Who were the 15 statistically best fast bowlers of all time ??

[Harsh Thakor]

Here I am making a list of the 12 best fast bowlers in test cricket statistically .Not rating them in regard of pure class or ability bit only statistically.

12 statistically best fast bowlers ranked in order of merit in tests.

Richard Hadlee

Dennis Lillee
Glen Mcgrath
Malcolm Marshall
Dale Steyn
Curtly Ambrose
Alan Donald
Imran Khan
Fred Trueman
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younus

Joel Garner
Alan Davidson/Courtney Walsh

Shaun Pollock

Hadlee on top because of 36- five wicket hauls and 11 -10 wicket hauls in addition to capturing 5 wickets per test.Also great strike rate of 50.9 and average of 22.29.Averaged around 13 in games won which is remarkable.In peak era better than Marshall,Lillee or Imran in terms of scalps ,taking 330 wickets in 60 tests..Also has a 9 wicket haul. in an innings.

 

Lillee  2nd as adding WSC supertests and matches v Rest of the World had 31 - 5 and  7-10 wicket hauls with  460 scalps capturing wickets at a rtae of 5 wickets per test., Slightly expensive averaging 23.92 overall.Morally his best figures were his 8-29 v Rest of the world in 1972 and 7.23 v West Indies in WSC cricket in 1978.

 

Mcgrath 3rd because of staggering haul of 563 scalps.and capturing 8 wickets in an innings twice.Also great average of 21.63 and participating in a winning cause in 71 tests - more than any pacemen.

 

Marshall 4th because of phenomenal strike rate of 46.7 and average of 20.94 . as well as great average and haul of wickets in matches won .Still not so many 5 or 10 wkt.hauls.

 

Steyn 5th because of fantastic strike rate. of around 43.Not such a great average but very economical.

 

Ambrose 6th because of average of 20.99 but a low strike rate comparatively. Ambrose has a phenomenal best figures and best  average of his era  in games won.

 

Donald 7th because of great strike rate of 47 and great average of 22.25  but not so many scalps.

 

Imran at 8 because of his great best figures ,taking 7 or more wickets 5 times ,including taking 2 -8 wicket hauls.In peak era Imran was arguably best of all.

 

 

Trueman at 9 because of great average of around 21 and number of tests in which he captured 300 scalps.

 

 

Wasim because of over 400 scalps and best bowler of his era in peak period with many 5 and 10 wicket hauls.In peak era better average and strike rate than Ambrose or Donald.

 

Waqar because of great strike rate and fantastic peak era..Captured 200 wickets as quickly as Lillee.

 

Garner because of his phenomenal average of 20.97 ,although his strike rate or best figures were not so great.

 

Davidson because of extraordinary average of 20.58.Walsh on par with Davidson because  of his great haul of 519 wickets with an average of under 25.

 

 

Shaun Pollock because  of his great average of around 21 with over 400 scalps.

 

I left out Sydney Barnes although he was the greatest in statistical terms because he may not have even been classed as fast -medium.


 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Harsh Thakor

[zen]

Hadlee esp. considering the impact that he made for NZ 

[Khota]

Once again cricket statistics mean nothing the way they are done. Statistics for bowling without assigning weight to batsman wickets means nothing.