Dale Steyn, the greatest fast bowler of the century

[Ankit_sharma03]

Just how good is Dale Steyn? Outstanding, right? Almost everyone will agree he is an all-time great. But as he stands on the verge of breaking the record for South Africa's most Test wickets, requiring one more dismissal to go clear of Shaun Pollock, the numbers suggest he has been even better than he is in most people's estimation. It may be that Steyn is not merely great, but is actually among the finest half-dozen quicks to ever have played the game.

We will eventually measure Steyn's record in relation to the best quicks through cricket's modern history, but before that let's look at how he compares to his 21st-century peers. Among fast bowlers who have taken over 200 wickets since 2000, Steyn's average of 22.42 is third-best, behind those of Glenn McGrath and Vernon Philander. While McGrath was experiencing a late-career harvest (his overall numbers are slightly worse), Philander is buoyed by spectacular numbers while playing at home - he has been nowhere near as effective as Steyn outside South Africa, and his returns in Asia have been particularly modest relative to his exploits elsewhere.

Where Steyn is a clear leader, however, is in strike rate; no one else on the list gets close to his 41.6. He is also the second-highest wicket-taker for this period, with 421 scalps. Only James Anderson has been more successful, but Anderson's average (27.23) and strike rate (56.2), are not in Steyn's league. This is no real surprise - although Anderson has been a supremely skillful bowler, Steyn could do pretty much everything Anderson could do, but at 10kph faster.

 

Among Steyn's clearest claims to greatness have been his performances in Asia, where quicks generally encounter the least helpful surfaces. He has 92 wickets in the continent, well clear of Anderson, who is the next-most-successful non-Asian seamer this century with 59 wickets. Among quicks to have played at least 20 Tests in Asia since 2000, though, Steyn's numbers compare favourably even with those of Asian fast bowlers. His numbers are virtually indistinguishable from those of Shoaib Akhtar, with other wonderful Asian quicks - the likes of Chaminda Vaas and Zaheer Khan - sitting way back.

 

We have now established that Steyn is the most penetrative and versatile quick of the last 15 years, but let's now look a little further back and bring the great '90s bowlers into the frame. To do a meaningful comparison across eras, though, we must account for varying conditions and trends. Although bowler-friendly tracks have made a roaring comeback over the past few years, much of Steyn's career was played in an infamously batting-friendly period. So instead of merely stacking up these players' averages and strike rates against each other, let's look at how much better each bowler was than his peers, by calculating the difference between each bowler's numbers and the mean bowling numbers in his career span (that is, the mean bowling stats from between the bowler's first and last Test).

From among a group of eight truly outstanding quicks, Steyn has the best average differential, though he is neck-and-neck with McGrath.

 

Quicks Compared To Others In Their Career Span

Bowler	Wickets	Average	Other quicks' Ave	Average differential
Dale Steyn	421	22.42	32.81	-10.38
Glenn McGrath	563	21.64	32.00	-10.36
Shaun Pollock	421	23.11	32.36	-9.25
Curtly Ambrose	405	20.99	30.00	-9.01
Allan Donald	330	22.25	30.50	-8.25
Waqar Younis	373	23.56	30.55	-6.99
Wasim Akram	414	23.62	30.37	-6.75
Courtney Walsh	519	24.44	30.04	-5.60

Where Steyn sets himself apart from McGrath, however, is via that incredible strike rate. Only Waqar Younis had a better strike rate differential than Steyn, but then Waqar was more expensive as well.

 

Where Steyn's versatility - owing probably to his mastery of reverse-swing - really become clear is when his figures in Asia are compared to those of the best visiting quicks through cricket's history. His raw average and strike rate in Asia is staggering enough, but throw the differential numbers in - that is, compare Steyn's stats to the mean for his era, while doing the same for the other non-Asian greats - he comes out ahead of the pack in terms of average.

 

On strike rate, Steyn and Wes Hall are well clear of the rest. Effectively, Steyn's wickets in Asia have come an astounding 28 balls closer together than they have for the average bowler in his era.

ESPNcricinfo's jury panel recently voted in McGrath as the right-arm quick in our Test team of the last 25 years, but given the above numbers, I would replace McGrath with Steyn, owing not only to Steyn's prowess on the toughest continent for quicks, but also because of the value he adds via his strike rate. A full fifth of McGrath's wickets had also come against minnows, by which of course I mean England 1994 through 2003.

Even Malcolm Marshall, whose record in Asia is what clinches him the "greatest fast bowler ever" tag, for many, was not quite as statistically dominant as Steyn has been there.

 

By now, it is clear that numbers-wise, Steyn has a strong claim to being the finest fast bowler of the last 30 years - in a fairly crowded field. He is also almost certainly the best non-Asian quick in Asian conditions. Among bowlers of any ilk with more than 200 wickets, from any era, Steyn's career strike rate of 41.6 is the best. If you are a captain in need of quick wickets, with minimal release of pressure, there is no better player to call on from your great-bowler rolodex than Steyn; he is the most aggressive great bowler there has been.

 

Strike Rates For Bowlers With Over 200 Wickets

Bowler	Innings	Wickets	Average	Strike rate
Dale Steyn	159	421	22.42	41.60
Waqar Younis	154	373	23.56	43.40
Malcolm Marshall	151	376	20.94	46.70
Alan Donald	129	330	22.25	47.00
Vernon Philander	103	205	21.54	48.60
Fred Trueman	127	307	21.57	49.40
Jeol Garner	111	259	20.97	50.80
Richard Hadlee	150	431	22.29	50.80

Finally, one more figure that puts Steyn in the league of the most sublime quicks to ever have borne down on batsmen: his record in victories. Aside from the first few years of his career, in which Australia dominated, South Africa have arguably been the best Test team in the world for a good portion of Steyn's career. In that time, no bowler has been more crucial to his team's success. In fact, few quicks have ever been as impactful for any team as Steyn. Of bowlers that played in the last 100 years, only Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan have better averages in victories (minimum: 100 wickets in wins). Steyn has more wickets in wins than the other top 15 bowlers (by average). It pretty much goes without saying by this stage that Steyn's strike rate is the best.

 

 

Fast Bowlers In Team Victories (Qual: 100 Wickets)

Bowler	Innings	Wickets	Average	Strike rate
Richard Hadlee	44	173	13.06	33.50
Imran Khan	46	155	14.50	38.29
Dale Steyn	88	293	16.10	31.50
Malcolm Marshall	86	254	16.78	38.10
Alan Donald	64	187	16.79	35.50
Curtly Ambrose	87	229	16.86	44.40
Vernon Philander	64	145	17.17	40.40
Fred Trueman	68	177	17.30	40.79

With all these numbers considered and put into historical context, Steyn's career comes out looking even more monstrous than perhaps he has got credit for. How many bowlers in history can claim to have dominated matches in Galle (in 2014), as well as at the Wanderers? There is stiff competition for the pace-bowling spots in an all-time XI, but having been the clear leader during his playing period, and having put up spectacular numbers despite playing in one of the most batting-friendly eras in history, he deserves to be part of any all-time XI conversation.

 

Link -http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/24128428/dale-steyn-greatest-fast-bowler-century

 

 

[Vilander]

9 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

Just how good is Dale Steyn? Outstanding, right? Almost everyone will agree he is an all-time great. But as he stands on the verge of breaking the record for South Africa's most Test wickets, requiring one more dismissal to go clear of Shaun Pollock, the numbers suggest he has been even better than he is in most people's estimation. It may be that Steyn is not merely great, but is actually among the finest half-dozen quicks to ever have played the game.

We will eventually measure Steyn's record in relation to the best quicks through cricket's modern history, but before that let's look at how he compares to his 21st-century peers. Among fast bowlers who have taken over 200 wickets since 2000, Steyn's average of 22.42 is third-best, behind those of Glenn McGrath and Vernon Philander. While McGrath was experiencing a late-career harvest (his overall numbers are slightly worse), Philander is buoyed by spectacular numbers while playing at home - he has been nowhere near as effective as Steyn outside South Africa, and his returns in Asia have been particularly modest relative to his exploits elsewhere.

Where Steyn is a clear leader, however, is in strike rate; no one else on the list gets close to his 41.6. He is also the second-highest wicket-taker for this period, with 421 scalps. Only James Anderson has been more successful, but Anderson's average (27.23) and strike rate (56.2), are not in Steyn's league. This is no real surprise - although Anderson has been a supremely skillful bowler, Steyn could do pretty much everything Anderson could do, but at 10kph faster.

 

Among Steyn's clearest claims to greatness have been his performances in Asia, where quicks generally encounter the least helpful surfaces. He has 92 wickets in the continent, well clear of Anderson, who is the next-most-successful non-Asian seamer this century with 59 wickets. Among quicks to have played at least 20 Tests in Asia since 2000, though, Steyn's numbers compare favourably even with those of Asian fast bowlers. His numbers are virtually indistinguishable from those of Shoaib Akhtar, with other wonderful Asian quicks - the likes of Chaminda Vaas and Zaheer Khan - sitting way back.

 

We have now established that Steyn is the most penetrative and versatile quick of the last 15 years, but let's now look a little further back and bring the great '90s bowlers into the frame. To do a meaningful comparison across eras, though, we must account for varying conditions and trends. Although bowler-friendly tracks have made a roaring comeback over the past few years, much of Steyn's career was played in an infamously batting-friendly period. So instead of merely stacking up these players' averages and strike rates against each other, let's look at how much better each bowler was than his peers, by calculating the difference between each bowler's numbers and the mean bowling numbers in his career span (that is, the mean bowling stats from between the bowler's first and last Test).

From among a group of eight truly outstanding quicks, Steyn has the best average differential, though he is neck-and-neck with McGrath.

 

Quicks Compared To Others In Their Career Span

Bowler	Wickets	Average	Other quicks' Ave	Average differential
Dale Steyn	421	22.42	32.81	-10.38
Glenn McGrath	563	21.64	32.00	-10.36
Shaun Pollock	421	23.11	32.36	-9.25
Curtly Ambrose	405	20.99	30.00	-9.01
Allan Donald	330	22.25	30.50	-8.25
Waqar Younis	373	23.56	30.55	-6.99
Wasim Akram	414	23.62	30.37	-6.75
Courtney Walsh	519	24.44	30.04	-5.60

Where Steyn sets himself apart from McGrath, however, is via that incredible strike rate. Only Waqar Younis had a better strike rate differential than Steyn, but then Waqar was more expensive as well.

 

Where Steyn's versatility - owing probably to his mastery of reverse-swing - really become clear is when his figures in Asia are compared to those of the best visiting quicks through cricket's history. His raw average and strike rate in Asia is staggering enough, but throw the differential numbers in - that is, compare Steyn's stats to the mean for his era, while doing the same for the other non-Asian greats - he comes out ahead of the pack in terms of average.

 

On strike rate, Steyn and Wes Hall are well clear of the rest. Effectively, Steyn's wickets in Asia have come an astounding 28 balls closer together than they have for the average bowler in his era.

ESPNcricinfo's jury panel recently voted in McGrath as the right-arm quick in our Test team of the last 25 years, but given the above numbers, I would replace McGrath with Steyn, owing not only to Steyn's prowess on the toughest continent for quicks, but also because of the value he adds via his strike rate. A full fifth of McGrath's wickets had also come against minnows, by which of course I mean England 1994 through 2003.

Even Malcolm Marshall, whose record in Asia is what clinches him the "greatest fast bowler ever" tag, for many, was not quite as statistically dominant as Steyn has been there.

 

By now, it is clear that numbers-wise, Steyn has a strong claim to being the finest fast bowler of the last 30 years - in a fairly crowded field. He is also almost certainly the best non-Asian quick in Asian conditions. Among bowlers of any ilk with more than 200 wickets, from any era, Steyn's career strike rate of 41.6 is the best. If you are a captain in need of quick wickets, with minimal release of pressure, there is no better player to call on from your great-bowler rolodex than Steyn; he is the most aggressive great bowler there has been.

 

Strike Rates For Bowlers With Over 200 Wickets

Bowler	Innings	Wickets	Average	Strike rate
Dale Steyn	159	421	22.42	41.60
Waqar Younis	154	373	23.56	43.40
Malcolm Marshall	151	376	20.94	46.70
Alan Donald	129	330	22.25	47.00
Vernon Philander	103	205	21.54	48.60
Fred Trueman	127	307	21.57	49.40
Jeol Garner	111	259	20.97	50.80
Richard Hadlee	150	431	22.29	50.80

Finally, one more figure that puts Steyn in the league of the most sublime quicks to ever have borne down on batsmen: his record in victories. Aside from the first few years of his career, in which Australia dominated, South Africa have arguably been the best Test team in the world for a good portion of Steyn's career. In that time, no bowler has been more crucial to his team's success. In fact, few quicks have ever been as impactful for any team as Steyn. Of bowlers that played in the last 100 years, only Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan have better averages in victories (minimum: 100 wickets in wins). Steyn has more wickets in wins than the other top 15 bowlers (by average). It pretty much goes without saying by this stage that Steyn's strike rate is the best.

 

 

Fast Bowlers In Team Victories (Qual: 100 Wickets)

Bowler	Innings	Wickets	Average	Strike rate
Richard Hadlee	44	173	13.06	33.50
Imran Khan	46	155	14.50	38.29
Dale Steyn	88	293	16.10	31.50
Malcolm Marshall	86	254	16.78	38.10
Alan Donald	64	187	16.79	35.50
Curtly Ambrose	87	229	16.86	44.40
Vernon Philander	64	145	17.17	40.40
Fred Trueman	68	177	17.30	40.79

With all these numbers considered and put into historical context, Steyn's career comes out looking even more monstrous than perhaps he has got credit for. How many bowlers in history can claim to have dominated matches in Galle (in 2014), as well as at the Wanderers? There is stiff competition for the pace-bowling spots in an all-time XI, but having been the clear leader during his playing period, and having put up spectacular numbers despite playing in one of the most batting-friendly eras in history, he deserves to be part of any all-time XI conversation.

 

Link -http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/24128428/dale-steyn-greatest-fast-bowler-century

 

 

definitely one of the best ever bowlers.. Hope he goes out at the right time and retains his legacy.

[Rightarmfast]

Lets not forget that this guys has not been involved in any ball tampering or any other controversies ( I am not aware of, correct me if I am wrong ). So, even if waqar matches him in strike rate, his career was not as clean and his success maybe owed to other factors. 

 

And Steyn, although not express, has been generating impressive speeds throughout his career. Had it not been for his injury, Steyn would have been better. An absolute gem!

[Number]

My top 5 greatest test bowlers

1. Marshall

2. Akram Ambrose Steyn(no ordering)

3. McGrath 

[rkt.india]

1 hour ago, Number said:

My top 5 greatest test bowlers

1. Marshall

2. Akram Ambrose Steyn(no ordering)

3. McGrath 

Akram is overrated tailender killer and not better than Ambrose or McGrath. Ambrose Iwill keep in McGrath category. both were similar. Ambrose looked a bit quicker.  Have not seen Marshall, so, won't comment but among other four, Steyn is clearly the best with McGrath second in a close fight with Ambrose and Akram after them.  i am even tempted to put Allan Donald ahead of Akram.  Donald averages 20 in SC  though sample size is low, only 9 tests with 36 wickets.

Edited July 19, 2018 by rkt.india

[speedheat]

Styen, One of my favorite fast bowler of this century and 2000s decade, some of the others were

Bond

Lee

Akhtar

Jermaine Lawson

Stew harmison

Lasitha malibga

and Andy blignaut 

Edited July 19, 2018 by speedheat

[Rightarmfast]

Steyn has to be the best. On virtue of effectiveness. Plus, he has been express in the first of his career, post that, still been genuine quick. Akram is overrated. He could bamboozle batsmen, but he wasnt effective when it came to taking wickets of top order batsmen. 

[R!TTER]

Steyn

daylight

Mcgrath

daylight

the rest

 

I put Mcgrath lower because on his own he was mostly, but not always, ineffective in Asia, without Gillespie or Kasper Aus wouldn't have won the series in 2004, Gilly also played a major role. Mcgrath was the 3rd best bowler on display, Warne also had a great series, relatively speaking. Without Warne Aus wouldn't have won in SL or UAE either. Mcgrath tends to be overrated in Asia, he never had the impact that Steyn had nor the penetration. I'd pick Steyn anywhere & everywhere, over Pigeon, possibly with the exception of England & Aus. Mcgrath also had a slight fortune in that he retired before the advent of T20, his numbers would've been much worse in this era, especially LO games.

Edited July 19, 2018 by R!TTER

[Straight Drive]

Steyn is the ATG great, not just of this era. If he too had bowled on uncovered, underprepared wickets and batsman without protective gear of that era, he would have easily surpassed the SR of some of the old era great bowlers. 

[sriniwu]

2 hours ago, speedheat said:

Styen, One of my favorite fast bowler of this century and 2000s decade, some of the others were

Bond

Lee

Akhtar

Jermaine Lawson

Stew harmison

Lasitha malibga

and Andy blignaut 

andy blignaut :O  the poor man's poor version of klusener.. him and colin miller had the best hair colours

[Nikhil_cric]

There is no daylight difference between McGrath and Steyn. Both play in the 2000's era and were successful on some of the flattest pitches in the history of cricket. If Steyn had pace and late away swing, Mcgrath had the bounce,accuracy and the seam movement and of dead tracks, found enough pace and reverse as well. Also putting Ambrose in the same category as McGrath is flawed. Ambrose did not play test cricket after 2000 and a lot of matches were on broken tracks of the windies, green seamers i England etc. He would use his height and bounce to bowl accurately in a series without impact on flatter decks while turning up after the series was lost on a more helpful deck. Also, except for one tour of pakistan in 1990 or 1991, he never really took wickets in the SC. Mcgrath and steyn have done very well atleast in two three series.

[Moochad]

the article should be titled greatest of all time

[prinzo]

and England regards James Anderson as better then STEYN