Ranking the Bowlers

[silentstriker]

ABS club - Anyone but Spinners

Spofforth

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Larwood

 

[Matt79]

Given no-one else rates spinners, and that he should be in the top 25 - Spoffoth

 

[Johnners]

Laker

 

[The Sean]

Fred Spofforth

 

[Mister Wright]

Kumble

 

[silentstriker]

Kumble

At least 15 better bowlers left than Kumble IMO.

 

[The Sean]

At least 15 better bowlers left than Kumble IMO.

I'd certainly have a few, not sure I'd stretch to 15 or more - who do you reckon would be on that list? (If you can be bothered listing them...which you probably can...)

 

[silentstriker]

which you probably can...)

Good call.

Let's see, in no particular order:

1. Spofforth
2. Truner
3. Grimmett
4. Larwood
5. Verity
6. Bedser
7. Laker
8. Underwood
9. Botham
10. Mahmood
11. Kapil Dev
12. Tayfield
13. Gibbs
14. Wes Hall
15. Colin Croft

 

[silentstriker]

Even if you disagree with some, there are at least a couple I've missed I'm sure.

 

[The Sean]

Spofforth
Turner
Grimmett
Larwood
Verity
Bedser
Laker
Underwood
Botham
Mahmood
Kapil Dev
Tayfield
Gibbs
Wes Hall
Colin Croft

Cool mate. Definitely agree with the ones in bold, line ball about the underlined, but I reckon Kumble has Dev, Hall and Croft covered, and I'd rate him ahead of Verity and Tayfield at a push too.

 

[The Sean]

Even if you disagree with some, there are at least a couple I've missed I'm sure.

Yeah fair call - I reckon I'd have Statham in there as well. Tom Richardson is a golden oldie who always seems to be bigged-up by the Carduses and Woodcocks of the cricket writing world too.

 

[silentstriker]

Cool mate. Definitely agree with the ones in bold, line ball about the underlined, but I reckon Kumble has Dev, Hall and Croft covered, and I'd rate him ahead of Verity and Tayfield at a push too.

Nah, Kumble has only recently started improving his away record. IMO that really works against him compared to the others. Anil Kumble has won us more tests than Tendulkar, Dravid or even Kapil Dev. But most of them have been at home - until recently that is.

His away bowling average from 1990-2002: 39.90
His away bowling average from 2002-2006: 33.26

Still not great, but a marked improvement.

 

[The Sean]

Yeah, definite improvement - TBH I didn't realise his away average was quite that poor. I knew he was obviously more successful at home, but I didn't expect the difference to be so marked. He might move down a few spots in my rankings.

 

[silentstriker]

Yeah, definite improvement - TBH I didn't realise his away average was quite that poor. I knew he was obviously more successful at home, but I didn't expect the difference to be so marked. He might move down a few spots in my rankings.

His home average is an amazing 23.71 over his career, which just highlights how important he is to India being a total fortress at home. But his away performances have been lacking until recently. So in terms of importance to their own country, Kumble would rank higher than most of the others on the list. But purely as a bowler, he'd have to rank lower because of his away performances.

Now mind you, the rest of Indian bowling hasn't been all that good away either, and you can say he is the least worst of a bad bunch, but on ability alone he isn't on par with the ones I mentioned above. He also averages 6 wickets at home and as 24 five-fors and 7 ten-fors from only 54 matches.

So an absolute gun at home, but quite mediocre abroad. Which takes him out of the top 40 all time for me, and perhaps even take him out of the top 50. Though he might be close to the 50 mark, I am not sure.

Anyway, the first Indian bowler on this list should likely be Kapil Dev and he shouldn't make an appearance until about 40th, and even there I may be overrating him a bit.

 

[Fusion]

Fazal

 

[The Sean]

Now mind you, the rest of Indian bowling hasn't been all that good away either, and you can say he is the least worst of a bad bunch

You mean Indian spinners, obviously. The Indian pace attack is both feared and revered across all nations. Even the ones who don't play cricket.

 

[silentstriker]

You mean Indian spinners, obviously. The Indian pace attack is both feared and revered across all nations. Even the ones who don't play cricket.

Right.

 

[aussie tragic]

Laker

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Underwood