Richard Hadlee-the statistical giant

[Harsh Thakor]

Statistically,Richard Hadlee is the best pace bowler of all time.This is my list in terms of pure statistical rating. 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.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 . 3. 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. 4.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. 5.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. 6.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. 7. 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. 8..Waqar Younus-In the first half of his career stats wise in the Marshall class in terms of strike rate and average ,Later declined. 9.Alan Donald- Brilliant strike rate of 47 balls per wicket and brilliant career average in wins.Great match-winner 10. 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. 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

[ravishingravi]

Seems like you have had lot of pent up thoughts on this subject.

[panther]

akram really declined in his last 2-3 years of cricket was averaging around 30

[vvvslaxman]

Seems like you have had lot of pent up thoughts on this subject.

and lot of time :cantstop:

[Sidhoni]

and lot of time :cantstop:

:haha:

[Raghav_12]

and lot of time :cantstop:

well, if he is not ctrl-c ctrl-v-ing stuff (though unlikely), than hats-off to him..

[Crookbond]

Wrong timing but I like the effort in the posts anyway.