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Who was the better bowler: Glenn Mcgrath or Wasim Akram?

Who was the better bowler: Glenn Mcgrath or Wasim Akram?

  • Total voters
    73
  • Poll closed .
benchmark00

benchmark00

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Wouldn't say McGrath was one of the very best ever outfielders. He was solid, and good. Took some good catches, but wasn't the most athletic across the ground. Arm was good without being an absolute rocket.

Brett Lee would probably be the best test outfielder that I've ever seen.
 
Cevno

Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
Voted for Wasim by mistake here.

Though the marging is slight i would go with Mcgrath in this one.
 
smash84

smash84

The Tiger King
yup, Wasim did a terrible gig in there............but then Wasim is known to do a lot of things for the right price
 
smash84

smash84

The Tiger King
vcs said:
I didn't think a cricketer could star in a worse commercial than this Pepsi one involving Dhoni, Kohli and Raina, but this one takes the cake. Kudos. I'll post the same response that I had for that one.

Click to expand...
lol..........just saw that Dhoni ad.....LOL..........it is worse than the Wasim one....seriously.....this is too much

:laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
S

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
While I myself would rank McGrath ahead on career stats, most of their peers tend to rank Akram ahead. Which means that the difference between them cant be that great.

Chris Cairns: "Among the bowlers, Pakistani great Wasim Akram was Cairns' choice." (Cricket News - Chris Cairns says Sachin Tendulkar is greatest batsman of modern era)

Stephen Fleming: "Reflecting over a 14-year career, he says that Shane Warne was the best spinner he faced and Wasim Akram the best pace bowler." (Stephen Fleming 'the thinker' retires - Telegraph)

Allan Donald: "When I started playing, the best fast bowler was Wasim Akram. He was the complete, most skillful fast bowler I ever saw and played against." ('I wanted to be the bloke who took a five-for' | Specials | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo)

Curtley Ambrose: "Ambrose said he rated Australia’s David Boon, Steve Waugh and Allan Border as well as England’s Graham Gooch as the best batsmen he ever bowled to, while Pakistan’s Wasim Akram was his number one fast bowler.
'He could do everything with the ball if fit,' he said." (Wasim best of the lot: Ambrose -DAWN - Sport; October 30, 2001)

Ganguly: "Akram is the greatest fast bowler I have ever played. He is rightly called the 'sultan of swing bowling',"(Akram greatest bowler I've ever played: Ganguly)

Lara: "For me over my 15 or 16 years of playing international cricket, Tests and one-day internationals, Wasim Akram is definitely the most outstanding bowler I've ever faced" (World Cup Monitor | Cricket Blogs | ESPN Cricinfo)

I also know that Micheal Slater and Atherton rated him the best. Mark Taylor rated him and Ambrose as joint best he faced.
 
BlazeDragon

BlazeDragon

Banned
Lots of their peers also rank Lara higher than Tendulkar. I am pretty sure if more fans rank Mcgrath higher than Akram than that's the case for peers as well. Its just most people just doesn't go around giving interviews about who is the best.
 
smash84

smash84

The Tiger King
subshakerz said:
While I myself would rank McGrath ahead on career stats, most of their peers tend to rank Akram ahead. Which means that the difference between them cant be that great.

Chris Cairns: "Among the bowlers, Pakistani great Wasim Akram was Cairns' choice." (Cricket News - Chris Cairns says Sachin Tendulkar is greatest batsman of modern era)

Stephen Fleming: "Reflecting over a 14-year career, he says that Shane Warne was the best spinner he faced and Wasim Akram the best pace bowler." (Stephen Fleming 'the thinker' retires - Telegraph)

Allan Donald: "When I started playing, the best fast bowler was Wasim Akram. He was the complete, most skillful fast bowler I ever saw and played against." ('I wanted to be the bloke who took a five-for' | Specials | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo)

Curtley Ambrose: "Ambrose said he rated Australia’s David Boon, Steve Waugh and Allan Border as well as England’s Graham Gooch as the best batsmen he ever bowled to, while Pakistan’s Wasim Akram was his number one fast bowler.
'He could do everything with the ball if fit,' he said." (Wasim best of the lot: Ambrose -DAWN - Sport; October 30, 2001)

Ganguly: "Akram is the greatest fast bowler I have ever played. He is rightly called the 'sultan of swing bowling',"(Akram greatest bowler I've ever played: Ganguly)

Lara: "For me over my 15 or 16 years of playing international cricket, Tests and one-day internationals, Wasim Akram is definitely the most outstanding bowler I've ever faced" (World Cup Monitor | Cricket Blogs | ESPN Cricinfo)

I also know that Micheal Slater and Atherton rated him the best. Mark Taylor rated him and Ambrose as joint best he faced.
Click to expand...
gun post............that Allan Donald interview is brilliant
 
Howe_zat

Howe_zat

Audio File
To be fair, Donald isn't really comparing these two. He says "When I started playing", and both of them were on the scene some time before McGrath.
 
smash84

smash84

The Tiger King
yeah but in the interview he speaks VERY highly of Akram and how Akram could swing the ball. Seems VERY VERY impressed by Akram
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Akram may have been better at swinging the ball than McGrath, better at bowling yorkers than McGrath, better at bowling lightning quick spells than McGrath and better at making spectators drool than McGrath, but McGrath was better at getting batsmen out. And when we're talking about who was a better bowler, that's all that counts.
 
vcs

vcs

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I think it's a bit of a myth that McGrath didn't swing the ball.. he swung it a fair amount both ways when the conditions suited. Also got reverse swing when the conditions suited. Maybe not the banana variety at pace that the W's specialized in, but enough to make batsmen think.
 
smash84

smash84

The Tiger King
Having followed a lot of McGrath's career I didn't really see him swing the ball a fair bit very often nor did he reverse swing it too often. His strength lay in that subtle variation.

I don't think it is too much of a myth tbh
 
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