C_C
International Captain
I am limiting this to post war as statistically, one can make a good argument about Sydney Barnes, Lohmann,Spofforth etc. but none of us saw them and cricket back then was a totally different ballgame( about as far away from the interwar cricket as interwar cricket is from modern day cricket).
So post war, who would be the best pacer in your opinion.
There are several great ones to choose from...Malcolm Marshall, Denis Lillee, Richard Hadlee, Glenn McGrath, Alan Davidson, Fred Trueman, Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller, Imran Khan, Curtley Ambrose, Allan Donald, Kapil Dev, Michael Holding,Courtney Walsh, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Jeff Thompson, Wes Hall, Waqar Younis etc etc etc.
However, in my opinion, the four most complete fast bowlers were Denis Lillee, Malcolm Marshall,Wasim Akram and Imran Khan
They had it all - pace, swing,seam, variety and nous.
This is not to say that they are better than the rest, but they had all the ingredients.
But if i am to pick one- the one bowler i would take in my team above all-it has to be this guy who performed on ALL surfaces, against ALL opposition, had brutal pace, one of the best ball-movement in the air and was one of the best ever thinking bowler....
He is what you would get if you combined the fiery pace of Allan Donald, the steep bounce of Curtley Ambrose, the metronomic consistency of Glenn McGrath and variety second only to Akram.
could swing the ball both ways, bowl any kind of delivery and was one of the best ever movers of the ball in the air.....the way his deliveries would seam before pitching had batsmen the world over bamboozled.
And sadly, he is one of those greats who is no longer with us.
He is the great Malcolm Denzil Marshall.
So post war, who would be the best pacer in your opinion.
There are several great ones to choose from...Malcolm Marshall, Denis Lillee, Richard Hadlee, Glenn McGrath, Alan Davidson, Fred Trueman, Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller, Imran Khan, Curtley Ambrose, Allan Donald, Kapil Dev, Michael Holding,Courtney Walsh, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Jeff Thompson, Wes Hall, Waqar Younis etc etc etc.
However, in my opinion, the four most complete fast bowlers were Denis Lillee, Malcolm Marshall,Wasim Akram and Imran Khan
They had it all - pace, swing,seam, variety and nous.
This is not to say that they are better than the rest, but they had all the ingredients.
But if i am to pick one- the one bowler i would take in my team above all-it has to be this guy who performed on ALL surfaces, against ALL opposition, had brutal pace, one of the best ball-movement in the air and was one of the best ever thinking bowler....
He is what you would get if you combined the fiery pace of Allan Donald, the steep bounce of Curtley Ambrose, the metronomic consistency of Glenn McGrath and variety second only to Akram.
could swing the ball both ways, bowl any kind of delivery and was one of the best ever movers of the ball in the air.....the way his deliveries would seam before pitching had batsmen the world over bamboozled.
And sadly, he is one of those greats who is no longer with us.
He is the great Malcolm Denzil Marshall.