Calm_profit
State Vice-Captain
So was Mark Waugh but warne not only bowled them out but also scared them to face him.
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Who was the better bowler: Glenn Mcgrath or Wasim Akram?
- Thread starter BlazeDragon
- Start date
TheJediBrah
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South Africa didn't have the strongest batsmen.
AndyZaltzHair
Hall of Fame Member
If we are talking about stats against individual batsman then McGrath is miles ahead of Wasim
Mcgrath against
Lara - 14 (48 Innings)
Tendulkar - 6
Kallis - 6
Pietersen - 5
Dravid - 4
Wasim against
Lara - 2 (14 Innings)
Tendulkar - 1 (13 Innings)
Steve Waugh - 4
Viv Richards - 4
Greenidge - 3
Mcgrath against
Lara - 14 (48 Innings)
Tendulkar - 6
Kallis - 6
Pietersen - 5
Dravid - 4
Wasim against
Lara - 2 (14 Innings)
Tendulkar - 1 (13 Innings)
Steve Waugh - 4
Viv Richards - 4
Greenidge - 3
Arachnodouche
International Captain
If your batsmen aren't regularly piling up big totals, you don't get to stack the slip cordon, at least not for long. How many times did McGrath have an obscene slip formation, in size, quality, and duration, to pouch all kinds of edges? You put him in an average batting side and many of those squirt away for runs. Obviously still the finest bowler of the last thirty years, but things are connected, success breeds success/failure breeds frustration, etc.
Migara
International Coach
If SAF had Saqlain or Kumble instead of Omar Henry, Cliove Eksteen or Pat Symcox that would have happened.
Migara
International Coach
There fast bowling was a notch above Australia. It was Warne that mattered.
This is the very reason I rate Australian bowling of late 90s and early 00s above West Indians in 80s.
akilana
International 12th Man
And he wasn’t as successful agains them as he was against weaker batting line ups. He would have averaged 30 bowling against his own team.
akilana
International 12th Man
Lara doesn’t have a hundred against Wasim. Maybe someone got him out before Wasim had a go at him?
Calm_profit
State Vice-Captain
Despite lack of spinners Iam still surprised they won test series in Asian countries.
Migara
International Coach
It's rather inability of Asian batsmen to play pace. And like SSC and Nagpur, the pitches are not actually flat, they were quite pacy in early to late 90s.
Migara
International Coach
Only played a single series if I am not mistaken. The pitches WI put up were crap. That was the first time I saw WI not wanting to play on a grassy wicket against a SC team. Waqar and Wasim were breathing fire in that series in 1993.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Lara played two series against Wasim in 93 and 97, during Wasim's peak.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Late 90s was the worst phase of Warne's career though, even MacGill was better than him at that point.
Regardless, no bowling attack was as lethal as WI of the early 80s. Roberts/Croft/Garner/Holding or Marshall/Walsh/Garner/Holding are simply the best attacks ever fielded in an international game.
Migara
International Coach
By 1997 both Wasim and Waqar were gone as a physical threat. They were still skillful, but swing at 150 and swing at 136 are quite different .
Migara
International Coach
Problem is those combinations never happened in regularity. Imran, Wasim, Waqar and Qadir as well as Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib and Saqlain also look bloody impressive or even more daunting than that WI attack, but the reality is that only two of them peaked together. Where as the Australian attack, played regular and had massive peaks coinciding.
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
Pretty sure they had another run of injuries after that series which is when they were really gone IMO. Waqar bowled that searing yorker to floor Lara in this 97 series. Lara got a lot of starts and was throwing it away too, not sure what the equation with respect to captaincy was either.
stephen
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
It should be pointed out that Warne and Murali had virtually identical stats if you took out the minnows. But given how Warne performed in the shield and for counties, I personally think I'd rather have Murali to bowl at minnows. I don't think Warne would have done as well against them.
It's pretty clear that batsmen universally hated facing both McGrath and Wasim, but for different reasons. Wasim was the trickster, able to do anything with the ball. McGrath was the effective line and length bowler who was impossible to dispatch and would relentlessly probe you in the channel. Ideally you'd take both in your side, but I think it's clear that McGrath had the skillset that was more effective against the top order.
I have always found McGrath's average in South Africa amusing. It's a place one would suspect he should be more effective. It's not like he was bad there, but compared to the rest of his record he was below his standard. I think it's simply a statistical anomaly more than a genuine weakness, but it does look odd, especially given Australia's record there.
It's pretty clear that batsmen universally hated facing both McGrath and Wasim, but for different reasons. Wasim was the trickster, able to do anything with the ball. McGrath was the effective line and length bowler who was impossible to dispatch and would relentlessly probe you in the channel. Ideally you'd take both in your side, but I think it's clear that McGrath had the skillset that was more effective against the top order.
I have always found McGrath's average in South Africa amusing. It's a place one would suspect he should be more effective. It's not like he was bad there, but compared to the rest of his record he was below his standard. I think it's simply a statistical anomaly more than a genuine weakness, but it does look odd, especially given Australia's record there.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Wasim was still penetrative until 1997, in fact his last great series was against West Indies then. 1998 onwards, he lost pace and was not the same threat.
TheJediBrah
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Always respected Wasim becasue I can't imagine managing being a professional sportsman with Type I diabetes, it would require insane levels of discipline and organisation
Burgey
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Lol yes indeed. Owned SA at basically every opportunity.