imran, Wasim and Waqar. But that he will end his career an 'if only' or a 'coulda been' is the great tragedy. He had it all and he blew it...What he had was remarkable. Early on, in 1999, there wasn't a more thrilling sight in the world than Shoaib hurtling in off an impossibly long run and beating the world's best batsmen for pace. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were clean bowled off successive deliveries at Eden Gardens….But…there have been as many lows. The list of misdemeanours is impossibly long…” Osman Samiuddin ESPNCricinfo
39. Ray Lindwall (Australia) 1946-1960 Right Arm Fast
“One of the all-time great fast bowlers, Ray Lindwall's powerful, rhythmic approach, unwavering control and late swing brought a hush to arenas all over the world. His coming marked the beginning of an era in which bat and ball were more evenly matched, after the batter-dominated period preceding the Second World War. For a decade he was uncontested as Australia's new-ball bowler, a master in all conditions, and he came to be appreciated as the complete fast bowler, armed with a clever slower ball and the ability to use his sharp, skiddy bouncers to good effect.” ESPNCricinfo
40. Jadeja
41=. Wes Hall (West Indies) 1958-1969 Right Arm Fast
“A long, lithe approach ended with a fast and well-aimed delivery…. Against India in 1961-62 he grabbed 27 wickets at 15.74 and in 1963…At Lord's, in another epic finish, he bowled unchanged for three-and-a-half hours and took 4 for 93 (as well as breaking Colin Cowdrey's arm). In 1964-65 his 16 wickets were instrumental in guiding West Indies to their first series win over Australia” Martin Williamson (via ESPN Cricinfo).
41=. JH Wardle
43. Colin Croft (West Indies) 1977-1982 Right Arm Fast
“The prancing run was straight but the batsman saw only his head bobbing behind the umpire until he veered out wide of the crease just prior to delivery, leaning back and slanting the ball awkwardly in to the right-hander. Often…it would hold up off the seam and move away. Occasionally his volatility and enthusiasm for the bouncer got him into trouble…He was a fine bowler though and in 27 matches he managed 125 wickets - a remarkable haul in a side laden with high-class pace where the spoils tended to be spread. Best of all came in his second match where at Port-of-Spain he laid waste the Pakistan batting with 8 for 29, still the best figures by a West Indian fast bowler.” Mike Selvey via ESPNCricinfo
44. Philander
45. Colin Blythe (England) 1901-1910 Left Arm Spin
“A great slow left-armer, possessing a classical delivery and looping flight. His action was elegant and smooth, a few strides leading into a perfect upright sideways-on delivery. He pitched the ball up to encourage the drive into a strong off-side field, and with sufficient spin to trap any batsman unwise enough to try and hit against it. He varied his pace well, and was deceptive through the air” Dave Liverman ESPNCricinfo
46. Keith Miller
47. Bert/Ernest Vogler (SA) 1906-1911 Right Arm Spin
“Delivering the off-break with a leg-break action, while depending chiefly upon the leg-break, he became exceptionally difficult and deceptive by the skill with which he used the reverse break and his variations of pace. Scarcely any batsman claimed that he could detect differences in Vogler's delivery of either the googly or the leg-break. Vogler also mixed the off-break with a ball which came straight through at greater pace, and occasionally sent down a most deceptive slow yorker. A bowler of infinite resource, he
could keep going for a long time without losing length”. Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, via ESPNCricinfo.
48. Mohammad Abbas
Amongst other things, the papers took account of the typical batting and bowling figures during each player's career, and also the players' home and away form, and form in different parts of the world.
I can't include the whole paper obviously, but here were my final rankings on the bowlers, together with the headline biography profiles that I did for each of them.
1. Sir Richard Hadlee (1973-1990) New Zealand Right Arm Fast
“Hadlee was a tearaway, placing speed far ahead of guile…. As his knowhow grew, however, so his run-up (and locks) shortened, and all the attributes of the model fast bowler fell into place. His lithe, whippy, side-on action made life uncomfortable for all the great batsmen of his era, as he extracted pace, bounce and movement from even the least responsive of surfaces” “Few players in the history of cricket have carried the fortunes of their team to quite the same extent as Richard Hadlee. By the time he retired from international cricket in 1990, at the age of 39 and with a knighthood newly conferred upon him for his services to the game, Hadlee had …lifted New Zealand to unprecedented feats in the Test arena. As the first player to reach 400 Test wickets….he was also a hard-hitting batsman of unquestioned skill” ESPNCricinfo (by Andrew Miller).
2. MD Malcolm Marshall (West Indies) 1978-1991 Right Arm Fast
“Allied to a massive cricket intelligence, stamina and courage, Marshall had all the toys and he knew how and when to play with them. His strike rate of 46.22 was phenomenal, his average of 20.95 equally so. He may well have been the finest fast bowler of them all.”
“Malcolm Marshall slithered to the crease on the angle, pitter-pat feet twinkling as if in dancing shoes. It was reminiscent of a sidewinder on the attack. Purists occasionally criticised his action as too open, but it had method: he maintained mastery of orthodox outswing and inswing from a neutral position without telegraphing his intent. He was lithe, with a wickedly fast arm that elevated him to express status. Only in inches was he lacking - but he even turned that to his advantage with a bouncer as malicious as they come, skidding on to the batsman. Later in his career, he developed a devastating legcutter which he used on dusty pitches.” Mike Selvey, via ESPNCricinfo
3. M Muralidaran (SL) 1992-2010 Right Arm Offbreak
“For the believers, he's among the greatest to ever spin a ball. For the doubters, he's…responsible for changes in the laws that they think have legitimised throwing. What was undeniable was his ability to turn the ball sharply on just about any surface, and bowl the sort of marathon spells that would have seen a lesser man retire after five seasons rather than 18. Whether Sri Lanka played at home, on pitches where he was often unplayable, or overseas, Murali was the go-to man for half a dozen captains. He seldom disappointed….The controversies always kept him company, yet Murali seldom lost his wide-eyed smile, or the ability to run through batting sides. Darrell Hair called him for throwing on Boxing Day in 1995, and Ross Emerson followed suit three years later. In 2004, he was asked to refrain from bowling his doosra, after it was found to exceed the 15-degree tolerance limit that had been agreed on after extensive analysis of his and other actions. While the sceptics continued to denigrate his achievements… he played his part in some of the country's greatest sporting moments. It was his 16 wickets that helped rout England at The Oval in 1998, back in the days when Sri Lanka were deemed worthy of only one Test. He…finished a remarkable Test career with more than 100 wickets against India, England and South Africa”. Dileep Premachandran ESPNCricinfo
4. Joel Garner (West Indies) 1977-1987 Right Arm Fast
“Batsmen would say that the overriding feeling when first confronted by the Big Bird was that he would trample on them such was the foreshortening effect of his 6ft 8 inches. Delivered from the clouds it seemed, and at a lively pace that when the mood took could be cranked up to the brisk side of rapid, the ball would rear alarmingly from barely short of a length. Allied to that was the most devastating toe crunching yorker” Mike Selvey, via ESPNCricinfo
5. Curtly Ambrose (West Indies) 1988-2000 Right Arm Fast
“Fee fi fo fum. A giant of the game in every sense, Curtly Ambrose was the most lethal pace bowler of his generation…two spells stand out: the 6 for 24 that hustled England out for 46 in Trinidad in 1993-94, and his series-clinching burst of 7 for 1 against Australia at the WACA the previous season. Perth's springboard of a pitch was ideal for a man who stood 6ft 7ins and released the ball from almost 10ft high, but there was more to Ambrose's game than bounce. When his extreme pace deserted him, he fell back on subtle seam movement and an immaculately grooved action. English batsmen saw a great deal of Ambrose's hand-jiving wicket celebration, which set his white wristbands flashing like doves taking to the sky.” Simon Briggs, via ESPNCricinfo
6. GD McGrath (Australia) 1993-2007 Right Arm Fast Medium
“He went on to beat Courtney Walsh's 519 wickets to become the leading wicket-taker among fast bowlers, and his claim to the title of Australia's greatest fast man is contested only by Dennis Lillee…McGrath's USP was an unremitting off-stump line and an immaculate length. He gained off-cut and bounce, specialised in the opposition's biggest wickets - especially Atherton's and Brian Lara's - and he was unafraid to back himself publicly in these key duels”. ESPNCricinfo
7. Bill O'Reilly (Australia) 1932-1946 Leg Spin (right arm)
“He delivered the ball from a two-fingered grip at close to medium pace with great accuracy, and could produce leg breaks, googlies, and top spinners, with no discernible change in his action” Wisden 1935 via Wikipedia
“He was 6ft 2in tall, gripped the ball in his enormous right hand and released it at a pace that could be almost fast-medium. It would then bounce ferociously on the hard pitches of his time and, on occasion, knock wicket-keepers off their feet. He bowled leg-breaks and, especially, top-spinners and googlies, backed up by an intimidating manner. Jack Fingleton said he was a flurry of limbs, fire and steel-edged temper.” ESPNCricinfo
8. SK Shane Warne (Australia) 1992-2007 Leg Spin (right arm)
“At first there were nerves and chubbiness. Then came wild soaring legbreaks, followed by fame and flippers…. He took a Test hat-trick, won the Man-of-the-Match prize in a World Cup final and was the subject of seven books. He was the first cricketer to reach 700 Test wickets. …At the end he was helped by his stockpile of straight balls: a zooter, slider, toppie and back-spinner, one that drifted in, one that sloped out, and another that didn't budge. Yet he seldom got his wrong'un right and rarely landed his flipper. More than ever he relied on his two oldest friends: excruciating accuracy and an exquisite legbreak, except that he controlled the degree of spin - and mixed it - at will. Like the great classical painters, he stumbled upon the art of simplicity. His bowling was never simpler, nor more effective, nor lovelier to look at” Chrstian Ryan and ESPNCricinfo staff
9. Allan Donald (South Africa) 1992-2002 Right Arm Fast
“If the credit for South Africa's success in the modern era could be given to one player, that cricketer would be Allan Donald. A classical action and top-drawer pace would have won him a place in any side in his prime, and for much of his career he was the only world-class performer in the South African team, spearing the ball in, shaping it away, and always making things happen” ESPNCricinfo
10. Clarrie Grimmett (Australia) 1925-1936 Leg Spin (right arm)
“After the standard legbreak, topspinner and googly there came the flipper - which took several years to perfect, and which, when batsmen tried to discern by the snap of his fingers, he smokescreened by snapping the fingers of his left hand as he released a legbreak!” Wisden Cricket Monthly, via ESPNCricinfo.
“Grimmett never insisted on spin as his chief means of destruction. To him it was no more than an important adjunct to unerring length and tantalising direction. Grimmett seldom beat a batsman by spin alone…(but) I cannot remember Grimmett bowling a long-hop” Bill O’Reilly, Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, via ESPNCricinfo
11. SF Sydney Barnes (England) 1901-1914 Right Arm Medium/Finger Spin
“Most cricketers and students of the game belonging to the period in which S.F. Barnes played were agreed that he was the bowler of the century. Australians as well as English voted him unanimously the greatest. Clem Hill…told me that on a perfect wicket Barnes could swing the new ball in and out "very late", could spin from the ground, pitch on the leg stump and miss the off. At Melbourne, in December 1911, Barnes in five overs overwhelmed Kelleway, Bardsley, Hill and Armstrong for a single. Hill (left hand bat) was clean bowled by him. "The ball pitched outside my leg-stump, safe to the push off my pads, I thought. Before I could `pick up' my bat, my off-stump was knocked silly.” Barnes was creative, one of the first bowlers really to use the seam of a new ball and combine swing so subtly with spin that few batsmen could distinguish one from the other…in 1928 when he was in his mid-fifties, the West Indies team of that year faced him in a club match and unanimously agreed he was the best they had encountered in the season.” Sir Neville Cardus, Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, via ESPNCricinfo.
11. Frank FS Trueman (England) 1952-1965 Right Arm Fast
“Trueman was fast and frightening: in his first Test series, in 1952, he helped reduce India to 0 for 4 on his debut, and took 8 for 31 - the best Test bowling figures by a genuinely fast bowler at the time - in the third match. In the second half of the '50s he formed an incisive new-ball pairing with Brian Statham, the legendarily accurate loose-limbed Lancastrian, who raced him neck-and-neck to the 250-wicket mark. By then "Fiery Fred" had great control of swing” Steven Lynch, ESPCricinfo
13. Dale Steyn (South Africa) 2006-2018 Right arm fast
“Scary eyes, throbbing veins and a chainsaw celebration have all made Dale Steyn South Africa's most feared fast bowler. Extreme pace, the ability to swing the ball both ways, and accuracy have perhaps made him the country's best ever. At the peak of his powers, Steyn possessed a lithe and wiry body, a steaming run-up that culminated in a aerodynamic action, and a ripper of an outswinger…. The flow of wickets became a gush, and in 2008, he became the fastest South African at the time, and the 15th fastest overall, to reach 100 Test wickets…. He was part of the South African side that beat England and Australia for the first time away from home since readmission, and then proved he could do it on the subcontinent. In 2010, Steyn summoned reverse-swing reminiscent of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and took 7 for 51 as South Africa beat India in Nagpur. He went on to win the Test championship with the team in England in 2012 and took his 300th Test wicket the following year, against New Zealand. He was only the fourth South African to rack up that many scalps. After he turned 30, Steyn's injury-free run ended.” Firdose Moonda, ESPNCricinfo
14. George A Lohmann (England) 1886-1896 Right Arm Fast Medium
"Rated by contemporaries as the most difficult opponent, he bowled at little more than medium pace but was able to make the ball seam both ways, and his constant experimentation led to variations in angle, flight and pace. Add into the equation his metronomic accuracy, and he was often unplayable. " Martin Williamson ESPNCricinfo
“he holds the lowest lifetime Test bowling average among bowlers with more than fifteen wickets and…the second highest peak rating for a bowler in the ICC ratings. He also holds the record for the lowest strike rate…in all Test history” Wikipedia.
15. Alan Davidson (1953-1963) Australia Left Arm Fast
“Alan Davidson suddenly translated potential into performance when Australia toured South Africa in 1957-58. A left-arm paceman with a model approach and an economical action…For the next five years, he would be the most menacing new-ball bowler of his day, not to mention a dangerous striker in the lower-middle order, and a versatile fielder at home in all positions”.
“A martyr to injuries real and imagined, some of his best performances were reserved for moments when he seemed down and out” from ESPNCricinfo
16=. Jack Cowie (New Zealand) 1937-1949 Right Arm Fast Medium
Following the 1937 our of England, Wisden commented: "He he been an Australian, he might have been termed a wonder of the age".
Wisden 1938 via Wikipedia.
16=. Courtney Walsh (West Indies) 1984-2001 Right Arm Fast
“A physiological phenomenon, Courtney Walsh probably bowled faster for longer than any man in history. His spirit was as unbreakable as his body, urging him on to the previously undreamed-of heights of 519 Test wickets…For the first half of his career, Walsh was the willing workhorse cantering into the wind while Curtly Ambrose or Malcolm Marshall galloped down the hill. But he grew stronger and wilier with age, graduating to the new ball around 1993, and forming one of the great opening partnerships with Ambrose….Walsh's action was neither elegant nor orthodox, but it was hugely economical, catapulting the ball down from 10 foot high with a simple snap of the hips”. Simon Briggs, via ESPNCricinfo
18. Neil Adcock (South Africa) 1953-1962 Right Arm Fast
“A tall aggressive fast bowler, he could lift the ball sharply off a length. He was the first South African fast bowler to take 100 Test wickets… Adcock was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1961. The previous year in South Africa's tour of England he took 26 wickets in the Tests and 108 wickets in total at an average of 14. In doing so he became the only fast bowler to take more than 100 wickets in a tour of England.” Wikipedia
19. Imran Khan (1971-1992) Pakistan Right Arm Fast
“Few would dispute that Imran was the finest cricketer Pakistan has produced, or the biggest heartthrob. Suave, erudite and monstrously talented”. “Thousands, if not millions, who had never dreamt of bowling fast on heartless baked mud suddenly wanted to emulate Imran and his lithe bounding run, his leap and his reverse-swinging yorker”. ESPNCricinfo (by Martin Williamson)
20. Frank Tyson (England) 1954-1959 Right Arm Fast
“Richie Benaud rated him the quickest he's ever seen…This was no brainless quickie, however - Tyson was a Durham University graduate, and had a penchant for quoting Shakespeare or Wordsworth to batsmen. Most famously, Tyson blew away Australia as England retained the Ashes in 1954-55. After starting off with 1 for 160 in defeat at Brisbane, he shortened his run and took 10 wickets at Sydney and nine more at Melbourne, when he took 7 for 27 in the second innings and frightened the life out of the Aussies. There can have been few faster spells in history than Tyson's in that innings…Injury plagued his career, though, and although he was tall and strong, he reached for the crease with his final stride and his action wasn't fluid, and he was finished by the time he was 30.” Martin Williamson.
21. Ravichandran Ashwin (India) 2011-2023*
“He is the fastest Indian bowler (also in some records the joint-fastest in the world) to reach the 50-, 100-, 150-, 200-, 250-, 300-, 350-,400- and 450- wicket mark in Test cricket in terms of number of innings. In 2016, he became the third Indian to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year award. He is currently the highest-ranked bowler in Test cricket, and the highest-ranked bowler ever for India on the ICC Player Rankings. He has won ten Man of the Series awards in Test cricket, which is the highest by an Indian cricketer.” Wikipedia
“R Ashwin took the tricks and skills he learned playing tennis-ball cricket on the streets of Chennai, particularly the soduku ball, a finger-flicked legbreak, to Test cricket, where he became perhaps the leading offspinner of the first quarter of the 21st century. All through his career Ashwin has been a cricket nerd with a deep appreciation of the nuances of the game and an acute knowledge of his craft” ESPNCricinfo
22. Peter Pollock (South Africa) 1961-1970 Right Arm Fast
“He was South Africa's leading bowler in the 1960s, playing every Test between 1962 and 1970.” ESPNCricinfo
23. Wasim Akram (Pakistan) 1985-2002 Left Arm Fast
“the only Pakistani cricketer to be named in an all-time Test World XI to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden….perhaps the finest exponent of, reverse swing bowling.” Wikipedia
“has complete mastery over swing and seam, and sometimes moves the ball both ways in one delivery… at high speed from a quick, ball-concealing action…backed up by the threat of a dangerous bouncer or deceptive slower delivery. Akram is rated by many as the best left-arm fast bowler of all time” ESPNCricinfo (Kamran Abbasi)
24. DK Derek Lillee (Australia) 1971-1984 Right Arm Fast
“Dennis Lillee, considered by many to have been "the complete fast bowler", was the heart of Australia's attack for more than a decade. Through a combination of ability, showmanship, a copybook action, and sheer hard work he won the loyal following of the nation's crowds, who often roared his name as he ran in to bowl. Lillee repaid their faith with interest - he was the type of character whom captains could rely on to bowl "one more over" at the end of a long spell, and the sort who often made breakthroughs when success seemed unlikely….
When Lillee came on to the international scene, he bowled with frightening pace. In December 1971 he decimated a powerful World XI side in Perth, taking 8 for 29 in the first innings, and he claimed 31 Test wickets at 17.67 during the 1972 Ashes tour…and inflicted great damage on England: rattling the tourists' batters in the 1974-75 series in Australia; and then setting up…an away series win a few months later in the first Test at Edgbaston….His best Test figures were achieved in a remarkable match against West Indies in 1981. To the delight of the MCG crowd, Lillee sent opener Desmond Haynes and nightwatcher Colin Croft back to the pavilion late on day one, and then bowled Vivian Richards to leave the tourists stunned at 10 for 4 at stumps…. Lillee…ended up with 7 for 83 in the first innings and ten wickets for the match, and Australia recorded a famous upset win.
…Lillee broke Lance Gibbs' world record of 309 Test wickets and finished with 355 dismissals from just 70 matches to underline his status as one of the all-time greats…(and)…was named in Australia's Test team of the 20th century and the national Hall of Fame, now has an international reputation as a fast-bowling coach”. ESPNCricinfo
25. Waqar Younis (Pakistan) 1989-2003 Right Arm Fast
“The man who really put the reverse into swing. Waqar Younis bucked the 1980s trend of pitching fast and short by pitching fast and full. Not an obvious recipe for success until you factor in prodigious late inswing, which was designed to smash into the base of leg stump or the batsman's toes. In his youth, he was one of the fastest ever. Waqar's surging run was a glorious sight - and an incredible strain on his body. His method of aiming for the stumps rather than the batsman earned him the best strike rate of any bowler with over 200 Test wickets, till Dale Steyn came along. It could have been better: back injuries cut short his prime, but determination has always resurrected him” ESPNCricinfo (Kamran Abbasi)
26. Michael Holding (West Indies) 1975-1987 Right Arm Fast
“It began intimidatingly far away. He turned, and began the most elegant long-striding run of them all, feet kissing the turf silently, his head turning gently and ever so slightly from side to side, rhythmically, like that of a cobra hypnotising its prey. Good batsmen tended not to watch him all the way lest they became mesmerised. To the umpires he was malevolent stealth personified so they christened him Whispering Death. No-one in the game has bowled faster. His over to Geoff Boycott in the cauldron of Kensington Oval early in 1981 has gone down in history as the finest, fastest, most ferocious gambit of all time. Five years earlier, towards the end of the drought-ridden summer of 1976, The Oval had become a wasteland, parched beyond recognition, with slow flat heart-breaking pitches, and it was on this, in the final Test of the season, through the simple device of bowling ramrod-straight at high pace and to a full length, that he conjured 14 wickets for 149, the finest match figures ever by a West Indian.” Mike Selvey (via ESPNCricinfo)
27. Hugh Trumble (Australia) 1890-1904 Right Arm Off-Break
“…could take wickets in all conditions. On the wet pitches often found in those days, especially the sticky wickets in his native Australia he was virtually unplayable. A tall man, he bowled offspin at close to medium pace with considerable variation in flight and pace. He turned the ball enough to beat the bat on true pitches, but on a wet wicket could make the ball bite, turn and lift spitefully. He fooled many a good batsman with a well disguised slower ball often resulting in a caught and bowled” Dave Liverman ESPNCricinfo “Trumble took 141 wickets in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement…He is one of only four bowlers to twice take a hat-trick in Test cricket.”
28=. Harold Larwood (England) 1926-1933 Right Arm Fast
“the key figure in the never-to-be-allowed-to-be-forgotten `Bodyline' Test series of 1932-33, when…captain Douglas Jardine instructed him to bowl what they both insisted on calling ` leg theory' at the Australian batsmen….Larwood spearheaded England to a 4-1 series victory, taking 33 wickets at just under 20 apiece as batsmen ducked, weaved and skipped, the heavy concentration of vulture-like leg-side fielders ready for catches from hurried defensive jabs…Larwood's classical action, copied by countless schoolboys - including Ray Lindwall in Sydney - culminated in a side-on delivery, the ball's velocity touching the highest ever recorded…”
“…Don Bradman, the prime target was reduced to comparative mediocrity with an average of 56 - he had made 974 runs (at 139.14) in England in the previous Ashes series of 1930- with Larwood hurrying him into indiscretions and taking his wicket four times in eight Test innings (and twice in the only other match in which they were in opposition, the Australian XI match at Melbourne before the First Test)” Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, via ESPNCricinfo
28=. Ernie Toshack (Australia) 1946-1948 Left Arm Medium
“With his accuracy (mainly from over the wicket), pace-change, and movement either way, to a strong leg-side field, he was hard to get away, and achieved his successes in a style not unlike Derek Underwood's a generation later. A damaged knee was a constant hindrance, but he was passed fit for the 1948 tour of Britain, which was to guarantee him a kind of immortality as a member of Bradman's Invincibles.” ESPNCricinfo
28=. Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 1995-2008 Right Arm Fast Medium
“Perhaps the straightest bowler in world cricket, Pollock is able to move the ball both ways at a lively pace. He also possesses stamina and courage in abundance” ESPNCricinfo (Peter Robinson/Jamie Alter) He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2003.
28=. Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) 2015-2023* Right Arm Fast
“A strapping, genuine quick who regularly bowls in the 140-150kph range, Kagiso Rabada is the most exciting talent to emerge from South Africa in the post No.1 Test ranking era. Before he had turned 21, Rabada had already established himself as a potential leader of the attack.
…In early 2015, Rabada showed his ability in the longer format. He claimed the South African record for the best bowling figures in a first-class match, 14 for 105, surpassing the haul taken by Dale Steyn seven seasons before.
Rabada…was then included on a tour to India…On inhospitable pitches, he worked hard, often without reward but displayed the stamina required of a Test bowler. Rabada has had more assistance from the surfaces at home, where he played against England in the absence of Steyn and Philander. In the final Test, with South Africa having already lost the series, Rabada became the youngest South African to take 10 wickets in a match when he finished with 13 for 144.” Firdose Moonda, ESPNCricinfo
32. Pat Cummins (Australia) 2011-2023* Right Arm Fast
“Pat Cummins made his Test debut as an 18-year-old but had to wait six years for his next appearance as injuries struck a body that could not withstand the workload. The bowler who emerged in 2017 was a thoroughbred quick… He became the No. 1 ranked Test bowler in the world and claimed Australia's coveted Allan Border Medal as the 2018-19 men's cricketer of the year.” ESPNCricinfo
33. Shane Bond (New Zealand) 2001-2009 Right arm fast
“Fast, fearsome and frustratingly fragile, Shane Bond will be remembered as much for his misfortune with injuries as for his wonderful ability. Bond was New Zealand's best pace bowler in the post-Hadlee era, but missed more games than he played. At times it seemed less like injuries interrupting Bond's career as Bond's occasional cricket matches interrupting his downtime. The most serious was a back problem in 2003 that led to nearly two years out and an operation in which his spine was fused with titanium wire. There were also various issues with knees, feet and other body parts, but Bond's desire to play could never be questioned. Some of the trouble came from his unwillingness to reduce his intensity; had he been happy to drop his pace and take things easier, he might have played more cricket. That he didn't take that path said much about his competitive nature; the game always lifted a notch when he had the ball. His athletic action was geared towards inswing and his 150-plus kph efforts meant the ball would swing late. Toe-crushing yorkers were a specialty and he feasted on the world's best batsmen” Brydon Coverdale, ESPNCricinfo
34. Bert Ironmonger (Australia) 1928-1933 Left Arm Finger Spin
“he achieved some remarkable performances during his brief Test career, chief among them being that in 1931-32 when he earned a match analysis of 11 wickets for 24 runs on an awkward pitch at Melbourne…His achievements were the more remarkable because he had lost the forefinger of his left hand.” ESPNCricinfo
35. Anil Kumble (India) 1990-1999 Leg Spin (right arm) “No bowler won India more Test matches than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn't been a harder trier either. Like the great tall wristspinners Bill O'Reilly and his own idol Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Kumble traded the legspinner's proverbial yo-yo for a spear: the ball hacked through the air rather than hanging in it, and came off the pitch with a kick rather than a kink. The method provided him stunning success, particularly on Indian soil, where his deliveries burst like packets of water upon the feeblest hint of a crack.
Kumble's fortitude was proved in Antigua in 2002, when he bandaged his fractured jaw to deliver a stirring spell. His ability to learn and refine his craft was highlighted in the mid-2000s when, after a decade of middling away performances, he influenced memorable wins in Headingley, Adelaide, Multan and Kingston, using an improved googly, bigger sidespin, and more variation in flight and on the crease.
In a brilliant though often downplayed career, Kumble claimed virtually every Indian record. In 1999 in Delhi he swallowed all ten wickets in an innings against Pakistan” ESPNCricinfo
36. Ken Higgs (England) 1965-1968 Right Arm Medium/Fast Medium
“Not only did he take his wickets at lower cost than any of his new-ball rivals, but at a superior economy rate (2.15 runs per over) than even Brian Statham, whose accuracy was a byword in the game….Higgs wasn't fast, but he was one of those who, by bowling a fuller length than most seamers of his pace, hit the splice persistently and jarred the hands. The ratio between specialist batsmen and tailenders among his 71 England victims was astounding.” John Thicknesse, ESPNCricinfo
37. Manny Martindale (West Indies) 1933-1939 Right Arm Fast
“with a long run up; although not tall for a bowler of his type he bowled at a fast pace. With Learie Constantine, Martindale was one of the earliest in the long succession of Test-playing West Indian fast bowlers. During the time he played, the West Indies bowling attack depended largely on his success….
Chosen for the West indies tour of England in 1933 despite having played little cricket and being an unknown quantity, he was a great success. He took over 100 first-class wickets and took over half of the West Indies' wickets in the three Tests played.[2] He was the leading bowler when West Indies won their first Test series, against England in 1935–36” Wikipedia.
38. Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) 1997-2007 Right Arm Fast
“About the worst way to assess Shoaib Akhtar would be to do so through his numbers; they aren't unimpressive but rarely have they revealed so little.…First there was the extreme pace and there was also the attitude; Shoaib was the fastest bowler in the world, he knew it, he made sure others knew it. He was a natural successor to the legacy of Imran, Wasim and Waqar. But that he will end his career an 'if only' or a 'coulda been' is the great tragedy. He had it all and he blew it...What he had was remarkable. Early on, in 1999, there wasn't a more thrilling sight in the world than Shoaib hurtling in off an impossibly long run and beating the world's best batsmen for pace. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were clean bowled off successive deliveries at Eden Gardens….But…there have been as many lows. The list of misdemeanours is impossibly long…” Osman Samiuddin ESPNCricinfo
39. Ray Lindwall (Australia) 1946-1960 Right Arm Fast
“One of the all-time great fast bowlers, Ray Lindwall's powerful, rhythmic approach, unwavering control and late swing brought a hush to arenas all over the world. His coming marked the beginning of an era in which bat and ball were more evenly matched, after the batter-dominated period preceding the Second World War. For a decade he was uncontested as Australia's new-ball bowler, a master in all conditions, and he came to be appreciated as the complete fast bowler, armed with a clever slower ball and the ability to use his sharp, skiddy bouncers to good effect.” ESPNCricinfo
40. Jadeja
41=. Wes Hall (West Indies) 1958-1969 Right Arm Fast
“A long, lithe approach ended with a fast and well-aimed delivery…. Against India in 1961-62 he grabbed 27 wickets at 15.74 and in 1963…At Lord's, in another epic finish, he bowled unchanged for three-and-a-half hours and took 4 for 93 (as well as breaking Colin Cowdrey's arm). In 1964-65 his 16 wickets were instrumental in guiding West Indies to their first series win over Australia” Martin Williamson (via ESPN Cricinfo).
41=. JH Wardle
43. Colin Croft (West Indies) 1977-1982 Right Arm Fast
“The prancing run was straight but the batsman saw only his head bobbing behind the umpire until he veered out wide of the crease just prior to delivery, leaning back and slanting the ball awkwardly in to the right-hander. Often…it would hold up off the seam and move away. Occasionally his volatility and enthusiasm for the bouncer got him into trouble…He was a fine bowler though and in 27 matches he managed 125 wickets - a remarkable haul in a side laden with high-class pace where the spoils tended to be spread. Best of all came in his second match where at Port-of-Spain he laid waste the Pakistan batting with 8 for 29, still the best figures by a West Indian fast bowler.” Mike Selvey via ESPNCricinfo
44. Philander
45. Colin Blythe (England) 1901-1910 Left Arm Spin
“A great slow left-armer, possessing a classical delivery and looping flight. His action was elegant and smooth, a few strides leading into a perfect upright sideways-on delivery. He pitched the ball up to encourage the drive into a strong off-side field, and with sufficient spin to trap any batsman unwise enough to try and hit against it. He varied his pace well, and was deceptive through the air” Dave Liverman ESPNCricinfo
46. Keith Miller
47. Bert/Ernest Vogler (SA) 1906-1911 Right Arm Spin
“Delivering the off-break with a leg-break action, while depending chiefly upon the leg-break, he became exceptionally difficult and deceptive by the skill with which he used the reverse break and his variations of pace. Scarcely any batsman claimed that he could detect differences in Vogler's delivery of either the googly or the leg-break. Vogler also mixed the off-break with a ball which came straight through at greater pace, and occasionally sent down a most deceptive slow yorker. A bowler of infinite resource, he
could keep going for a long time without losing length”. Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, via ESPNCricinfo.
48. Mohammad Abbas
