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Ranking the Bowlers

adharcric

International Coach
Let's see if we can come up with a (consensus) CW list of the twenty-five greatest bowlers of all-time.

I'll try to run this like a "battle" in that we will start with a list of 50 and vote for the #1, then the #2, all the way to #25. To start off, I'll present my list of bowlers below. Please suggest changes to the list so that we can get the best fifty (regardless of ranking) into a pool. Feel free to make suggestions regarding the format and process of this "battle" as well.

Australia
Fred Spofforth
Charlie Turner
Clarrie Grimmett
Bill O'Reilly
Ray Lindwall
Keith Miller
Richie Benaud
Alan Davidson
Dennis Lillee
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath

England
Johnny Briggs
Bobby Peel
George Lohmann
Wilfred Rhodes
Sydney Barnes
Harold Larwood
Hedley Verity
Alec Bedser
Jim Laker
Brian Statham
Fred Trueman
Derek Underwood
Ian Botham

India
Subhash Gupte
Erapalli Prasanna
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
Bishan Bedi
Kapil Dev
Anil Kumble

New Zealand
Richard Hadlee

Pakistan
Fazal Mahmood
Imran Khan
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis

South Africa
Hugh Tayfield
Allan Donald
Shaun Pollock

Sri Lanka
Muttiah Muralitharan

West Indies
Sonny Ramadhin
Lance Gibbs
Wes Hall
Andy Roberts
Michael Holding
Joel Garner
Colin Croft
Courtney Walsh
Curtly Ambrose
Ian Bishop
 
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FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Prasanna has to be there from India, as he's arguably the best spinner the country has produced, perhaps after Kumble.

It's a bit hard to say who else should be there though. For instance, are Chaminda Vaas and Jason Gillespie closer to the top 25 of all time than, say, Gupte? Difficult comparison to make.
 

Dravid

International Captain
Add Shane Bond. imo he's the best New Zealand bowler and only if he was never injured and played all the games, he could have proven a challenge for McGrath.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Dravid said:
Add Shane Bond. imo he's the best New Zealand bowler and only if he was never injured and played all the games, he could have proven a challenge for McGrath.
Coula, woulda, shoulda.
 

Slifer

International Captain
adharcric said:
Let's see if we can come up with a (consensus) CW list of the twenty-five greatest bowlers of all-time.

I'll try to run this like a "battle" in that we will start with a list of 50 and vote for the #1, then the #2, all the way to #25. To start off, I'll present my list of bowlers below. Please suggest changes to the list so that we can get the best fifty (regardless of ranking) into a pool. Feel free to make suggestions regarding the format and process of this "battle" as well.

Australia
Fred Spofforth
Charlie Turner
Hugh Trumble
Bill O'Reilly
Keith Miller
Alan Davidson
Clarrie Grimmett
Ray Lindwall
Richie Benaud
Dennis Lillee
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath

England
Colin Blythe
George Lohmann
Johnny Briggs
Sydney Barnes
Jim Laker
Alec Bedser
Brian Statham
Derek Underwood
Fred Trueman
Ian Botham
Jim Laker
Wilfred Rhodes
Hedley Verity
Bobby Peel
Harold Larwood

India
Bishen Bedi
Kapil Dev
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
Subhash Gupte
Anil Kumble

New Zealand
Richard Hadlee

Pakistan
Wasim Akram
Imran Khan
Waqar Younis
Fazal Mahmood
Abdul Qadir

South Africa
Allan Donald
Shaun Pollock
Hugh Tayfield

Sri Lanka
Muttiah Muralitharan

West Indies
Curtly Ambrose
Joel Garner
Michael Holding
Malcolm Marshall
Andy Roberts
Lance Gibbs
Courtney Walsh
Learie Constantine
West Indies
Hall
Ramadhin
Valentine
Ian Bishop
Colin Croft
 

Beleg

International Regular
Shoaib Akhtar is a far better bowler then Abdul Qadir. Even Saqlain was a better bowler then Qadir, not to mention Mushtaq.
 

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
Should make it a 3-2-1, or 5-4-3-2-1 voting process, otherwise we'll have too few votes to properly have a top 25 bowlers.
 

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
Lets say that we end up having 50 people vote all up, with one vote each. We end up having double up on votes, and in the end only, for example, 15 players get a vote each. We only get a view on whom people think are the best, and not whom they think is the second, third, fourth, etc. best.

If, for example, we use the following format:

5-G McGrath
4-C Ambrose
3-M Muralitharan
2-S Warne
1-C Walsh

(not my votes, just using them as an example)
...where you give 5 votes to McGrath, 4 to Ambrose, etc. and we get a wider view of whom people rate where.
 

adharcric

International Coach
The problem with this is that people might alter their 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th to ensure that a certain player doesn't get in over their favored player. The way I have it, people will only vote on the position at hand. We'll go from 1 to 2 to 3, all the way to 25 so it should work. After all, I'm asking everyone who they think is the best of the remaining lot of contenders and not who they think is second or third best.

Are you suggesting that I ask for everone's 1-2-3 and then award points and the highest point-earner is the #1 ... then ask for everyone's 2-3-4 and then award points and the highest point-earner is the #2, etc?
 
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vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
Ah, didn't realise you were going to work all the way through. Thought you were just going to hold one vote, and that would be it. That's cool. :thumbsup:
 

adharcric

International Coach
Vote - #1 Bowler of All-Time

Let's start the voting then. After a minimum of 15 votes, I'll call anyone with a majority of the votes (at least half of them) AND a lead of 5 or more the winner.
Otherwise, I'll wait until the 3-day period passes.
Please bold your choice and it won't hurt to provide your reasoning so that others can make an informed decision.

The vote for the #1 bowler of all-time begins now. This will be followed by the vote for the #2 bowler, #3 bowler and so on.

The Contenders
 
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