Rank Australia's quicks- post war

[Johnners]

They were the only 2 of that series I got to see in their entirety

Something that I was most disappointed in because I missed seeing most of Pontings heroics, and instead was treated to that Haydos/Symonds p'ship when they were comfortably least favourite members of the team.

 

[adub]

How did I forget about him? Gooch often struggled to lay a bat on him

Got plenty of pad though so it was all good.

 

[adub]

Needs more Tangles in the lower reaches too of the list too.

 

[Gob]

Assuming only Ashes bowling is being considered, there is no way Lee should be mentioned. He would have played around 15-20 matches against England, and the only 2 I can remember him having any sort of impact with the ball in were at the MCG & SCG in the 06/07 series. Apart from that, he was ordinary against England, and I'd be surprised if his record against the Poms wasn't one of/the worst of his career.

2nd innings of Nottingham 05 imo

 

[Burgey]

McGrath
Lillee
Davo
Lindwall
Thomson (peak 74-76)
Harris
Nugget
Dizzy
Reid
MJ
McDermott
Swerve
Clem

 

[Burgey]

Got plenty of pad though so it was all good.

"You've reached Graham Gooch. I'm out at the moment, probably lbw bowled Terry Alderman. Please leave a message and I'll return your call".

^Actual message left by Gooch on his phone in 1989.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Tie for first place between McGrath, Lillee, and Lindwall.

However, at his absolute peak (1974 to 1976) I don't think that there has been a more devastating fast bowler than Jeff Thomson. If I had a time machine then I'd pluck Thomo out of the 4th Test against the West Indies, January 1976, and put him in any ATG side you care to mention.

4th Test: Australia v West Indies at Sydney, Jan 3-7, 1976 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

McGrath
Lillee
Davo
Lindwall
Thomson (peak 74-76)
Harris
Nugget
Dizzy
Reid
MJ
McDermott
Swerve
Clem

Thompson in 74-76 was before my time but how would people who watched both of them separate Thommo and Mj of 2013-14? That season was the most devastating I've ever seen from a bowler in terms of intimidation and flat of destructive ability.

 

[Red]

"You've reached Graham Gooch. I'm out at the moment, probably lbw bowled Terry Alderman. Please leave a message and I'll return your call".

^Actual message left by Gooch on his phone in 1989.

Had Alderman been English and played half his tests in England, would he have been a contender for GOAT?

 

[Burgey]

Thompson in 74-76 was before my time but how would people who watched both of them separate Thommo and Mj of 2013-14? That season was the most devastating I've ever seen from a bowler in terms of intimidation and flat of destructive ability.

Thomson was quicker. I know it's hard to believe, but he was consistently significantly faster, and mean as **** with it.

If you see Fire in Babylon and also Cricket in the 70s you'll see the way blokes like Viv and Clive Lloyd talk about him. Clive just saying "This guy was dangerous" and Viv talking about how hard he was to face.

There's some insane footage of he and Lillee bowling at the Gabba in 74-75 where Thommo lets one go in the second dig that flies down leg side and half volleys the boundary on the second bounce.

Both he and Johnson have that slingy action which makes them harder to pick up as well.

Edit: here 'tis

http://youtu.be/nTaVRuxje80

 

[Burgey]

Here's some footage from the ABC doco. Apologies if links not working, posting from my phone in Blighty.
http://youtu.be/T0WieLYnjbY

 

[Red]

I never tire of that David Lloyd/Thommo story

 

[The Battlers Prince]

Needs more Tangles in the lower reaches too of the list too.

Tangles was a key ingredient of that attack in ashes '74. Thomo and Lillee were the main men but to have Tangles coming in to keep that pressure on with a different style of bowling (probably only Procter had a stranger delivery action that I can think of).

 

[Debris]

McGrath
Lillee
Davidson
Lindwall
Miller
W Johnston
Thomson
Clark
Harris
Reid
Gillespie
M Johnston
McDermott
Alderman
McKenzie
Hogg
Hughes
Lee
Fleming
Lawson
Siddle
Reiffel
Walker
Hilfenhaus
Bichel

I am assuming war mean World War II.

 

[adub]

Had Alderman been English and played half his tests in England, would he have been a contender for GOAT?

nah, he would have lost the advantage of bowling to pommy bats.

 

[ankitj]

feel Bill Johnston might be the most underrated Australian cricketer of all time.

Agree. He is one of my favourite picks in drafts.

 

[Top_Cat]

Thomson was quicker. I know it's hard to believe, but he was consistently significantly faster, and mean as **** with it.

If you see Fire in Babylon and also Cricket in the 70s you'll see the way blokes like Viv and Clive Lloyd talk about him. Clive just saying "This guy was dangerous" and Viv talking about how hard he was to face.

There's some insane footage of he and Lillee bowling at the Gabba in 74-75 where Thommo lets one go in the second dig that flies down leg side and half volleys the boundary on the second bounce.

Both he and Johnson have that slingy action which makes them harder to pick up as well.

Edit: here 'tis

http://youtu.be/nTaVRuxje80

**** me the ball at 2:07 had some wheels on it.

 

[Furball]

I have no idea how to definitely rank a list with so many good quicks but, although popular on CW.net, I don't believe it's an inarguable fact that Lillee should be ranked below McG. McG had is own season-ending injuries, sure, but considering the state of medical science at the time, that Lillee came back to play at all let alone bowl as well as he did post-injury give him a lot of points for adaptability in my book. Can barely think of anyone who's had to so fundamentally re-tool how they do their business and come back so well.

Before my time etc etc but you'll struggle to convince me that anyone's been better than McGrath.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Well at least we can all agree than Steyn's better than both.

 

[Top_Cat]

Before my time etc etc but you'll struggle to convince me that anyone's been better than McGrath.

Well, yeah, and I'm fairly sure I'd agree but I'm just saying it's not beyond debate.

For me the best part about McG was how he worked everyone out eventually. Wasn't one of those blokes who only got his blood up for the greats or the glamour matches, no, if you had a bat in your hand, you needed to play out of your skin just to survive even on a road.

 

[JBMAC]

What about Rodney Hogg (41 wickets in an Ashes series)