Greatest fast bowler of all time??

[don_corleone840]

Mine is Glenn mcgrath

[vamos_rafa]

No Marshall in the options?

[vamos_rafa]

Mine is ambrose.

[Trichromatic]

How can you create best fast bowler thread without Marshall's name in it? :dontknow: Waqar and Garner, but no Marshall? Seriously?

[Raghav_12]

No Marshall.. what kind of poll is this? No fast bowling poll can be taken seriously if it doesn't have Marshall's name.

[Malcolm Merlyn]

No Malcolm Marshall?LoLfer..

[Executioner]

:hysterical: malcom marshal all they way, but MMW, steyn will be regarded as the best soon enough!

[Jersey #10]

Other: Vinay Kumar Actually i can't decide between him and Sreesanth.

[CSK Fanatic]

Waqar Younus seriously? Then Shoaib Akhtar also deserves to be in that list. Very underrated bowler indeed. Shoaib Akthar from Jan 2000 to Jan 2006 took 127 wickets @ 20.56 http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/42655.html?class=1;spanmax1=1+jan+2006;spanmin1=01+Jan+2000;spanval1=span;template=results;type=allround ^ Akhtar was injured in 2005-2006, otherwise he took 110 wickets @ 19.31 in 22 matches between 2000 to 2005. Waqar's peak was 1989-94, He took 190 wickets in 33 tests @ 19.15 http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/43543.html?class=1;spanmax1=01+Nov+1994;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling;view=innings It's only longevity factor that seperates them. Also keep in mind Akhtar played in era dominated by batsmen, Waqar's peak ended in 1995 when quality bats again started to appear. Waqar played on bowling friendly wickets, Akhtar played on National Highways. Waqar had support from other end. Akhtar got support only recently after arrival of Mohd Asif. Waqar played under great captain, Shoaib played under match fixers and crippled cricket board.

[Haarkarjeetgaye]

How can you leave out Joginder Shama, venkatesh Prasad, David Johnson, Thiru Kumaran. Id go with Joginder

[Sooda]

^ Oh that list is endless- Dodda Ganesh, Amit Bhandari, Prashant Vaidya, Paras Mhambrey ...

[Harsh Thakor]

Greatest fast bowlers of all time This is my overall selection of 10 best pace bowlers in order of merit.Readers please give feedback.Here I have combined statistical performances with bowling skill.Marshall and Mcgrath had great career peformances,while Lille,Imran and Hadlee had great match performances.In skill Wasim Akram was a giant,but Marshall was the most lethal.Mcgrath had more variations than Hadlee and more disconcerting bounce.Hadlee could not produce his best on flat surfaces.The placings of Marshall and Lillee can easily be reversed and those betweenImran,Hadlee,Wasim and Mcgrath similarly. 1.Dennis Lillee- classically the most complete pace bowler of all,with a huge repertoire of deliveries ,including a vicious leg-cutter and outswinger.Adding wickets in Packer Cricket and against Rest of the World,has 458 scalps in 89 tests at a phenomenal average of 5 wickets per test.Had better match performances than any post -war paceman ,bar Richard Hadlee.Brillaint against great West India,English and Pakistan batting line ups and the best paceman in World series cricket against the likes of Viv and Barry Richards. 2.1.Malcolm Marshall- posessed a phenomenal statistical record capturing 342 wickets at an average of 19.8 and strike rate of 45 balls per wicket,in his peak era from 1983-91.Posessed the most lethal skidding bouncer bad and could double the pace of his deliveries after impact like no other pace bowler.Above all overshadowed all the great West Indian paceman like Holding and Garner.With Mcgrath,had the best career performances of any post-war paceman. 3.Sydney Barnes- stats of 189 wickets in 27 tests at 16 runs per wicket speak for themselves. 4.Glen Mcgrath- The ultimate bowling metronome in terms of consistency both in statistics and in skill.Had an almost identical statistical performances in both halves of his career.No paceman had as much control in his era.In terms of career performances a giant,on par with Marshall. 5.Richard Hadlee- -The best paceman on a green top who posessed more control than any pace .bowler with Mcgrath.Statistically the best pace bowler of all amongst those who captured over 25o wickets with the best match performances,match-winning average and 10 and 5 wicket hauls In his peak period better than any great paceman of the modern era statistically.His weakness was his inability to be outstanding on flat tracks like Lillle,Imran or Marshall and to often go on the defensive when the conditions were favouring the batsman or the batsman were on the offensive. 6.Ray Lindwall- Posessed more skill than Dennis Lillee,with greater control pace and movement.Bowled on the flattest tracks in an era when the pitches were loaded in favour of the batsman and strike rates were not high.Yet he average 23.03. 7.Wasim Akram- he most versatile and skilled pace bowler of all and the best of all one day International paceman.No pace bowler produced such lethal reverse swing and had such a great range of variations.Championed the sub-continent tacks where he captured 211 scalps. 8.Imran Khan- In his peak period a giant amongst paceman with the best strike rate and average.The pioneer of reverse swing.One of the greatest match-winners 9.Curtly Ambrose- the best paceman on broken wickets and best match-winner in 4th innings.Amongst the most accurate paceman of alltime,who produced viscious bounce.At his best the best match-winner of his time as apace bolwer like when producing match-winning spells against South Africa at Barbados in 1992 and England at Port of Spain in 1994.In addition he was outsatnding at Perth in 1992-93 capturing 7 wickets for 1 run. 10.Waqar Younus In the fist half of his career statistically the best fast bowler who captured over 200 wicket.sWaqar has the best strike rate of all and was the fastest bowler of his era with devastating yorkers.However the majority of his wickets came against weaker sides like Sri Lanka,New Zealand and Zimbabwe and Akram had better performances against Australia,West Indies and England.Waqar was simply not the same bowler in the latter half of his career.

[Harsh Thakor]

Greatest pace bowlers statistically Below are my top 10 list of performers amongst pace bowlers in order of merit of statistical performances in test matches. 1.Richard Hadlee-36- 5wkt hauls,11 -10 wicket hauls, best match performance ratings and 330 wickets in 60 tests at his peak. At 19 runs average and 47 run strike rate.Also best average amongst bowlers in wins taking 173 wickets at 13 runs per wicket .Outstanding since he bore the brunt of a weak attack. 2.Imran Khan-At his best the best pace bowler in the world and the best against West Indies,Champion on the sub-continent and missed 3 years due to injury from 1983-85.In peak period performed better than Lillee.Top haul of top quality wickets.From 1980-88 captured 236 wickets at an average of 17.44 at a strike rate of 43.8.2nd best average in wins with 155 wickets at 14 runs apiece. 3.Dennis Lillee-Add packer wickets and matches v Rest of the World would be 2nd only to Mcgrath having a haul of 458 wickets in 89 tests,and the best match performances by any paceman bar Hadlee. 4. Malcom Marshall-best strike rate and average of the modern greats and the best of his era.342 wickets in 69 tests at 45 strike rate and average of 19 runs. 2nd Highest percentage of wickets in test wins than any bowler of his time and highest average by any pace bowler in wins of those who have taken over 200 wickets in wins. 5.Glen Mcgrath.-Metronome of consistency. Averaged 21.6 at around 52 strike rate for bothhalves of his career.Great haul of top order wickets and the greatest percentage of wickets in matches won . 6.Curtly Ambrose-The best match-winner in 4th innings and captured mainly top order wickets. great bowling average as we all a average in wins.Better record than Wasim Akram in test wins and better bowling average and haul of wickets in wins than Waqar and Wasim. 7.Waqar Younus-In the first half of his career stats wise in the Marshall class in terms of strike rate and average ,Later declined. 8. Wasim Akram-In his peak the best statistically fast bowler of his time capturing 211wickets in wins had the best average and haul of wickets in his prime period amongst paceman. and a champion on the sub-continent. 9. Fred Trueman-In his time the best paceman ever amongst genuine quick bowlers in terms of stats. Averaged 21,48 taking 307 scalps in 67 tests. 10.Alan Donald- Brilliant strike rate of 47 balls per wicket and brilliant career average in wins.Great match-winner. There is a lot of difference between analyzing a bowler in three different aspects. The 1st one is his bowling skill, the 2nd one is his pure statistics of average and strike rate etc and the 3rd his performance analysis which counts his match performances +career performances. An important point is whether the peak period should be considered as opposed to the period where the bowler has not been at his best. With regards to performance analysis as well as performance in terms of wickets haul in peak period Richard Hadlee comes out on top having the best match performances 5 and 10 wkt hauls,and performance in peak period. In match performances Dennis Lillee is very close but 2nd in overall performance analysis. However if you add his Packer and wickets for Rest of the World Lillee would come much closer to Hadlee.Third in performance analysis is Imran Khan who at his best period had the best strike rate and average of any pace bowler and overall match performances almost as good as Lillee. Imran was the best performer against the West Indies.4th is Malcolm Marshall in performance analysis,just edging Glen Mcgrath. Mcgrath is an epitome of consistency while in his peak from 1983 to 1991 MarshallÃÔ performance was 2nd to only Hadlee in terms of wickets per test.The greatest match winners were Malcolm Marshall and Glen McGrath in terms of matches won but in averages Hadlee and Imran have the lowest averages. To me capturing 330 wickets in 60 tests at his peak at 19.2 average and a strike rate of 47 puts Hadlee ahead of Imran ,Marshall and Lillee at the peak of their careers. Above all Hadlee bore the brunt of a weak attack. Considering Imran missed 3 years due to injury, captured over 200 of his scalps on the subcontinentÃÔ placid pitches and was the best performer against the West Indies,I place him above Lillee as a performer.I will always add LilleeÃÔ Packer wickets .Overall Lillee has better match performances than Marshall and McGrath .However Marshall is better on strike rate and average, while McGrath has a better average . Curtly Ambrose is ahead of Akram because he has a better average and more top order wickets and better performances in games won.Younus edges Akram because of his extraordinary strike rate. Overall on pure statistical performance analysis Richard Hadlee is the best pace bowler of the modern era.I have not considered the prewar era or the period of Sydney Barnes.Imran Khan is his greatest challenger. 1.Match Performance and Career performances Match Performances (Maximum 40 points) ËÉow derived The following factors are used to analyze the match performances of bowlers. The total points secured is divided by the number of innspells (my own term indicating a qualifying bowling stint, taking care to exclude bowling efforts such as 5-0-17-0 et al). Base points - Wickets captured - Balls bowled - to recognize long spells - Batsmen dismissed - based on his score at time of dismissal Multiplicative factors - Overall quality of batting team (primarily top-7 batsmen) - Bowling accuracy (relative to the innings scoring rate) - Match-related pitch characteristics - An adjustment for pace bowlers bowling in the Asian subcontinent and spinners bowling outside - Match situation - Home/Away (incorporating relative team strengths) - Result (incorporating relative team strengths) - Series situation B. Career Achievements (Maximum 40 points) This is an equally important aspect of any such analysis. It also encompasses aspects of bowling which do not require consideration of the match conditions or situation. The only longevity measure is the "Career wickets captured" measure, carrying 5 points (6.2%). This will incorporate the following factors. - Career wickets captured (5 points) - Career wickets per innspell (5 points) - Bowling Strike rate-BpW (10 points) - Bowling accuracy-RpO (5 points) - Average Quality of batsmen dismissed - based on CtD bat avge (5 points) - Type of wickets captured - Top/Middle order/Late order (5 points) - Performance ratio - % of wickets captured to % of balls bowled (5 points). Below I have instated the match,performance points,and then the overall points adding career performances.in terms of merit.This was evaluated by Ananth Narayana of cricinfo in May 2009. 1.Richard Hadlee-22.03,54.46 2.Dennis Lillee-53.18,21.83 3.Imran Khan-52.7,21.36 4.Malcom Marshall-50.85-18.99 5.Glen Mcgrath.-50.8-18.94 Generally Dennis Lillee and Malcolm Marshall are rated the greatest of all the pace bowlers and to some McGrath is their main rival or even conqueror. What is strange here is the closeness between Hadlee,Imran and Lillee and their margin of superiority to both Mcgrath and Marshall who are neck to neck.Infact one would have thought Marshall,and Mcgrath to be neck to neck with Lillee and instead it is Imran and Hadlee.In my view playing for such strong champion teams could have been disadvantage for Marshall and McGrath in the match performance ratings. 2.Career performance ratings(made in 2010 by Ananth Narayan on different basis) The following measures are used. 1. Wickets captured. 2. Bowling strike rate (Bpw). 3. Bowling accuracy (Rpo). (These two are components of the Bowling average, but have been considered independently). 4. Quality of wickets captured (Average of dismissed batsmen's batting averages) 5. Away bowling average. 6. % of top order wickets captured. 7. Team load borne by bowler (balls bowled and wickets captured). 8. Ratio of bowling average to peer bowling average - all teams. 9. Ratio of bowling average to peer bowling average - other bowlers of own team. 10.Win index (Combination of two ratios)- (% of win wickets to career wickets and % of win wickets to team win wickets). ranking in order of merit below 1.Mcgrath-85.38 2.Hadlee-84.89 3.Marshall-83.36 4.Ambrose?2.72 5.Imran-81.00 In this analysis what is most significant is Lillee and Imran going so low and McGrath elevated to the top.Both benefited being the highest match-winners but that is sizably assisted by the teams they played for.Imran has the best quality of wickets with Lillee ,while Hadlee tops in his superiority over his team peers and load he bore.Had LilleeÃÔ Packer wickets and Rest of the Wold games scalps been added Lillee would have been level with Marshall. rankings in In peak period- put in order, number of test matches played,no of wickets, bowling average, and strike rate. 1.Richard Hadlee(1978-88) 330 ,60,19.57 ,48.4,19.5 2.Malcolm Marshall(1983-1991)-342 ,69,44.9,19.8 3.Imran Khan(1980-88)-236,48,43.6,17.8 4.Dennis Lillee(1976-1982) 202,57 ,47.8,22.29(adding Packer Games average would be around 23,with 281 scalps with strike rate around 48) 5.Wasim Akram(1990-1998).240,48,46.4,20.o5 Ambrose and Mcgrath stood out for their consistency and in their peak times did not equal the garets described above.In his peak time Wasim Akram was better than Ambrose, Waqar, McGrath and Donald. In every aspect and only is strike reat per wicket was Waqar Younus better. Percentage of wickets in test wins 1. Glen Mcgrath-74 2. Malcolm Marshall-67 3. Younus-59.5 4. Dennis Lillee-57.18 5. Alan Donald-56.7 Best Averages in test wins 1.Hadlee-13.06 2.Imran-14.05 3=.Marshall-16.8 3=.Alan Donald-16.8 5.Ambrose-16.9