Most intelligent bowlers atm and in history

[GIMH]

Praveen Kumar

Sad to see a thread jump the shark so soon

 

[Migara]

Absolutely no doubt who leads this list in history

Shane Warne then daylight to the next best.

Nah, Kumble was as good as Warne if not better. Early Kumble set up batsmen over couple of dozen of balls for his "rocket ball". Later in his career he set them up for the big leg break and the googly.

 

[Contra]

Yeah surprised no one mentioned Kumble by now. He was absolute quality. Him and Zaheer probably the two smartest bowlers coming from India I'd say.

 

[cnerd123]

RE: Wasim

I think he definitely set batsmen up; it was just more of a subconscious thing than a thought out plan. He'd just get a sense of where he should bowl the next ball. A gut feeling. And then he'd follow through and it would work.

He's a smart cricketer, and during analysis he has the time to translate his instincts into words and explain his thought process. But out in the middle he was probably just following his gut and bowling what he felt was right; leaving all the analysis to his subconscious. Hence his claims that he never really thought his bowling out. He definitely was; just not in a conscious, "Okay this is what I've bowled so far, this is the situation, this is his weakness, therefore i bowl this ball next" kinda way

vs. a bowler like McGrath or Warne; who would plan it out consciously and have the skill to execute it. Just different approaches to the same end result.

 

[Bahnz]

My ranking of the Kiwis is:

Tim Southee
Daylight
Daylight
Trent Boult

A year ago I would've agree with you whole-heartedly, but over the last year I think Southee's approach has become a little more one-note. He's become so enamoured of using the crease to create new angles that some of his other wicket-taking tools (his bouncer, his off-cutter, his yorker) have kinda suffered. And he also seems a lot less patient in terms of ploughing a merciless line and length. Could well be a consequence of all the ODI and T20 cricket he's played over the last 6 months, but it's been a backward step for him. Boult on the other hand displayed a lot more patience on the recent England tour, and was excellent in his exploitation of Ballance's technical faults. Of course he was helped out by the fact that he had a ball that kept swinging for 60 overs, so it'll be interesting to see how the two of them go against Australia at the end of the year.

 

[Hurricane]

Boult's patience >>> southee's

In the past 12 months boult's accuracy has also exceeded southee's I will come back to this point.

Boult and southee ( If we accept your depiction of southee) are at different ends of the scale. One is trying too much and one is trying to little.
Boult's refusal and conscious choice not to use the width of the crease allowed cook to get away on us. Boult is stil whet behind the ears internationally. That sounds harsh but is reality. He appears to have a well thought out plan a to batsman and no plan b even if he has 5 days rest between tests to come up with one.

Tim has had more cricket than Trent and the difference in their cerebral processes is palpable.

Now I want to come back to accuracy.

Accuracy is imperative to getting a top order batsman out. Some of tim's well thought out plans are not coming off because he isn't executing.

Trent's plans are less glamorous but he is having success by getting the ball in the areas that his plan demands due to his accuracy.

Tim's lack of accuracy is from t20 cricket and other Pajama cricket. It is hurting him.

He will be better in the Australian tour and will out bowl Trent because he will have recovered and secondly Trent will be coming off injury.

 

[watson]

This bit of bowling is of very high IQ, kind of unusual for a fast bowler.

 

[ankitj]

+1 on Hadlee

 

[Hurricane]

This bit of bowling is of very high IQ, kind of unusual for a fast bowler.

Yes he was unusually intelligent

Hadlee came 2nd to last in the speed gun contest on youtube out of 14 front line quicks.

He compensated for his lack of pace through sheer bowling smarts.

His autobiography is nothing amazing, but his insights into cricket are out of this world.

Some quotes

"I kept a book with me on every batsman in the world".

"Hilditch was a hooker. All I had to do was pitch it short and he would hole out".

Chappell on Hadlee "He was too intelligent. On a slow deck he wouldn't bowl bouncers. While Imran would grind himself into the dust spearing it in with no reward until finally when you were wondering why he was persisting he would get payback".

"I made it my job to get out the opposition's best batsman. That was my role. If he got away on us I held myself personally accountable*"


*That last quote is how all spearheads should think and not enough of them do.

 

[AldoRaine18]

.

"I made it my job to get out the opposition's best batsman. That was my role. If he got away on us I held myself personally accountable*"

.

That's a wonderful quote.

 

[OverratedSanity]

"I made it my job to get out the opposition's best batsman. That was my role. If he got away on us I held myself personally accountable*"


*That last quote is how all spearheads should think and not enough of them do.

Yeah couldn't agree more.

McGrath was amazing at this. Made it a point to target the opposition's best batsman before a series in the media and backed it up on the pitch.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

McGrath, Steyn, Bond and Pollock probably the smartest I've seen. I wonder if the slower pace bowlers tend to be smarter than the Lees, Ahktars, Taits, Milnes, Younises et als of the world.

 

[Flem274*]

well in the cases of bond and harris they began as medium pacers so unlike the fast kids who could just bowl too quick for other teenagers and some fc cricketers to deal with, they had to think about what they were doing. then when they became capable of 150kph they were on a new level to tait etc

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Yeah I think you could take 15 km/h off both Steyn and Bond and they still would have been excellent bowlers, probably in the Southee/Anderson bracket. It was that extra pace with the control that made them world class, like Wasim.

 

[Valer]

Yeah I think you could take 15 km/h off both Steyn and Bond and they still would have been excellent bowlers, probably in the Southee/Anderson bracket. It was that extra pace with the control that made them world class, like Wasim.

Steyn spends too much time bowling 135-143 km/h for this to be a thing. I'm skeptical 120-128 km/h steyn would be effective YMMV.

I think Watson (especially at his peak) is worth a mention somewhat surprisingly.

 

[Adders]

I think Watson (especially at his peak) is worth a mention somewhat surprisingly.

Watson at his peak was an exceptional bowler and criminally underrated. But considering he is one of, if not the dumbest batsmen to ever play the game I'd struggle to put his bowling successes down to any sort of "intelligence".

That may be being unfair though.

 

[fredfertang]

it may be, but almost certainly isn't

 

[JBMAC]

It's easy....Ritchie Benaud....the thinking man's bowler

 

[watson]

It's easy....Ritchie Benaud....the thinking man's bowler

To start out as an average allrounder but then then turn himself into a leg-spinner who is almost on a par with Warne is an extraordinary effort. Great thinker, great learner.


Note:

From the beginning of the1955 West Indies series to the end of the 1960 series against India his figures were;

Tests = 37
Wickets = 168
Average = 22.65
Economy Rate = 2.04
Strike Rate = 66.4

Such a shame that the tendons in his right shoulder started to give way during 1961 so that he played with injury there after.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Reckon Srinath is worth a shout.