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Who is/was the ultimate, most proficient and masterful medium-paced-dibbly-dobbler?

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
The Jacob Oram thread got me thinking on dibbly-dobblers (not that big Jake was that...) whose area of excellence really only seems to exist in ODI cricket due to the middle innings strangle or going for a partnership breaker because everyone else is getting smacked about.

Thinking about it, as a team role, even a craft, who was the best? I'm not talking about partially legit seamers like Steve Waugh (at least initially not), seamers who might even be able to crank it up past 135k if they've had their weetbix. No, I want to celebrate what would otherwise be mediocrity or sub-standardness if wheeled out in Tests, or even T20s where I would've thought they'd excel but proved to be more fodder of all the formats.

The likes of Chris Harris, Collingwood, Astle or Ganguly. Do Ian Harvey and Jesse Ryder fall into this, or do they have more tools to be a cut above?

As I'm a young-un I only really know of those in the last 20 years of the game, so would be keen to be enlightened to earlier of the part-timers, with a look to creating a poll to determine who is the king of pedestrian...
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Used to love Chris Harris (Crus Hurris). One of my favourite cricketers.
See he is the best for mine, without being a genuine bowling all-rounder or simply a bowler. IIRC he's had Tendulkar's wicket a few times, coaxing him out with seemingly juicy deliveries.
 

Blocky

Banned
Gavin Larsen - beyond anyone else, is the king of this role.

I think had he been selected to play more test cricket he'd probably have held an average of 30, probably around a 2.2 RPO and strike rate near 70 balls.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Last edited:

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
See he is the best for mine, without being a genuine bowling all-rounder or simply a bowler. IIRC he's had Tendulkar's wicket a few times, coaxing him out with seemingly juicy deliveries.
Great ODI bowler I reckon. Naggingly hard to get away and very economical. Think he often bowled at clutch times also.

Sits third on NZ's ODI wickets tally which is a fair achievement.
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Gavin Larsen - beyond anyone else, is the king of this role.

I think had he been selected to play more test cricket he'd probably have held an average of 30, probably around a 2.2 RPO and strike rate near 70 balls.
Quite probably, but he was a specialist. I probably should've been more specific, meaning specialist bowlers weren't to be considered, ruling out the likes of Larsen and Morrison (though if there were to be a specialist dibbly dobbly bowling poll, Larsen could probably take it)
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
I suppose it depends how loosely we define it.

If we're looking at sub-135kmh bowlers someone like Alderman has as good a shout as anyone I've seen, but no-one would seriously doubt Terence's claim to be a "proper" seamer.

Going back further, by all accounts genuine greats of the game like Turner, Lohmann, Barnes, Tate & Bedser wouldn't have stretched the speed gun unduly either.
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Greg Blewett's hooping outswingers were always a joy to watch.
Ricky Ponting worth a shout as well IMO.

Perhaps they were both a bit too sharp in their primes to fit 'dibbly dobbly', but they were pretty handy medium pacers.

Mike Hussey being used as a strike weapon by Michael Clarke also worth mentioning, IMO.
 

watson

Banned
Mohinder Armanath: Took the mighty West Windies apart in the 1983 World Cup final with 3 for 12 off 7 overs - among other things.
 

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