Who wa s the best fast bowler of the modern era?Wasim,Ambrose or Mcgrath

[Harsh Thakor]

I don't think there has been an era of test cricket when 3 great paceman were so close to each other at the top in test match cricket.Wasim Akram,Glen Mcgrath and Curtly Ambrose reminded you a of 3 racehorse involved in a photo-finish almost ending in a dead heat. For pure consistency over a prolonged period Glen Mcgrath's supremacy is unrivalled.His domination was the equivalent of an army consistently winning war after war.No great paceman posessed more control and he posessed ever component,be it pace,swing or control.In terms of bowling art and skill Wasim Akram reached depths of unparalleled genius.No paceman ever were as innovative or could do as much with a cricket ball as Wasim.Wasim mastered the art of reverse swing and literally was a magician .For sheer accuracy Curtly Ambrose was the king who bowled more match-wining spells arguably than any pace bowler in the history of test cricket.Arguably no paceman ever could rip through a batting line up to win games like Ambrose.He reminded you of 9 pins being skittled at his best skimming though the opposition with the ferocity of a tiger..He was relentless like no other paceman. If I had to evaluate the race in terms of statistics Glen Mcgrath would top the list with Curtly Ambrose in 2nd place and Wasim Akram in 3rd.Macgrath and Ambrose have a better bolwing average than Wasim.Both Mcgrath and Ambrose captured more top order wickets than Wasim and performed better in wins.If it came down to bowling skill combining factors of speed ,movement and variations Wasim would easily win the race.For pure hostility Ambrose breathed fire in full flow while Glen Mcgrath was the ultimate bowling metronome in along spell.If I evaluated all 3 bowling at their best it would be a photo between Wasim and Ambrose the former displaying magic while the latter looking like a tornado erupting.At his best remember Curtly's match winning 7-33 at Perth in 1992-93,6-52 v,South Africa at Barbados in 1992,8,54 v England at Barbados in 1990 or 6-46 v England at Trinidad in 1994. Ambrose was at his best in the 4th innings on wickets that had cracked as he showed when winning test matches with the opposition needing low targets against England and South Africa.He came steaming in like a Greek God breathing fore leaving his opponents dumbfounded. In the final analysis for the selection in an all-time 1st xi I would still think Wasim is more eligible than Mcgrath or Ambrose with his left arm variety..Above all Wasim Akram proved his skill on the flat subcontinent tracks which Ambrose did not.On a dead,docile pitch Wasim would overshadow Mcgrath or Ambrose with his mastery of swing and variations.On a pure cricket pitch Mcgrath's control and consistency would triumph.On a broke track Curtly is the bset paceman I have ever seen.Mcgrath had the advantage of playing for a champion.Imagine Wasim bowling to an Australian field or Ambrose a part of a great Australian team.If I had to separate them in a photo in pure test cricket then my order would be Mcgrath at 1 ,Ambrose at 2 and Akram at 3.If I considered one day Cricket them Wasim would be at the top.Remember Lara and Kallis rated Arma the best pace bowler they ever faced. True in terms of statistics Waqar Younus,Alan Donald Dale Steyn come into the reckoning bit I still don’t rate these three as equals to Mcgrath,Wasim and Ambrose. Not surprisingly, Akram remains one of the most potent matchwinners in Tests for Pakistan. In the 41 wins that he was a part of, he took 211 wickets at an average which compares well with the best in the business. Best bowling averages in Test wins (Qual: 200 wickets) Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM Muttiah Muralitharan 53 430 16.03 42.6 40/ 18 Malcolm Marshall 43 254 16.78 38.1 17/ 4 Curtly Ambrose 44 229 16.86 44.4 13/ 3 Waqar Younis 39 222 18.20 35.0 14/ 4 Dennis Lillee 31 203 18.27 39.0 17/ 6 Shaun Pollock 49 223 18.30 47.5 9/ 1 Wasim Akram 41 211 18.48 42.3 13/ 2 Anil Kumble 43 288 18.75 44.4 20/ 5 Like most fast bowlers from Pakistan, Akram too mastered the art of bowling grassless pitches, where reverse swing becomes a most potent weapon. He is one of only four bowlers to take more than 150 wicketsin Pakistan, while in the three major subcontinent countries, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, his average was marginally better than his overall career average. Best Test fast bowlers in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (Qual: 100 wkts) Bowler Tests Wkts Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM Imran Khan 51 205 20.28 48.8 12/ 3 Waqar Younis 41 191 21.07 39.2 13/ 4 Wasim Akram 57 211 22.67 52.9 11/ 1 Shoaib Akhtar 26 108 24.87 45.2 6/ 1 Javagal Srinath 35 116 26.43 55.0 6/ 1 Chaminda Vaas 71 230 27.54 62.4 6/ 1 Kapil Dev 86 279 29.01 59.8 14/ 2 Zaheer Khan 38 107 38.12 69.2 2/ 0 Through most of his career, Akram formed a destructive fast-bowling combination with Waqar: in the 61 Tests they played together, Akram averaged 21.33, with 20 five-fors and four ten-wicket hauls; in the 43 Tests he played without Waqar, his averaged fell to 28.50, and he only managed five five-fors. His wickets per Tests too dropped to 3.07 per match, from 4.62 when the bowled with Waqar. Some of that was also because the periods he bowled without Waqar were also during the first and last parts of his career, when he wasn't at his most potent. Best Test bowlers in wins (Qual: 200 wickets) Bowler Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM Muttiah Muralitharan 53 430 16.03 42.6 40/ 18 Malcolm Marshall 43 254 16.78 38.1 17/ 4 Curtly Ambrose 44 229 16.86 44.4 13/ 3 Waqar Younis 39 222 18.20 35.0 14/ 4 Dennis Lillee 31 203 18.27 39.0 17/ 6 Shaun Pollock 49 223 18.30 47.5 9/ 1 Wasim Akram 41 211 18.48 42.3 13/ 2 Anil Kumble 43 288 18.75 44.4 20/ 5 Glenn McGrath 84 414 19.19 47.7 18/ 3 Courtney Walsh 52 239 19.72 46.2 10/ 2 . Percentage of top-order and lower-order wickets Bowler Positions 1-6 Percentage Positions 9-11 Percentage Malcolm Marshall 238 63.30 66 17.55 Glenn McGrath 377 66.96 99 17.58 Allan Donald 222 67.27 62 18.79 Curtly Ambrose 258 63.70 78 19.26 Richard Hadlee 262 60.79 86 19.95 Waqar Younis 234 62.73 79 21.18 Imran Khan 229 63.26 77 21.27 Wasim Akram 233 56.28 115 27.78 1. Career wickets captured Bowler Value Points Muralitharan M 800 10.00 Warne S.K 708 8.85 Kumble A 619 7.74 McGrath G.D 563 7.04 Kapil Dev N 434 5.43 Hadlee R.J 431 5.39 Wasim Akram 414 5.18 Ambrose C.E.L 405 5.06 Marshall M.D 376 4.70 Waqar Younis 373 4.66 Imran Khan 362 4.53 Lillee D.K 355 4.44 Donald A.A 330 4.12 Trueman F.S 307 3.84 Garner J 259 3.24 This table is self-explanatory. 2. Bowling strike rate (Bpw) Bowler Value Points Waqar Younis 43.49 10.00 Marshall M.D 46.77 9.30 Donald A.A 47.03 9.24 Trueman F.S 49.44 8.72 Hadlee R.J 50.85 8.42 Garner J 50.87 8.41 McGrath G.D 51.95 8.18 Lillee D.K 52.02 8.17 Imran Khan 53.75 7.79 Ambrose C.E.L 54.58 7.62 Wasim Akram 54.66 7.60 Muralitharan M 55.05 7.52 Warne S.K 57.49 6.99 Kapil Dev N 63.92 5.61 Kumble A 66.00 5.16 Waqar Younis is the bowler with the lowest strike rate. It is not surprising to see that the three spinners and Kapil Dev prop up the table, although Muralitharan and Warne are not too far from Wasim Akram. 3. Bowling accuracy (Rpo) Bowler Value Points Ambrose C.E.L 2.31 10.00 Garner J 2.47 9.12 Muralitharan M 2.48 9.10 McGrath G.D 2.50 8.98 Imran Khan 2.55 8.74 Wasim Akram 2.59 8.49 Trueman F.S 2.62 8.35 Hadlee R.J 2.63 8.29 Warne S.K 2.65 8.18 Marshall M.D 2.69 7.99 Kumble A 2.70 7.95 Lillee D.K 2.76 7.61 Kapil Dev N 2.78 7.49 Donald A.A 2.84 7.19 Waqar Younis 3.25 5.02 One would have expected a spinner like Murali to head this table. It is a surprise that the often-underrated Ambrose is on top with a Rpo value of 2.31. Waqar Younis has topped the previous table and is propping up this table. 4. Average quality of wickets captured Bowler Value Points Imran Khan 25.76 10.00 Lillee D.K 24.58 9.54 Kapil Dev N 23.83 9.25 Hadlee R.J 23.64 9.18 Marshall M.D 22.97 8.92 Garner J 22.18 8.61 Kumble A 20.51 7.96 Waqar Younis 20.34 7.89 Muralitharan M 20.27 7.87 Donald A.A 20.06 7.79 Ambrose C.E.L 20.01 7.77 Wasim Akram 19.56 7.59 McGrath G.D 19.22 7.46 Warne S.K 18.48 7.17 Trueman F.S 17.80 6.91 Imran Khan's wickets were of high quality as proved by his high placing here. Warne's and McGrath's low placing is the result of many late order wickets and the fact that they played for a very strong batting lineup. Muralitharan is also pulled down by the number of wickets against the weaker teams. However his figures are still higher than those of Warne. 5. Away wicket bowling average Bowler Value Points Garner J 20.33 10.00 Ambrose C.E.L 20.39 9.98 McGrath G.D 21.23 9.70 Marshall M.D 22.25 9.35 Hadlee R.J 22.37 9.31 Donald A.A 23.51 8.93 Wasim Akram 23.97 8.77 Lillee D.K 24.18 8.70 Warne S.K 25.27 8.33 Trueman F.S 26.16 8.04 Imran Khan 26.29 7.99 Waqar Younis 26.29 7.99 Muralitharan M 27.02 7.74 Kapil Dev N 32.69 5.83 Kumble A 37.36 4.26 Garner has captured his away wickets at an incredible average of 20.33, closely followed by Ambrose with an away average of 20.39. In fact Garner, Ambrose, McGrath and Warne have an away bowling average which is better than their home bowling average. Kumble's away bowling average was abysmal. Look at the huge daylight which exists between Murali and Kapil/Kumble. 6. % of top order wickets captured Bowler Value Points McGrath G.D 0.501 10.00 Donald A.A 0.497 9.92 Kapil Dev N 0.494 9.84 Ambrose C.E.L 0.475 9.46 Lillee D.K 0.468 9.33 Imran Khan 0.462 9.21 Trueman F.S 0.453 9.04 Marshall M.D 0.445 8.87 Hadlee R.J 0.439 8.75 Waqar Younis 0.437 8.72 Garner J 0.406 8.09 Wasim Akram 0.394 7.86 Kumble A 0.383 7.64 Muralitharan M 0.350 6.99 Warne S.K 0.318 6.35 Just over half of the wickets captured by McGrath are top order wickets. The three spinners prop up the table, with figures around a third of the total wickets. This is to be expected. 7. % of team load borne Bowler Value Points Muralitharan M 0.361 10.00 Hadlee R.J 0.298 8.26 Kumble A 0.296 8.21 Warne S.K 0.281 7.77 Lillee D.K 0.275 7.62 Imran Khan 0.267 7.40 Donald A.A 0.253 7.01 Wasim Akram 0.250 6.92 Marshall M.D 0.249 6.89 McGrath G.D 0.247 6.85 Ambrose C.E.L 0.244 6.76 Garner J 0.243 6.74 Trueman F.S 0.242 6.71 Waqar Younis 0.239 6.63 Kapil Dev N 0.222 6.14 This is a composite value taking into account the work load in terms of balls bowled and the resultant wicket captures. Muralitharan is way out on top having shared captured 39% of his team wickets and bowling 33% of his team balls. 6 of the pace bowlers fall below 25%. 8. Peer comparison of average to all peer bowlers Bowler Value Points Marshall M.D 1.550 10.00 McGrath G.D 1.527 9.84 Ambrose C.E.L 1.514 9.76 Garner J 1.509 9.73 Muralitharan M 1.478 9.53 Hadlee R.J 1.447 9.33 Trueman F.S 1.435 9.25 Donald A.A 1.433 9.24 Imran Khan 1.410 9.09 Waqar Younis 1.363 8.79 Wasim Akram 1.361 8.77 Lillee D.K 1.332 8.59 Warne S.K 1.295 8.35 Kumble A 1.107 7.14 Kapil Dev N 1.085 7.00 This is a comparison of the bowler's bowling average with that of his peers, exactly measured from his first test to last test. Marshall, McGrath and Ambrose stand at over 150%. Kumble and Kapil Dev just about stay either side of 110%. 9. Peer comparison of average to own team peer bowlers Bowler Value Points Hadlee R.J 1.534 10.00 Muralitharan M 1.418 9.25 Imran Khan 1.377 8.98 Ambrose C.E.L 1.233 8.04 Donald A.A 1.197 7.80 Lillee D.K 1.188 7.74 Kapil Dev N 1.181 7.70 Marshall M.D 1.170 7.63 Trueman F.S 1.169 7.62 Garner J 1.156 7.54 Wasim Akram 1.151 7.51 McGrath G.D 1.149 7.49 Kumble A 1.125 7.33 Waqar Younis 1.123 7.32 Warne S.K 1.017 6.63 This is a comparison of the bowler's bowling average with that of his peers, from his own team, exactly measured from his first test to last test. As expected, the two so called weak-team bowlers, Hadlee and Murali are on top, Hadlee exceeding 150%. Warne just about goes past 100%, which is understandable. A surprise is Kumble's somewhat low figure. This is a reflection of Kumble's somewhat high bowling average nearing 30. This is not too different from his contemporary bowlers. 10. Performance in won matches Bowler Value Points Warne S.K 0.500 10.00 McGrath G.D 0.492 9.84 Marshall M.D 0.486 9.73 Muralitharan M 0.477 9.54 Lillee D.K 0.451 9.01 Waqar Younis 0.440 8.81 Donald A.A 0.426 8.51 Trueman F.S 0.419 8.38 Ambrose C.E.L 0.414 8.27 Kumble A 0.401 8.01 Hadlee R.J 0.398 7.96 Garner J 0.393 7.86 Wasim Akram 0.384 7.68 Imran Khan 0.364 7.27 Kapil Dev N 0.198 3.96 This is done by doing a composite calculation involving two ratios. The first is the ratio of the bowler wickets in won matches with his own career wickets. The other is the ratio of the bowler wickets in won matches against the team wickets in won matches. This rewards success and as expected, Warne and McGrath lead the pack. Not so surprisingly Kapil Dev is last, indicating that the Indian wins were probably crafted by the spinners during Kapil's era. The presence of Hadlee, Akram, Imran and Kapil in the last five also indicates that their contributions to their team wins was also with the bat. These four are the best batsmen in this elite group of bowlers. Now for the summary table. Total Wkts BowSR RpO WkQty AwAvg TORto TmLd Peer1 Peer2 WinId Muralitharan M 87.54 10.00 7.52 9.10 7.87 7.74 6.99 10.00 9.53 9.25 9.54 McGrath G.D 85.38 7.04 8.18 8.98 7.46 9.70 10.00 6.85 9.84 7.49 9.84 Hadlee R.J 84.89 5.39 8.42 8.29 9.18 9.31 8.75 8.26 9.33 10.00 7.96 Marshall M.D 83.36 4.70 9.30 7.99 8.92 9.35 8.87 6.89 10.00 7.63 9.73 Ambrose C.E.L 82.72 5.06 7.62 10.00 7.77 9.98 9.46 6.76 9.76 8.04 8.27 Imran Khan 81.00 4.53 7.79 8.74 10.00 7.99 9.21 7.40 9.09 8.98 7.27 Lillee D.K 80.76 4.44 8.17 7.61 9.54 8.70 9.33 7.62 8.59 7.74 9.01 Donald A.A 79.75 4.12 9.24 7.19 7.79 8.93 9.92 7.01 9.24 7.80 8.51 Garner J 79.34 3.24 8.41 9.12 8.61 10.00 8.09 6.74 9.73 7.54 7.86 Warne S.K 78.63 8.85 6.99 8.18 7.17 8.33 6.35 7.77 8.35 6.63 10.00 Trueman F.S 76.86 3.84 8.72 8.35 6.91 8.04 9.04 6.71 9.25 7.62 8.38 Wasim Akram 76.37 5.18 7.60 8.49 7.59 8.77 7.86 6.92 8.77 7.51 7.68 Waqar Younis 75.84 4.66 10.00 5.02 7.89 7.99 8.72 6.63 8.79 7.32 8.81 Kumble A 71.40 7.74 5.16 7.95 7.96 4.26 7.64 8.21 7.14 7.33 8.01 Kapil Dev N 68.24 5.43 5.61 7.49 9.25 5.83 9.84 6.14 7.00 7.70 3.96

[Raghav_12]

You got the contenders right. Some may make a case for Steyn also.

[rkt.india]

It is interesting how you have conveniently left out Dale Steyn in every comparison.

[King Tendulkar]

You got the contenders right. Some may make a case for Steyn also.

Steyn is a different era

[the don]

Steyn's achievements pale in comparison to the other three when you include ODI cricket , especially mcgrath and akram who are world cup winners for their respective sides . This is a tough one , ill go for akram coz im biased and he was the best to watch not necessarily the most effective though .

[JaFanatic]

Steyn's achievements pale in comparison to the other three when you include ODI cricket ' date=' especially mcgrath and [b']akram who are world cup winners for their respective sides . This is a tough one , ill go for akram coz im biased and he was the best to watch not necessarily the most effective though .

Dude, its Duckworth and Lewis method which won you that world cup :giggle:

[rkt.india]

Steyn's achievements pale in comparison to the other three when you include ODI cricket , especially mcgrath and akram who are world cup winners for their respective sides . This is a tough one , ill go for akram coz im biased and he was the best to watch not necessarily the most effective though .

The above comparison is about test matches, not ODIs.

[Asim]

ODI wasim Test McGrath