Greatest Fast Bowler Ever

[Shounak]

Who do you people think the greatest fast bowler of all time is?

I'll get the ball rolling. In terms of having it all together, definitely Dennis Lillee. The guy's got a miniscule one day economy and an awesome bowling average, not to mention the mental side of things. His inimitable aggression is something that these current bunch of medium pacers can only dream of. Who can forget the Javed Miandad incident. Let's just hope another Lillee or Warwick Todd is produced. The current bunch of cricketers live in fear of match fee's and are always on their best behaviour. Cricket's in need of a paradigm shift, if nothing, it'll attract more spectators or viewers.



TESTS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 70 90 24 905 73* 13.71 0 1 23 0

Balls M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 18467 652 8493 355 23.92 7-83 23 7 52.0 2.75

ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 63 34 8 240 42* 9.23 75.00 0 0 10 0

Balls M R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling 3593 80 2145 103 20.82 5-34 5 1 34.8 3.58

The Javed Miandad Incident Image

 

[Slats4ever]

you'll fit in well here shounak. well i dunno i can only really comment on who i've seen. 90's onwards. and Akram was by far and away the best. i understand lillee was sensational

 

[Joao_Quinto]

What Ive seen of them I think that Marshall and Hadlee are the best for me. DK is Australian legend.

Current and recent crop, Pigeon, Wasim and Waqar are/were all brilliant.

 

[Shounak]

I've never seen Lillee in person or a whole match of his, but I've seen heaps of footage of him. The guy's furious, he's got everything you'd want in a fast bowler.

Is there anyone in this current wave of bowlers who even comes close to comparing to him?

Possibly Gillespie or at times Akhtar? Pathan's certainly on his way though.

 

[Slats4ever]

Dizzy should've been a very veryvery good bowler. his injuries all on in his career will see him being amazing but not someone to target world time greats

 

[Shounak]

He will be remembered as one of the fastest in the 90's. Dizzy did get upto about 155km/ph when he started off. Plus he's the only part aboriginal player to ever properly play for Australia. But he'll probably mostly be remembered for the latter.

 

[bryce]

shounak, in reference to lillee's 'miniscule one day economy and an awesome bowling average' richard hadlee must not be too far off, if lilee's one day economy is miniscule then i doubt there is word invented to describe hadlee's.

Test Matches

M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50

Batting 86 134 19 3124 151* 27.16 2 15

W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 431 22.29 9-52 36 9 50.8 2.63


ODI's

M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Batting 115 98 17 1751 79 21.61 75.50 0 4

W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling 158 21.56 5-25 1 5 39.1 3.30

 

[Dasa]

Shounak man, when did you discover this forum.
Anyway, of players I've either seen or seen footage of, Marlcolm Marshall stands out for me.

 

[Western Warrior]

Probably a bit before everyone's time but this gentleman comes close

Sydney Francies Barnes

Tests

27 test matches
1312.1 overs
356 maidens
3106 runs conceded
189 wickets @ 16.43

24 five wicket hauls
7 ten wicket hauls
Best bowling: 9/103
S/R 41 balls per wicket
E/R 2.236 balls per over

First Class

133 matches
31527 balls delivered
1598 maidens
12289 runs conceded
719 wickets @ 17.09

68 five wicket hauls
18 ten wicket hauls
Best bowling 9/103
S/R 43.8 balls per wicket
E/R 2.33 balls per over

 

[Shounak]

I was reading the cricket articles on the original site, forum stood out. Yeah Marshall was awesome but the West Indians of that generation were too gentle and polie, albeit effective. Where's the larrakinism? Fast bowlers should use their bouncers as weapons not a friendly "please don't hit me for another six". I'm hoping too see some.

 

[Western Warrior]

Some might not consider him the best when compared to Lillee, Hadlee, Barnes, Larwood etc but he is a personal favourite of mine and never 'polite', just ask Dean Jones 4 minutes after he asked this gentleman to remove his sweat bands.

 

[Dasa]

You do know who I am, don't you?
If you think the Windies bowlers weren't aggressive enough, you haven't seen enough of them...

 

[Shounak]

Yeah Shuvo. I've only seen little bits of matches played then but they certainly didn't appear to be too menacing. I'd much rather face them then someone like Thommo. Who incidently is another one of the greats. 160.45km i think the delivery was, but in those days the measuring wasn't as accurate. Thommo was talking about deliveries where the ball went over the keepers head and took another bounce to hit the sight screen. I can't imagine Akhtar or Lee getting even close to that.

 

[Western Warrior]

You do know who I am, don't you?
If you think the Windies bowlers weren't aggressive enough, you haven't seen enough of them...

Well said! Anyone who considers the likes of Garner, Holding, Marshall, Walsh and Ambrose to be 'tame', really needs to check the history books.

 

[Dasa]

^BY the way, that is a cracking picture of my favourite bowler.

 

[Western Warrior]

^BY the way, that is a cracking picture of my favourite bowler.

My pleasure. Used the hate the boy when he was tearing apart the Aussie's in the late eighties/early nineties but you have to respect his achievements!

 

[twctopcat]

Malcolm Marshall without doubt, and even though he was 5ft 11, his bouncer was decent to say the least.

 

[Craig]

I don't think Lillee's rpo, whilst it was good, can have much relevance because the batsmen weren't as aggressive as thhey are nowadays.

 

[masterblaster]

Malcolm Marshall and Wasim Akram for me. Two of the greatest and most versatile fast bowlers in the history of cricket.

 

[Jono]

Greatest? I can't answer. But favourites to watch were definitely Akram and Ambrose. Especially Ambrose. That picture above is awesome!