Most intimidating fast bowler of them all?

[hang on]

Who would it be? Ok, picking one would be well nigh impossible, so let's do the top 3 (in descending order)

Some of the usual suspects:

Spofforth
Larwood
Tyson
Lindwall
Hall
Griffith
Trueman
Lillee
Thompson
Holding
Marshall
Croft
Patterson
Ambrose
Akhtar
Lee

With apologies to those who have slipped my memory's clutches.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

You would have to say the most intimidating ones would be the ones from before helmets came in as there was a real danger of serious injury being sustained. Look at bodyline and the wicketkeeper getting clunked on the bonce.

On that basis i'd say Larwood, Tyson and Trueman would be up there and any other extremely quick bloke from that era.

 

[smash84]

agree with FB there............the ones before the helmets would be the most intimidating

 

[marc71178]

Sami IMO.

 

[Bringbackbondy]

Jimmie Franklin

 

[smash84]

Sami IMO.

haha.......Sami......hell yeah

 

[hang on]

Sami IMO.

oh hell yeah. he looks like he might just come up and proposition you. not that there's anything wrong with that...

 

[fredfertang]

No contest for that - Sylvester Clarke - absolutely terrifying from the safety of the stands - what the poor bastards who had to face him from 22 yards felt I shudder to think

 

[smash84]

No contest for that - Sylvester Clarke - absolutely terrifying from the safety of the stands - what the poor bastards who had to face him from 22 yards felt I shudder to think

yeah he was scary to a lot of batsmen..........i tried to find some footage of him bowling but could not find it........does anybody have any footage of sylvester clark?

I was quite interested in watching him bowl when in a program with Richie Benaud it was said that Sylvester Clark could get really nasty

 

[Howe_zat]

Frank Tyson. In terms of raw speed he'd be one of the fastest ever.

Joel Garner and Andy Roberts would be serious names missing from the list. That West Indian pace battery must have been the most intimidating four-man attack to face - it's more or less the reason helmets were introduced.

 

[vcs]

This would be the right place to post this video. The deliveries from Holding to Close midway through made me flinch.

 

[Teja.]

Joel Garner and Andy Roberts would be serious names missing from the list. That West Indian pace battery must have been the most intimidating four-man attack to face - it's more or less the reason helmets were introduced.

While I agree re Roberts, particularly due to his two bouncers, don't agree regrading Garner. While he was as skilled(if not more) as the other ATG pace bowlers, He was certainly a few paces slower thus making him less 'intimidating'. The fear in the batsman was more "****, How am I going to see the ball from such a height, Let alone hit it?" than "****, Please Don't kill me, dude"

Even Kim Hughes said after he played the greatest Innings of all time(MCG, 100*) on that fiery strip that he preferred facing Garner as atleast he bowled at a safer speed and hence was more negotiable on that unsafely pacy deck.

 

[hang on]

exactly the reason why i did not have garner in the list. roberts might have sneaked in but holding was faster and more dangerous.

sylvester clarke was a bad miss.

 

[Howe_zat]

Well I'd have thought that even if Garner was a few mph down on the speed gun he'd still rank hghly on "intimidation" just through the sheer size of the bloke. But I concede the point.

Any other thoughts on bowling attacks as a whole?

 

[zaremba]

Merv Hughes - decent bowler, high-class intimidator

And Roy Gilchrist - to quote Wisden (on cricinfo): "tales of atrocity, some perhaps arising from the proverbial tendency to give a dog a bad name, continued to emerge about his violently over-reactive attitude to batsmen and his unsparing use of the bouncer. Even charity matches were not free from his ferocious assaults: on one such occasion, at Werneth, that resolute Australian Cec Pepper luridly but successfully remonstrated with Gilchrist in terms not suitable to print. Gilchrist's venomous bowling was the expression of a fiery, hostile personality. Of medium height, but long-armed and strong, he spearheaded, along with the young Wes Hall, the late 20th-century West Indian phalanx of unremittingly fast bowlers."

Not sure that Brett Lee belongs in this company. Smashing lad but he doesn't do tough very well - he just pouts and looks like the lost member of Busted

 

[Burgey]

Thommo should be up there. Bloke was dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

Actually think Garner does belong in this list. Recall an article in the early 80s.. I think Border or Chappell saying "He doesn't look fast? Try facing him".

Colin Croft too. Jesus he was intimidating. Wide of the crease, four bouncers an over at that awkward angled.

And Lillee too. Just had an aura. Intimidated a lot of batsmen out with it.. Fifty odd thousand at the MCG with that chant going.. Just wow.

 

[hang on]

Well I'd have thought that even if Garner was a few mph down on the speed gun he'd still rank hghly on "intimidation" just through the sheer size of the bloke. But I concede the point.

Any other thoughts on bowling attacks as a whole?

oh, u were bang on with the windian attacks of the late 70s onwards. noone close to them for unrelenting hostility.

actually, i have seen walsh bowl some scary stuff. almost bodyline at tailenders. and he was pretty bloody fast. perhaps he should be in there.

 

[ankitj]

Ambrose

 

[ankitj]

And yes, Roy Gilchrist too. He was more interested in batsman's blood than his wicket

 

[archie mac]

Roberts was quite a nasty FB, he would bowl two bouncers the first a slower one which would often be hit for four or six and then he would bowl a much quicker one which cleaned up many an unexpecting batsman. Hookes and Botham were both victims being left spitting blood.

Also Heine and Adcock from SA were suppose to be mean bowlers

I think over all Gilchrist the meanest of them all