Donald vs. McGrath

[zen]

At the beginning of the 90s, the stalwarts of 80s - Marshall and Hadlee, retired. Curtly Ambrose bowled some unbelievable spells. Who knows how unbelivable his record would have been if he had the opportunity to play more tests at his best in the early to mid 90s period.  The Wasim-Waqar bowling pair made news as well. 

 

View overall figures [change view]

Primary team Australia  or Pakistan  or South Africa  or West Indies

Opposition team Australia  or England  or India  or New Zealand  or Pakistan  or South Africa  or Sri Lanka  or West Indies

Start of match date between 1 Jan 1990 and 31 Dec 1999

Type of bowler (by style) pace bowler

Qualifications wickets taken greater than or equal to 50  and bowling average less than or equal to 26

Ordered by bowling average (ascending)

Page 1 of 1

Showing 1 - 13 of 13

First Previous

Next  Last

Return to query menu Cleared query menu

Overall figures

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	5	10
BA Reid (AUS)	1990-1992	9	15	365.3	86	948	51	7/51	13/148	18.58	2.59	43.0	5	2
CEL Ambrose (WI)	1990-1999	71	128	2691.2	728	6224	309	8/45	11/84	20.14	2.31	52.2	21	3
SM Pollock (SA)	1995-1999	36	63	1338.4	380	3138	147	7/87	9/103	21.34	2.34	54.6	9	0
Wasim Akram (PAK)	1990-1999	52	93	1955.3	432	5203	242	7/119	11/160	21.50	2.66	48.4	13	2
AA Donald (SA)	1992-1999	56	99	2063.5	511	5969	270	7/84	12/139	22.10	2.89	45.8	18	2
JN Gillespie (AUS)	1996-1999	14	24	371.0	106	1108	50	7/37	9/102	22.16	2.98	44.5	3	0
Waqar Younis (PAK)	1990-1999	47	85	1530.4	303	4923	219	7/76	12/130	22.47	3.21	41.9	16	4
GD McGrath (AUS)	1993-1999	57	110	2272.0	623	5996	260	8/38	10/78	23.06	2.63	52.4	15	1
MD Marshall (WI)	1990-1991	15	27	452.5	91	1177	50	4/24	6/86	23.54	2.59	54.3	0	0
DW Fleming (AUS)	1994-1999	17	32	596.1	128	1719	71	5/30	9/91	24.21	2.88	50.3	3	0
PS de Villiers (SA)	1993-1998	18	34	800.5	221	2063	85	6/23	10/108	24.27	2.57	56.5	5	2
IR Bishop (WI)	1990-1998	39	69	1264.1	250	3539	145	6/40	8/57	24.40	2.79	52.3	5	0
CA Walsh (WI)	1990-1999	78	143	3013.1	624	7895	304	7/37	13/55	25.97	2.62	59.4	13	1

 

 

The year 2000 saw Ambrose retire. Wasim-Waqar still competed in the 2000s before phasing themselves out. Therefore, McGrath did not have competition from the 90s bowlers. However, Steyn emerged as the great bowler in this decade. 

 

View overall figures [change view]

Primary team Australia  or Pakistan  or South Africa  or West Indies

Opposition team Australia  or England  or India  or New Zealand  or Pakistan  or South Africa  or Sri Lanka  or West Indies

Start of match date between 1 Jan 2000 and 31 Dec 2009

Type of bowler (by style) pace bowler

Qualifications wickets taken greater than or equal to 50  and bowling average less than or equal to 26

Ordered by bowling average (ascending)

Page 1 of 1

Showing 1 - 7 of 7

First Previous

Next  Last

Return to query menu Cleared query menu

Overall figures

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	5	10
CA Walsh (WI)	2000-2001	18	32	806.4	251	1701	84	6/61	10/117	20.25	2.10	57.6	5	1
GD McGrath (AUS)	2000-2007	63	125	2475.3	804	5934	289	8/24	10/27	20.53	2.39	51.3	14	2
Mohammad Asif (PAK)	2005-2009	15	29	558.4	132	1680	73	6/44	11/71	23.01	3.00	45.9	5	1
Shoaib Akhtar (PAK)	2000-2007	28	47	796.1	142	2723	117	6/11	11/78	23.27	3.42	40.8	10	1
SR Clark (AUS)	2006-2009	23	46	828.4	224	2166	93	5/32	9/89	23.29	2.61	53.4	2	0
DW Steyn (SA)	2004-2009	30	55	1032.0	181	3745	150	6/49	10/91	24.96	3.62	41.2	10	3
SM Pollock (SA)	2000-2008	64	123	2488.4	764	6100	242	6/30	10/147	25.20	2.45	61.7	6	1

 

 

For me, Ambrose wins the battle of the bowlers of 90s. However, the discussion is b/w Donald and McGrath, the two top pace bowlers of the sides that were at the top for the most parts during the 90s and 00s. Who would be your top pick b/w the two in tests?

 

 

[MechEng]

McGrath > Ambrose > Donald.

 

McGrath is the greatest bowler to play the game, he was not as lethal as Ambrose or Donald but had more concentration power and patience than both to bowl long testing spells. McGrath will not knock your head or injure your toe but you fear him because he can get you out anytime.

 

Ambrose was 10 kph slower than Donald on average but his weapon was the steep bounce where he can get the ball to shoot up to forehead from fuller lengths.

[zen]

B/w McGrath and Donald, I will go w/ Donald 

[Nikola]

McGrath for me. If any batsman will have biggest test of his technique then it will be against mcgrath imo. I would actually enjoy watching donald's few spells more than mcgrath's at times but if i got to pick only one in my playing xi then will be mcgrath.

[zen]

I like many of the deliveries below that leave the batsmen wondering:

 

 

 

 

Amazing spell below (clueless umpire):

 

 

 

 

Another superb delivery:

 

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

any day mcgrath

[Gollum]

McGrath, but I may be biased since I missed peak Donald years.

[zen]

1 hour ago, Gollum said:

McGrath, but I may be biased since I missed peak Donald years.

Donald is relatively an underrated bowler (and there were no cricket forums in the 90s). If you look at Aus-SA games involving both Donald and McGrath, Donald was a relatively bigger factor for SA and that too when bowling to a stronger Aus batting line up. While SA were more concerned about Warne, who used to pick bucket load of wkts. When Warne used to come to bowl in SA, the stadium used to get quiet on many occasions 

 

Has owned India too on a quite a few occasion .... One of our worst test performances: Link 

 

 

^ Yorkers to get rid of Ganguly and Raman

 

 

 

 

[maniac]

^ @Rasgulla spotted around 04:57 in the above video

[maniac]

That was some terrible batting. Absolutely phattu batting.

 

Sachin as usual unlucky as it had to be a blinder to get him out

 

 

Srinath  

 

Rathour,Raman,David Johnson
 

Azhar and Mongia

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zen]

Not picking up too many wkts here but softens the Waugh brothers, among the best players of fast bowling, with a hostile spell. Both hv runs under their belt but look like they are just at the crease  .... on another day, could have had a 5-er (though gets Steve in the end. But credit also to Steve for fighting it out. Shows what a valuable batsman he is esp. when teams such as Ind could fold up easily vs. such bowling by Donald)

 

 

[rtmohanlal]

Ambrose ,Mgrath, Donald in that order... would place Mcgrath  slightly better to Donald because of longevity .And Mcgrath had the benefit of Warne at the other end while Donald didn't have. On lots of occasions  against teams like SAF,ENG & NZL ,  Mcgrath benefitted a lot from Warne at the other end.

 

[Jimmy Cliff]

McGrath had the better career but Donald at his peak is more likely to run through a side.

[zen]

18 hours ago, maniac said:

That was some terrible batting. Absolutely phattu batting.

 

Sachin as usual unlucky as it had to be a blinder to get him out

 

 

In the first inning, Ind was poor too. Bowled out for 100 .... And below is Sachin's wicket:

 

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by zen

[zen]

Below Pak bowled out for 106 and 134 - Link

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by zen

[maniac]

I think it was the Ganguly or Raman dismissal above, the commentator calls Donald the fastest bowler in the world and it makes total sense.

 

Donald in that time frame was handsdown the fastest in the world. Between I would say 1993-1997 and as hostile as any of the bowlers from the 70s and 80s

He was  way faster consistently than the 2 Ws,2 C’s, Mcgrath and Srinath.

 

I think 2-3 years after this era we had Bond,Akthar and Lee who kind of set a different benchmark for express pace for years to come.

 

I remember having a discussion about this with @express bowling and @rkt.india

[diga]

22 hours ago, MultiB48 said:

Warne played a big role as well,Donald or Ambrose didn't have someone like him to back up in case they failed to take wickets with the new ball.

Donald did have a good record.  By the time SA were admitted back to the world cricket , Donald was already 27 or so I think and played a few tests till the emergence of Pollock 3 years later, who played more of a holding role ..

 

Also note that SA played fewer tests back then compared to Aus.   

[diga]

On 4/3/2020 at 5:41 AM, zen said:

Donald is relatively an underrated bowler (and there were no cricket forums in the 90s). If you look at Aus-SA games involving both Donald and McGrath, Donald was a relatively bigger factor for SA and that too when bowling to a stronger Aus batting line up. While SA were more concerned about Warne, who used to pick bucket load of wkts. When Warne used to come to bowl in SA, the stadium used to get quiet on many occasions 

 

Has owned India too on a quite a few occasion .... One of our worst test performances: Link 

^ Yorkers to get rid of Ganguly and Raman

I think that test marked Dravid's entry as the No-3 for India.. Next test he went on to score his first test century if I remember

[zen]

25 minutes ago, diga said:

I think that test marked Dravid's entry as the No-3 for India.. Next test he went on to score his first test century if I remember

Dravid batted at 3 in the 3rd test 

Edited April 4, 2020 by zen

[diga]

52 minutes ago, zen said:

Dravid batted at 3 in the 3rd test 

That 27* not out  in the 2nd test paved the way  for promotion to no-3