The Ultimate Bowler

[a massive zebra]

What characteristics would you want in the ultimate perfect bowler?

I suggest........

The legs of Curtley Ambrose for bounce

The fingers of S.F.Barnes for bowling leg-cutters at pace

The strength of Jeff Thomson for pace

The brains of Richard Hadlee

The stamina and heart of Dennis Lillee

The inswinging yorker of Waqar Younis

The outswinger of Fred Trueman

 

[nightprowler10]

The strength of Jeff Thomson for pace

I'd Wasim Akram on pace, but the rest I pretty much agree with.

 

[Jnr.]

Consistency would be nice too.

 

[nightprowler10]

Consistency would be nice too.

Oh that's definitely Shoaib Akhter!!

 

[Nedved's Fan]

What characteristics would you want in the ultimate perfect bowler?

I suggest........

The legs of Curtley Ambrose for bounce

The fingers of S.F.Barnes for bowling leg-cutters at pace

The strength of Jeff Thomson for pace

The brains of Richard Hadlee

The stamina and heart of Dennis Lillee

The inswinging yorker of Waqar Younis

The outswinger of Fred Trueman

Sami for accuracy, Chris Harris for pace, Inzamam for his lithe body.

 

[Richard]

And not one mention of IMO the second-greatest bowler of all-time.
And the greatest is mentioned only for a characteristic I've never heard of before - long fingers.
Bhagwat Chandrasehkar had six fingers, that was an advantage (he also had some weird advantage caused by polio at a young age).
But how amz hasn't mentioned Malcolm Marshall is beyond me.

I might also add Muttiah Muralitharan's double-joint in the wrist.

 

[Richard]

Chris Harris for pace

Jeremy Snape is at least 20mph slower than Harrie.

 

[steds]

Murali's wrists

 

[a massive zebra]

And not one mention of IMO the second-greatest bowler of all-time.
And the greatest is mentioned only for a characteristic I've never heard of before - long fingers.
Bhagwat Chandrasehkar had six fingers, that was an advantage (he also had some weird advantage caused by polio at a young age).
But how amz hasn't mentioned Malcolm Marshall is beyond me.

I might also add Muttiah Muralitharan's double-joint in the wrist.

I agree with you that Marshall was the best fast bowler ever, but was looking for specific characteristics that would help. Marshall does not appear to have had one phenomenal strength, but was simply amazingly competent overall.

I was not necessarily talking about long fingers, but flexible fingers that alow you to bowl unplayable cutters at pace.

I was attempting to create the ultimate fast bowler, so anything Muralitharan has is in all probability, irrelevant. But I agree he is the best spinner.

You criticised my non-selection of Barnes and Marshall but did not suggest any capacity in which they deserve a mention. Until that you do that the criticism is unwarranted.

 

[Richard]

Marshall's accuracy.
To bowl as economically as he did from such a short stature suggests his accuracy was something exceptional.
Tall bowlers all have much greater margin-for-error in length; to bowl economically is not such an achievement for them as it is for a shorter man.
Anyway, if you want the ultimate bowler you'd best go for superhuman, not premier-human.

 

[Langeveldt]

Allan Donald's action

Curtley Ambrose's Height

Shaun Pollock's brain

Shoaib Akhtar's agression

Glenn McGraths accuracy

Jacques Kallis's batting

 

[a massive zebra]

Allan Donald's action

Michael Holding?

Glenn McGraths accuracy

Ambrose?

Jacques Kallis's batting

Huh

 

[Langeveldt]

Michael Holding?

Never seen the man bowl

Ambrose?

Ambrose more accurate than McGrath? Gimme a break!

 

[The Baconator]

what would the ultimate spinner be like then?

 

[a massive zebra]

Wrist of Murali

Height of Gibbs

Accuracy of Laker

 

[steds]

Garry Sobers is as close as we'll ever get

 

[a massive zebra]

Garry Sobers is as close as we'll ever get

Yeah in terms of completeness. But he wasn't actually that good - Test average of 34, strike rate of nearly 100.

 

[Richard]

Ambrose more accurate than McGrath? Gimme a break!

I don't reckon there is much difference, really.
No more than there is between him and Pollock.

 

[Richard]

Yeah in terms of completeness. But he wasn't actually that good - Test average of 34, strike rate of nearly 100.

I can't help wondering how seriously he actually took bowling.
Everyone said he was more than capable of being one of the best opening bowlers around at the time. People also commented on his competance as a spin bowler, both wrist and finger.
But I don't know whether he was ever as committed as he was to his batting - of course, he didn't need to, being one of the best batsmen of all-time.

 

[aussie_beater]

Ambrose more accurate than McGrath? Gimme a break!

why ? anyone who has seen both of them at their peak cannot tell the difference. and if you are a stats junkie, you won't be able to tell the difference either. Ambrose has a better economy rate then McGrath in both forms of the game....tests and ODIs.