harsh.ag
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Whenever I saw India and England play the Windies in the 1970s and 80s, Andy Roberts was always incredibly lethal as the opening bowler, not to mention that he possessed the greatest variations of the four in his armory. His bouncers were magnificent, and I sure most you must be aware of his deadly 2-bouncer strategy. On top of that, his fast in-cutters were also a handful, to say the least. And he always seemed to be planning the next wicket, as a long-game con artist who builds up the pressure slowly. Nowadays in discussions of cricket, it seems I am sometimes one of the few who mention his name in the context of individual great fast bowlers. Sure, his name comes up like a charm when talking about the quartet, but apart from that, he seems less appreciated than the other three. His test record in terms of averages is less special than them, but is that the only reason? He was, after all, the fastest to get to a hundred wickets at one point. Where do you think his place is in the pantheon of the great Caribbean pacemen? Behind Marshall, Holding, Ambrose and Garner? Maybe ahead of one or two of them? Maybe behind even Hall and Walsh? Opinions?