• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Ranking the candidates for best fast/pace bowler ever: The Rankings thread

Borges

International Regular
And I am also really happy for wasim to have made top10 . The guy gets underrated on here I think.
Why are you so concerned about how players are rated by the denizens of CricketWeb?
About something that is primary moulded by the opinions of the most noisy specimens of this forum?
 

Bolo

State Captain
Wasim bad after 97 but he did notably decline. Just over 3wpm@29 from 98 on. His diabetes diagnosis was 97, and while I can't remember if this is the case, it stands to reason that it was diagnosed because it was affecting him.

His career stats and career trajectory look almost identical to Pollock (great until 2003ish injury), though Pollock is better at the top and Akram is better at the tail. Neither of these guys have some sort of smoking gun in their own records. But both are behind most of the top 15ish on just about every major measure aside from number of wickets, and there isn't a way to defend the overall problems with their records because they had peers in their own teams and internationally who outperformed them.
 

Bolo

State Captain
Wasim Akram: stats analysis | Cricket | ESPNcricinfo
I base it on this. Sure he was always capable of producing magic here and there.
These stats based tribute articles throw together some odd groupings to spin a story.

Reading this I'd assume he was somehow reliant on Waqar as a bowling partner. I seriously doubt this is the case. He just was at his peak when Waqar was playing.

They have presented his average in wins with the qualification of 200 wickets and him in 7th place out of 8. This either makes him look amazing or junk, depending on how you interpret it. Almost nobody meets this these criteria though. At the time of writing only 13 players qualified, which puts him in a very middling position.

Best in India Pakistan and Lanka with a qualification of 100 wickets is also odd. He has listed every bowler to qualify. Akram beats 1 of the other 3 Pakistani bowlers to qualify, and the bowlers from Lanka and India who had never produced good quicks. Not much to see here.
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Average in wins is a **** metric as I have said few times on here. Anyone using this metric should just give up on using numbers to ever make a point.
 

Bolo

State Captain
Average in wins is a **** metric as I have said few times on here. Anyone using this metric should just give up on using numbers to ever make a point.
It's junk for gauging how good a player is. Downhill skiing etc. It's flawed, but still useful, for judging how much a player contributes to team success.
 

Pap Finn Keighl

International Debutant
People get away with shorter careers and much better fielding support. Not to mention healthy relationship between team mates.

Akram outside top 5 is a mistake.

Ambrose, Mcgrath, Donald, Sachin, Lara... Why do they adore him?

What makes Victor Trumper comparable to Ranjit Singh ji ?
Viv Richards gets more accolades than his stats suggests.

Wasim Akram belong that category i believe, a great match winner.. Superbly talented.. Highly entertaining.. And the favorite of contemporaries.
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
One of my favourite cricketers ever. Maybe second only to TOTAB.
On the espn legends of cricket DVDs, TOTAB says if he could come back in the next life as any cricketer, it’d be as Wasim
 

Pap Finn Keighl

International Debutant
ESPN LEGENDS
Ravi Shastri Says Wasim Akram is the cricketer of 90s ahead of Sachin, Lara, Warne.. Etc

And that espn guy said, Akram is one of the 3 complete fast bowlers he has seen. Other 2 being Marshall and Lillee, and he rates Akram higher for his extra skills, iirc.
 

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Ravi Shastri has **** all idea about cricket. Being a 'complete' fast bowler is a completely meaningless concept. Being good at six skills does't make you better than someone who's brilliant at one or two, especially if they are more impactful and vital ones.
 

trundler

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Wasim had the skills more visible and exciting. He could swing it in and seam it away or a bazillion other jaw dropping things but that doesn't he was the most effective. Doesn't automatically make him more skilled than say Hadlee or McGrath who operated more subtly. Accuracy is in itself is a skill and Wasim was more erratic than either of those 2. Could Bradman play a scoop shot?
 

Kirkut

International Regular
Yes, making the best use of your strengths is what matters most. Steyn picked up majority of his wickets with outswinger at fuller lengths, never needed variations.

P.S.: He never needed to bowl fast, operated in 80-85 mph range.
 
Last edited:

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Ravi Shastri has **** all idea about cricket. Being a 'complete' fast bowler is a completely meaningless concept. Being good at six skills does't make you better than someone who's brilliant at one or two, especially if they are more impactful and vital ones.
Wasim had the skills more visible and exciting. He could swing it in and seam it away or a bazillion other jaw dropping things but that doesn't he was the most effective. Doesn't automatically make him more skilled than say Hadlee or McGrath who operated more subtly. Accuracy is in itself is a skill and Wasim was more erratic than either of those 2. Could Bradman play a scoop shot?
You're not wrong but saying Wasim is the cricketer of the 90s shouldn't be a controversial opinion.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
9th. Imran Khan (355 points)




Top 5 finishes: 3
Bottom 5 finishes: 0
Highest finish: 3rd (1 time)
Lowest finish: 18th (1 time)



Soon he will likely become the first ever cricketer to lead a nation. But in more pressing news Imran has pipped Wasim and Waqar to rank as Pakistan and therefore Asia's best ever paceman according to this exercise. Imran had a slow start to his career before his much documented meteoric rise in the 80s. For 6 years in a row he had ended up with a test bowling average of under 20, often comfortably under. His peak truly was incredible and one of the best ever for pace bowlers, especially modern ones. In 1982 he took 62 scalps at 13, a record low average for a calendar year in which a bowler took over 50 wickets. His 21 year test career is(I think) the longest of an opening bowler ever. Tip your hat to this man.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
8th. Fred Trueman (370 points)




Top 5 finishes: 2
Bottom 5 finishes: 0
Highest finish: 5th (2 times)
Lowest finish: 15th (1 time)


Fred Trueman was the first bowler to break the magical 300 wicket barrier and at the time of his retirement was the leading test wicket taker ever. It could have been even more as he missed several tours in his prime due to various reasons, from injuries to poor discipline. He took nearly 5 wickets per test, pretty amazing because his career occurred when England had their strongest ever array of bowlers. He had to share the spoils with Bedser, Tyson, Statham, Laker and Lock. Truly a wicket taking machine and England's best ever out and out quick bowler. His highest average against any of the 5 nations he played against was a meagre 25 against Australia. He had one of his best years fairly late into his test career, taking 57 wickets @ 17 in 1963 as a 32 year old. A consistently great performer.
 
Last edited:

Top