Who do you think the best bowlers are at present??

[Richard]

With regard to the quicks, there's just no-one that stands out. None of those mentioned (eg Clark, Sidebottom, Steyn, Flintoff, Ishant, Zaheer) stands out as clearly the best fast bowler even in his own team.

I'd say Steyn is fairly clearly the best in SA's team currently (albeit he's been pretty moderate against Bangladesh) but that says more about the relative mediocrity of SA's current resources than that he's really truly outstanding.

I'd say Flintoff is certainly more multi-talented bowler than Sidebottom, but I'm still not completely sure he'll end-up the better bowler.

 

[Uppercut]

Although I obviously don't consider him the best seam-bowler around currently, I do think he's pretty close-ish.

And I certainly think the suggestion that he had a poor series in Sri Lanka is dubious at best, and that he had a poor series against India in 2007 unacceptable. He bowled damn brilliantly that series, got the figures he deserved in the First Test, was ridiculously unlucky in the Second (I've rarely seen someone beat the bat so often), and would have got the figures in the Third but for dropped catches.

He was poor against SA, fo' sho'. And I actually think he was less-than-outstanding against NZ earlier in the summer too. But he was less than fit. Albeit his own weight I'm fairly sure didn't help there.

Oh for sure, he's been badly unlucky against India and Sri Lanka, i wouldn't use his figures form those series against him. But my point still stands. Converting good bowling into wickets is a key aspect of being a top-bracket bowler. If they were two anomalous series at the end of a long, excellent career, then it's fair enough to say he was just unlucky, but the fact that he's never once played a series against a quality batting lineup and picked up wickets at an even remotely respectable rate discounts him from being in consideration.

 

[Richard]

I really don't think holding dropped catches against a bowler (which was the principal holdback both in Sri Lanka and against India) is fair.

No bowler can take good figures if his fielders don't support him. It's Sidebottom's misfortune that drops have come when you can least afford them.

 

[Uppercut]

I really don't think holding dropped catches against a bowler (which was the principal holdback both in Sri Lanka and against India) is fair.

No bowler can take good figures if his fielders don't support him. It's Sidebottom's misfortune that drops have come when you can least afford them.

Yeah, i guess. Wasn't just the drops though, they wouldn't have made his figures top-class-worthy were they taken.

Anyway, i'm a big fan of Sidebottom so i won't say much more. But i wouldn't have him in the same bracket as the current top bowlers.

 

[Jigga988]

What is all this chatting going on about sidebottom, how is any one placing the tag of best bowler at the moment if he hasnt played in a couple months, also people lets think a bit outside the box......

Some new names i would chuck in would be bowlers like tim southee and i would have thrown in jerome taylor before pakistan

 

[roseboy64]

Steyn clearly the best pace bowler ATM IMO.

 

[silentstriker]

Yea, Mendis is a tough one. He hasn't done all that much, but everything that he has done is pretty much spectacular. As someone said, if I had to pick a Test team schoolyard style, it'd be hard to go past him in the first 2-3 picks.

 

[Richard]

What is all this chatting going on about sidebottom, how is any one placing the tag of best bowler at the moment if he hasnt played in a couple months

Mendis has played just 3 Tests, yet people are mentioning him.

Not playing for a little while isn't neccessarily an impediment.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, i guess. Wasn't just the drops though, they wouldn't have made his figures top-class-worthy were they taken.

I think they might well have done. Don't forget, drops don't just cost wickets, they also allow batsmen to make runs they shouldn't be making.

 

[Jakester1288]

Steyn clearly the best pace bowler ATM IMO.

Brett Lee must rate a mention in this thread, and in reply to this post. Sure, his tour of India was very unkind to him, but it was to most/all of the bowlers. Only Johnson seemed like ever getting a wicket, even Krejza was getting belted.

Yesterday, in Brett Lee's last spell (the only one I got to see - damn school!) he bowled brilliantly, swinging the 80 over ball both ways, at over 140 clicks. He bowled a damn good ball to dismiss Flynn (I think it was), and set it up beautifully. 5 balls swinging away outside off stump, tempting him into a shot. Last ball of the over, good length, swinging in to off stump, and straight through the gate. It shows to me, he hasn't lost to much of his touch. He is losing pace, but you do when you cross onto the other side of 30. Hopefully he can get his 300th wicket today, and a few more with the new ball, to show some of you he hasn't lost it at all, and he is still the strike bowler like last season, and the one of the best, if not the best, pace bowler in the world at the moment.

 

[Richard]

Brett Lee has been emphatically not one of the best bowlers in The World in 2008/09 so far. As emphatically as he was the best in 2007/08.

 

[Precambrian]

Mendis has played just 3 Tests, yet people are mentioning him.

Not playing for a little while isn't neccessarily an impediment.

I saw in the other thread you were telling FC records are there for a reason. (Re Krejza I think). You discounted test performances by citing FC records then. Now you discount FC records of Mendis by stating he's played only 3 tests. Why dont you check out his ODI records also???

FFS Show some consistency.

 

[Cricket_God]

people who are saying steyn,sidebottom are the 5 best bowlers are nuts,
steyn is not that good agianst top order batsman and he bowls in southafrica
in favourable conditions ,sidebottom i do not need to say anything his performances against good teams is their for evrybody to see.

in my opinion here are 5 best bowlers
1-Murali
2-Akhtar{If he is fit}
3-Flintoff
4-lee
5-Mendis

in case of young fatsbowlers-
morkel,ishant have great potential

 

[Rant0r]

clark is one of the most underrated bowlers ever, very much mcgrath like in many ways, does the hard work, then lee and johnson clean up. also one of the first mentioned when they want to bring in a second spinner, the guy averages in the low 20's with the ball with nearly 100 test wickets. lee and johnson could learn a lot from him.

hard to go past steyn at the moment, mendis will be interesting once he's been round the traps a bit more, murali has never taken wickets in australia, much like warne failed more often than not in india.

sidebottom had a deserved mention here earlier, not the best by a long shot, but given england excellent service whilst harmison is either wayward or sooking and flintoff is injured.

the way ishant is bowling on unhelpful surfaces is outstanding, he is their best bowler. wait for him to break down/burnout

 

[subshakerz]

people who are saying steyn,sidebottom are the 5 best bowlers are nuts,
steyn is not that good agianst top order batsman and he bowls in southafrica
in favourable conditions ,sidebottom i do not need to say anything his performances against good teams is their for evrybody to see.

With Brett Lee failing in India, Steyn has taken the place as No.1 pacer in the world. Performing well in Australia will only cement it.

For the last two years, he has performed and won matches against every team he has come up against, home and away, and did well in the subcontinent to boot. It's amazing how people like to brush off his unbelievable success.

 

[Athlai]

My Test Top Ten

Murali
Mendis
Flintoff
Steyn
Clark
Lee
Sidebottom
Vettori
Taylor
Sharma

Honorable mention to Shakib

My ODI Top Ten

Mendis
Vettori
Bracken
Flintoff
Taylor
Murali
Lee
Khan mk II
Mills
Oram


Honorable mention to Shakib, Sharma, Johnson and Southee

 

[Athlai]

Statistically the best ODI bowlers (qualification 15 wickets min. economy below 5.2 in matches v. top 8)

(measured through S/R economy and average rankings)

1) Mendis
2) Khan mk II
3) Bracken
4) Kulasekara
5) Lee
6) Johnson
7) Taylor - Vettori
8) Broad
9) Singh - Chigumbura
10) Kumar
11) Murali
12) Shakib - Mills
13) Mortaza

Interesting results there. Mendis well and truly above everyone else performance wise, big surprise for me is Kulasekara. Wasn't expecting him to have done so well this year.

 

[Ikki]

No brainer, the best is Murali.

 

[Athlai]

Test statistical ranking (qual. 20 wickets min vs. top 8)

1) Mendis
2) Steyn
3) Sidebottom
4) Taylor
5) Anderson - Shakib
6) Lee
7) Vaas - Murali
8) Edwards
9) Clark
10) Morkel
11) Johnson
12) Hossain
13) Sharma
14) Ntini-Bravo
15) Singh
16) Panesar
17) Khan
18) Broad - Kumble - Harris - Vettori

Taylor and Edwards higher than I expected and so was Hossain. Shakib is a gun.

 

[Precambrian]

Test statistical ranking (qual. 20 wickets min vs. top 8)

1) Mendis
2) Steyn
3) Sidebottom
4) Taylor
5) Anderson - Shakib
6) Lee
7) Vaas - Murali
8) Edwards
9) Clark
10) Morkel
11) Johnson
12) Hossain
13) Sharma
14) Ntini-Bravo
15) Singh
16) Panesar
17) Khan
18) Broad - Kumble - Harris - Vettori

Taylor and Edwards higher than I expected and so was Hossain. Shakib is a gun.

Period from?? I guess start of 2008.