Imran played a significant number of matches purely as a batsman (either due to injury or because in the end he was just leading Pakistan). Otherwise his wpm should be 4.5 or wpm. Is there someway to exclude such matches on statsguru?
But isn't that the part of his career that boosted his average and rating/ranking as a batsman and subsequently as the best bowling all rounder to play the game. We don't subtract his batting from that period when we rate him as a all rounder, hence that standard should apply to the bowling as well.
Hope that makes sense, sounded better in my head. Either way Imran still is among the bowling greats and one of the best ever and the WPM doesn't subtract from how people view him as a bowler.
What I am interested in though is why is Donald rated so lowly in comparison to his peers from that era. He was statistically the equal of any from his era (Ambrose/McGrath) and certainly better than Akram, yet is rarely mentioned in the argument of who is the best in the era which seems to be generally between Ambrose, McGrath, Akram and sometimes even Waqar.
A similar argument could be made for Trueman who statistically stands out from the pack of bowlers from his era and in almost ever category for his career seems to be trailing behind only Marshall and on par with McGrath, Donald and Hadlee as a total package. Admittedly he played the over whelming majority of his matches at home in the seam friendly conditions of England, never bowling in the sub continent and averaging 6 runs less away than at home, but it was an impressive career none the less and deserving to be mentioned among the very best.
Name * Average * S/R * Econ * WPM
Marshall * 20.94 * 46.7 * 2.68 * 4.64
McGrath * 21.64 * 51.9 * 2.49 * 4.54
Trueman * 21.57 * 49.4 * 2.61 * 4.58
A.Donald * 22.25 * 47.0 * 2.83 * 4.58
R.Hadlee * 22.29 * 50.8 * 2.63 * 5.01
D. Lillee * 23.92 * 52.0 * 2.75 * 5.07
C. Croft * 23.30 * 49.3 * 2.83 * 4.70
D.Steyn * 22.65 * 41.1 * 3.30 * 5.10
J.Garner * 20.97 * 50.8 * 2.47 * 4.46
M.Murali * 22.72 * 55.0 * 2.47 * 6.01
S.Warne * 25.41 * 57.4 * 2.65 * 4.88
Ambrose * 20.99 * 54.5 * 2.30 * 4.13
W.Younis * 23.56 * 43.4 * 3.25 * 4.28
I. Khan * 22.81 * 53.7 * 2.54 * 4.11
Holding * 23.68 * 50.9 * 2.79 * 4.15
P.Pollock * 24.18 * 56.2 * 2.58 * 4.14
Roberts * 25.61 * 55.1 * 2.76 * 4.29
W.Akram * 23.62 * 54.6 * 2.59 * 3.98
Davidson * 20.53 * 62.2 * 1.98 * 4.22
C.Walsh * 24.44 * 57.8 * 2.59 * 3.93
J. Snow * 26.66 * 59.5 * 2.68 * 4.12
B. Willis * 25.20 * 53.4 * 2.83 * 3.65
N.Adcock * 21.10 * 61.4 * 2.06 * 4.00
W. Hall * 26.38 * 54.2 * 2.91 * 4.00
S.Pollock * 23.11 * 57.8 * 2.39 * 3.89
Mahmood * 24.70 * 70.7 * 2.09 * 4.02
Tayfield * 25.91 * 79.8 * 1.94 * 4.59
O' Reilly * 22.59 * 69.6 * 1.94 * 4.70
Grimmett * 24.21 * 67.1 * 2.16 * 5.80
J. Laker * 21.24 * 62.3 * 2.04 * 4.19
S.Barnes * 16.43 * 41.6 * 2.36 * 7.00
F. Tyson * 18.56 * 45.4 * 2.45 * 4.47
Larwood * 28.35 * 63.7 * 2.67 * 3.61
Lindwall * 23.03 * 59.8 * 2.30 * 3.73
K. Miller * 22.97 * 61.5 * 2.24 * 3.09
The list showing the bowlers mentioned for comparison.