10 Greatest fast bowlers of all time

[Red]

Just read the entire thread, but I refuse to bite

Larwood and Sylvers?

 

[Gob]

That's a very common opinion held in sub-continent. Do a poll and majority will vote for Akram as the greatest fast bowler ever. I am told I am an idiot who only looks at stats for saying Marshall was better than Akram.

Wasim would barely make in to my top 10

 

[OverratedSanity]

That's a very common opinion held in sub-continent. Do a poll and majority will vote for Akram as the greatest fast bowler ever. I am told I am an idiot who only looks at stats for saying Marshall was better than Akram.

Thats more to do with most subcontinent fans caring more about odi cricket than tests. It's the opposite on CW.

Not saying it's crazy to rate Wasim higher, obviously, but SC fans rate him highly primarily because of his odi exploits. Think this applies to Tendulkar as well.

 

[honestbharani]

I am a huge Akram fan, but the thing about Marshall was his ability to perform in any conditions against any opponents.

Marshall outperformed most SC quicks in the SC. Phenomenal bowler. The only two modern quicks who have near flawless records with completed careers are Marshall and McGrath, which is why I put them and one and two.

Steyn?

 

[vitalogy83]

Marshall
Akram
McGrath
Ambrose
Hadlee
Holding
Steyn
Imran
Lillee
Trueman

Leaving out the early years pioneers like Spofforth and Barnesy

 

[watson]

01. Malcolm Marshall
02. Dennis Lillee
03. Imran Khan
04. Richard Hadlee
05. Curtly Ambrose
06. Fred Trueman
07. Glenn McGrath
08. Ray Lindwall
09. Fred Spofforth
10. Wasim Akram

Would like to have included Harold Larwood, Alan Davidson, Neil Advock, John Snow, Andy Roberts, Allan Donald, Dale Steyn.......


Pre WWII
01. Fred Spofforth
02. Harold Larwood
03. Tom Richardson
04. Jack Gregory
05. Ted McDonald
06. Bill Lockwood
07. Learie Constantine
08. Ernie Jones
09. Albert Cotter
10. Bill Voce

I don't think that Lohmann, Turner, Ferris, Barnes, Tate, or Bedser were quick enough to be considered 'fast bowlers'. Spofforth is debatable, but was probably rapid enough earlier in his career.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Steyn doesn't get enough credit for bowling to far better batting lineups than the 80s bowlers did. In Steyn's time, India, Sri Lanka, England, Australia, NZ, Pakistan, have all had far superior batting lineups than in Marshall's era.

 

[Black_Warrior]

That's a very common opinion held in sub-continent. Do a poll and majority will vote for Akram as the greatest fast bowler ever. I am told I am an idiot who only looks at stats for saying Marshall was better than Akram.

Where? CW? Akram is considered second tier on this forum. This is probably the only forum where he is rated the lowest.

 

[fredfertang]

Larwood and Sylvers?

Larwood did get a mention early on, and his name not getting many mentions is understandable given that not even JBMAC saw him bowl, but Sylvers - glaring omission

 

[ankitj]

Thats more to do with most subcontinent fans caring more about odi cricket than tests. It's the opposite on CW.

Not saying it's crazy to rate Wasim higher, obviously, but SC fans rate him highly primarily because of his odi exploits. Think this applies to Tendulkar as well.

It's also for the crazy swing and yorkers.

 

[Slifer]

Steyn doesn't get enough credit for bowling to far better batting lineups than the 80s bowlers did. In Steyn's time, India, Sri Lanka, England, Australia, NZ, Pakistan, have all had far superior batting lineups than in Marshall's era.

Dale Steyn is definitely up there with likes of Marshall and Mcgrath but the batting lineups Steyn has bowled to are not far superior to their 80s counterparts. In the 80s and even the 90s there were a plethora of great fast bowlers to keep the batsmen in check hence why in the 80s and 90s there were literally only a handful of batsmen that averaged 50+. In Dale's time he's literally the only great fast bowler going around.

I might get torn a new one for this pov but it is what it is.

 

[Anil]

of the players i have seen, in no particular order:

andy roberts
malcolm marshall
michael holding
glenn mcgrath
dennis lillee
imran khan
wasim akram
richard hadlee
allan donald
shaun pollock

 

[ankitj]

Dale Steyn is definitely up there with likes of Marshall and Mcgrath but the batting lineups Steyn has bowled to are not far superior to their 80s counterparts. In the 80s and even the 90s there were a plethora of great fast bowlers to keep the batsmen in check hence why in the 80s and 90s there were literally only a handful of batsmen that averaged 50+. In Dale's time he's literally the only great fast bowler going around.

I might get torn a new one for this pov but it is what it is.

I'd be surprised if you aren't. Batsmen don't get credit because they play on roads. And now bowlers won't get credit because the batsmen aren't good enough!

 

[OverratedSanity]

I'd be surprised if you aren't. Batsmen don't get credit because they play on roads. And now bowlers won't get credit because the batsmen aren't good enough!

Heh crazy how that works isn't it.

 

[stephen]

I think many Aussies don't rate Akram all that highly because he had limited success against us. He was a fine bowler and an ATG but he never really ran through us like Marshall or Ambrose did on a regular basis.

 

[stephen]

And I just checked his record and it was way better against us than I remember.

 

[stephen]

It was Waqar who had the horrible record against us. Wasim averaged 30 against England and South Africa which isn't ideal but you can pick holes in any bowler's record.

 

[the big bambino]

Even then its relative. Waqar's ave against Aus was 33 which is much higher than his overall ave but not so bad when you think of the strength of Australian batting in his time.

 

[stephen]

Even then its relative. Waqar's ave against Aus was 33 which is much higher than his overall ave but not so bad when you think of the strength of Australian batting in his time.

It was 40 in Australia which is pretty bad though. Probably part of the reason Pakistan could never beat us.

 

[subshakerz]

I think many Aussies don't rate Akram all that highly because he had limited success against us. He was a fine bowler and an ATG but he never really ran through us like Marshall or Ambrose did on a regular basis.

Not completely true. Akram had three good test series against Australia in Australia (1990 and 1995) and in Pakistan (1994) which sort of solidified his high peer rating among the Aussie cricketers of that generation. Akram never ran through the Aussie side though the way Marshall and Ambrose did, but he was consistently difficult/awkward enough that it commanded their respect.

Off the top of my head, McGrath, Ponting, Gillespie, Slater, Mark Taylor, and Langer all rated Akram as best or joint best, while Warne and Hayden put him behind Ambrose.