Who is the best fast bowler in the world right now - Tests

[Manee]

How is Philander's injury record?

 

[Satguru]

I'm not saying Philander is going to be at 14 throughout his career, that's just absurd but since his FC bowling average is 18

Philander averages 18 in FC?
*checks on cricinfo*

Holy ****, and here i am thinking he might end up a flash-in-the-pan. Why didnt he debut earlier? Isnt he 26 or something?

 

[Spark]

Only started bowling a few years ago iirc, bit of a late bloomer. Think he's had his fitness issues and might have rubbed a few people up a wrong way (a bit of a **** by some reports, so a typical quick bowler)

 

[GIMH]

Was Broad's place in jeapordy? Not sure they ever actually contemplated dropping him but I could be wrong. There was lots of speculation, but in itself that doesn't mean anything.

 

[Spark]

That's all we can ever say without reading autobiographies tbh.

 

[Satguru]

Voted for Anderson, not because i think he's better than Steyn, but i feel he's being grossly underrated, still... after two and a half years of awesomeness...
and because he actually has a good inswinger

 

[Arachnodouche]

What exactly are these mythical "two and a half year of awesomeness" in terms of figures?

Steyn has 166 wickets in 21 Tests from Octobet 2009 to the present.
Anderson has 118 wickets in 26 Tests during the same period

Anderson's is fair return for a strike bowler, no doubt, but to even mention him in the same bracket as Steyn is..well, blasphemy. For one, I think he's going to be a spent force much before Steyn, in terms of pace at least.

 

[Satguru]

What exactly are these mythical "two and a half year of awesomeness" in terms of figures?

Steyn has 166 wickets in 21 Tests from Octobet 2009 to the present.
Anderson has 118 wickets in 26 Tests during the same period

Anderson's is fair return for a strike bowler, no doubt, but to even mention him in the same bracket as Steyn is..well, blasphemy. For one, I think he's going to be a spent force much before Steyn, in terms of pace at least.

Just because he isnt as awesome as Steyn doesnt mean he isnt awesome

 

[marc71178]

Was Broad's place in jeapordy? Not sure they ever actually contemplated dropping him but I could be wrong. There was lots of speculation, but in itself that doesn't mean anything.

Yeah, there's been lots of speculation about Bopara being a lock for the number 6 spot over the last 12 months.

 

[Cabinet96]

Was Broad's place in jeapordy? Not sure they ever actually contemplated dropping him but I could be wrong. There was lots of speculation, but in itself that doesn't mean anything.

I'm very sceptical about whatever the media says about the possible changes to the England team, because the selectors just show so much faith in the players. I mean, would Cook have missed the Ashes had he not toned up against Pakistan at the Oval? While everyone said it was his last chance, I doubt he ever would have been dropped. England had just spent too much time grooming him to be the next test captain to drop him because of one bad summer, and lets not forget he had a successful winter in South Africa and Bangladesh.

 

[Sparkley]

AWTA



He caused real trouble to Dravid, VVS, Raina and Dhoni, not to mention the fact that Tendulkar had no clue against him.

He had Dravid and VVS both dropped off him at Lords, and that's just one example of his bad luck. His figures in that series were worse than they should have been due to drops and poor LBW decisions.

It's not like he's never had any bad decisions going in his favour, it is only human tendency to remember the ones that go against our favourite player. His hat-trick for example should not have been one.

 

[Sparkley]

Results are important when assessing a team as a whole; when evaluating how well someone bowled you generally just look at how well they bowled.

@AN: if you want an inswing bowler then Anderson is basically your first choice.

I'm sorry if I have misinterpeted this, but are you saying results are not important when assessing individual players? Bold, bold statement if so. A case could be made for anyone if subjective criteria like ''looking at how well someone bowled'' is considered.

 

[akilana]

I wasn't claiming he was. I was just saying that to discount his performance against India was borderline absurd.

EDIT: inb4pewssnark because he's reading the thread

no offense but honestly that's what I thought when you said Broad is W XI material and was so much better than Morkel despite evidence suggesting Morkel to be better in last two years and throughout his career. Basically, you were discounting Morkel's good performances.

 

[Jacknife]

They were helpful relative to the flat roads that were served up when we toured the Emirates. Broad bowled exceedingly well in the UAE tour but the fact is that there was much more help than in the past. I'm not even going to take the India series into account because India didn't even put up a fight. Again, Broad bowled very well but India didn't even have the stomach to put up a fight. I don't even know where you got the idea that I put down Broad. I said he struggled prior the India series and his place was under threat, that's just fact. Saying that he's not as good as someone else isn't to say he isn't good, I think he's a fine bowler but nowhere near the South African pace attack.

Yeah, Philander has got his wickets against AUS at home, SL at home and NZL away. Broad has got his wickets against IND at home and a pretty weak PAK batting line-up in the UAE. What's your point? You're trying to make it out as if Philander has been on green tops all along. The Cape Town pitch against AUS and the Centurion pitch against SL were the only two really helpful tracks. Everything else was pretty batter-friendly, even the pitches in New Zealand were fairly placid.

You just seem to be wanting to take any credit away from Broad because of this and that reason while big up Philander, for bowling at home and at a poor line up in NZ, well go for it mate but I can' be arsed with a conversation with someone like that.

 

[Jacknife]

no offense but honestly that's what I thought when you said Broad is W XI material and was so much better than Morkel despite evidence suggesting Morkel to be better in last two years and throughout his career. Basically, you were discounting Morkel's good performances.

You do know that in the last 2 years Broad averages 24 and Morkel 26, what evidence are you talking about?

 

[Jacknife]

What exactly are these mythical "two and a half year of awesomeness" in terms of figures?

Steyn has 166 wickets in 21 Tests from Octobet 2009 to the present.
Anderson has 118 wickets in 26 Tests during the same period

Anderson's is fair return for a strike bowler, no doubt, but to even mention him in the same bracket as Steyn is..well, blasphemy. For one, I think he's going to be a spent force much before Steyn, in terms of pace at least.

Don't now where you've got those numbers for Steyn from because from the 1st October 2009 to now he's got 102 wickets in 21 tests and you got the Anderson ones correct, Steyn averaged 22 and Jimmy 24

Steyn's ststsAll-round records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

Jimmys statsAll-round records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[GIMH]

I'm sorry if I have misinterpeted this, but are you saying results are not important when assessing individual players? Bold, bold statement if so. A case could be made for anyone if subjective criteria like ''looking at how well someone bowled'' is considered.

He means match results

 

[Spark]

FTR the main thing that gets Broad into my world XI is his batting on top of his bowling and the fact that he seems to have a speciality for pulling England out of the fire.

He means match results

Indeed. Hardly fair to judge Anderson, Broad, Swann's bowling by factoring in Ian Bell et al's incompetence.

 

[Prince EWS]

FTR the main thing that gets Broad into my world XI is his batting on top of his bowling and the fact that he seems to have a speciality for pulling England out of the fire.



Indeed. Hardly fair to judge Anderson, Broad, Swann's bowling by factoring in Ian Bell et al's incompetence.

I'd probably pick Broad in a World XI for his batting too, quite reluctantly as it'd be. Steyn and Anderson are certainties and I think you'd probably have to go with Ajmal ahead of Swann at this point, and none of those three are good enough to bat eight at a theoretical level above Tests. There's not much between Broad, Philander, Siddle, Harris, Morkel or Zaheer on bowling alone and you could make a case for any of those players to be the third seamer, but only Broad has really shown enough to be a number 8 out of the bunch. Not my favourite bowler by a long way but I think you'd have to pick him now for that reason.

 

[MrPrez]

I'd probably pick Broad in a World XI for his batting too, quite reluctantly as it'd be. Steyn and Anderson are certainties and I think you'd probably have to go with Ajmal ahead of Swann at this point, and none of those three are good enough to bat eight at a theoretical level above Tests. There's not much between Broad, Philander, Siddle, Harris, Morkel or Zaheer on bowling alone and you could make a case for any of those players to be the third seamer, but only Broad has really shown enough to be a number 8 out of the bunch. Not my favourite bowler by a long way but I think you'd have to pick him now for that reason.

Seriously? Philander averages 26 with the bat in FC... that's more than good enough at no8.