DoG's Top 100 Test Bowlers Countdown Thread 100-1

[stephen]

The thing is I think that it's gotten a bit better for bowlers on the whole in the last few years, with the caveat that it's not actually true. It's merely the quality of batsmen that have declined. And perhaps the rebalancing of world cricket from being Aus/England/WI centric to being Aus/ England/ India centric has seen more extreme conditions that favour different types of bowlers, particularly since the decline of the dominant teams that serve seen since 2008.

England/NZ are the only places where sawing bowling succeeds. SA offers a lot for the seamers. Aus only rewards those with pace. India rewards finger spin.

 

[Days of Grace]

The thing is I think that it's gotten a bit better for bowlers on the whole in the last few years, with the caveat that it's not actually true. It's merely the quality of batsmen that have declined. And perhaps the rebalancing of world cricket from being Aus/England/WI centric to being Aus/ England/ India centric has seen more extreme conditions that favour different types of bowlers, particularly since the decline of the dominant teams that serve seen since 2008.

England/NZ are the only places where sawing bowling succeeds. SA offers a lot for the seamers. Aus only rewards those with pace. India rewards finger spin.

The current era has a runs per wicket average of 33.67, which I round up to 34. If it drops down to 33.49, then it will be rounded down to 33. This will result in 21st century bowlers losing about 10-15 points from their ratings.

 

[stephen]

The current era has a runs per wicket average of 33.67, which I round up to 34. If it drops down to 33.49, then it will be rounded down to 33. This will result in 21st century bowlers losing about 10-15 points from their ratings.

Which years are counted in the era?

 

[Days of Grace]

From 2000 onwards.

 

[Jarquis]

Why round?

 

[Days of Grace]

Why round?

Because everytime it changes, I would have to re-input the data for every bowler that it affects. A process that would take weeks. By rounding it, I would only need to make a change every few years or so.

 

[Flametree]

Since Ajmal got brought up... based on the profile pictures I think we can safely say that Lance Gibbs didn't chuck... and Hugh Trumble might have...

 

[Bolo]

Headley and Pollock are a good case-in-point in the batting list. Both scored around 2000 runs. I won't reveal where they ended up but Headley got 46 career points vs. Pollock's 29. That seems about right to me. If I gave equal weight to runs vs. career length then it would be 71 vs. 31. Which would be giving too much to Headley, I feel.

The points distribution definite works better here.

When comparing the effects to Clark/Adcock it shows the problem with static ratios though. This makes a 3 year career (or equivalent matches) closer to a 12 year career than a 12 year career is to a 22 year one if I'm understanding right.

 

[Bolo]

Starc looks really slingly in his (old) profile pick. I always thought of him as a slingy bowler, but whenever I've actually watched his action properly recently he looks classical. Did he change his action at some point?

 

[Starfighter]

Starc looks really slingly in his (old) profile pick. I always thought of him as a slingy bowler, but whenever I've actually watched his action properly recently he looks classical. Did he change his action at some point?

He's always been slightly slingy, though never to the extent of, say, Johnson, let alone a lot of pre-WWII bowlers. I feel like he changed the timing a little and got his weight going more forward at some point around 2014 when he went from being sharpish to really fast. All fast bowlers will extend their arm behind the line of the back at some point, if this happens very early it will look slingy. The only notable bowler I can think of at the moment with a classical (side-on) action is Stanlake, most have open to mid-way actions these days, which are predominantly a modern thing.

 

[stephen]

I was always taught as a youngster that mid way actions were a good way to get injured because of the spinal twisting.

 

[Starfighter]

I was always taught as a youngster that mid way actions were a good way to get injured because of the spinal twisting.

There's a difference between 'mid-way' and mixed. Mixed is the one with the twisting. Most people think of closing the shoulders much more than the hips in the gather, but the sort that you'll see on a lot on injury prone bowlers is actually the other direction, with the hips more closed than the shoulders upon back foot contact. Almost all truly fast bowlers separate their hips and shoulders which open up earlier than the shoulders, when this happens with a hips-closed, shoulders-open bowler the shoulders will rotate a significant distance backwards with respect to the hips, this is the counter-rotation that causes the injuries. Ian Bishop is a very clear example of this.

Mid-way simply means that the hip and shoulder angle at back foot contact, provided they are close, is somewhere around 45° with respect to the crease, rather than closer to parallel or perpendicular (chest-on and side-on respectively).

 

[Days of Grace]

No.60

Angus Fraser (England) 721

Quality Points: 663
Career Points: 58

Career: 1989-1998
Wickets: 177
Gold Performances: 3
8/75 vs. West Indies at Bridgetown 1994 (18.58)
8/53 vs. West Indies at Port of Spain 1998 (16.35)
5/42 vs. South Africa at Leeds 1998 (15.09)
Silver Performances: 7
Bronze Performances: 5

Overall Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 25.52 (27.32) 58.22 (61.45) 4.70
50 Innings Peak Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings (1994-1998): 25.20 57.00 4.83
Non-Home Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 23.82 54.37 4.58
Quality Opposition Average/Strike-Rate/Points Per Innings: 24.42 56.14 4.92

 

[harsh.ag]

Excellent adjusted stats for Fraser

 

[stephen]

Along with Gough, Fraser was one of the best English players through the 90s. He was always decent, even when his team were not.

 

[morgieb]

Excellent adjusted stats for Fraser

Yeah surprised it adjusted that much given the era he bowled in. Did he exclusively play tough teams or something?

 

[Slifer]

Besides Australia, Wi of his time weren't close to being as dire as they are now. That must help out seeing that eng played wi quite a bit in his time.

 

[mr_mister]

A great and chronically underrated bowler. Still surprised to see him this high though

 

[Days of Grace]

Yeah surprised it adjusted that much given the era he bowled in. Did he exclusively play tough teams or something?

Yes. 38 of his 46 matches were played against quality opposition.

 

[Starfighter]

Averaging 23.7 against the West Indies with two 8-fors will do it.