Darren Gough vs Stuart Broad

[Agricultural]

Who was(/is) the better bowler?

Darren Gough | England Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPNcricinfo
Stuart Broad | England Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPNcricinfo

 

[andruid]

Broad v. Hoggard is more relevant

 

[Agricultural]

Broad v. Hoggard is more relevant

Broad wins (for me)

Broad vs Gough is tougher. I'm leaning towards Gough. I'm thinking about it further before voting.

 

[MW1304]

Neither of them are relevant really. Broad wins easily.

 

[GIMH]

^Quite comfortably

 

[ImpatientLime]

haha not comfortably at all.

gough for a start took his wickets away from home at 26.9. he took them at 22 in asia. 27 in australia. this is an area he completely trumps broad.

gough was a supremely gifted bowler who was unfortunate to spend the majority of his career carrying a **** england team.

 

[wpdavid]

haha not comfortably at all.

gough for a start took his wickets away from home at 26.9. he took them at 22 in asia. 27 in australia. this is an area he completely trumps broad.

gough was a supremely gifted bowler who was unfortunate to spend the majority of his career carrying a **** england team.

Gough was also a different style of bowler to Broad. Shorter, and therefore skiddier. Faster too, and more reliant on swing, including reverse swing from time to time.


Maybe Broad vs Caddick is a closer comparison. If so, I'd take Broad thanks.

 

[Agricultural]

haha not comfortably at all.

gough for a start took his wickets away from home at 26.9. he took them at 22 in asia. 27 in australia. this is an area he completely trumps broad.

gough was a supremely gifted bowler who was unfortunate to spend the majority of his career carrying a **** england team.

Limited overs you'd be getting Gough to bowl over Broad at any stage of the innings. Test matches is closer. As you say England had a **** team, often had no scoreboard pressure (amongst other things). I'm going with Gough. I voted Gough. Another thing to mention - he is the best English yorker bowler I've ever seen.

 

[MW1304]

haha not comfortably at all.

gough for a start took his wickets away from home at 26.9. he took them at 22 in asia. 27 in australia. this is an area he completely trumps broad.

gough was a supremely gifted bowler who was unfortunate to spend the majority of his career carrying a **** england team.

Some lovely stats but he didn't have half the career Broad has.

 

[fredfertang]

Broad - was a **** but has become a reasonable human being - sadly the Dazzler made the journey in the opposite direction

 

[Furball]

haha not comfortably at all.

gough for a start took his wickets away from home at 26.9. he took them at 22 in asia. 27 in australia. this is an area he completely trumps broad.

gough was a supremely gifted bowler who was unfortunate to spend the majority of his career carrying a **** england team.

Would be relevant if they played in the same conditions against the same batting lineups.

 

[ImpatientLime]

yes lad unless two bowlers have bowled on the exact same day to the exact same batsman in the exact same conditions then all comparisons are null and void and we should close this place down.

 

[GIMH]

Some lovely stats but he didn't have half the career Broad has.

Indeed.

How many times has Broad hulked up and won us a match on his own with a demon spell? Countless.

The last three home Ashes series were won by such spells.

He’s blown cold at times, but he’s won us matches consistently over a long period of time and been part of one of Test Cricket’s best ever new ball partnerships.

I’m a big fan of Goughy, but for me this isn’t a question that needs much thought at all. We had some good players in the 90s, who were unfortunate to play then but as a result of that there’s long been a tendency to overstate them on here against contemporaries who didn’t have to suffer the same fate.

Anderson and Broad are the best seamers England have had in my life, Cook the best opener, Pietersen and Root the best middle order bats etc. You can list good players - some very good like Gough, or Thorpe but the reality is they aren’t as good as the examples I’ve just listed. Maybe if they played in this central contract era they could have been. They didn’t and they weren’t.

 

[Athlai]

Contemporary bowlers are better than a pure stat comparison may indicate.

Broad >> Gough
Broad > Hoggard

That said

McGrath >> Anderson

 

[TheJediBrah]

Does Gough walk when he edges it to second slip?

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Dean Headley was far better than Gough anyway

 

[OverratedSanity]

Indeed.

How many times has Broad hulked up and won us a match on his own with a demon spell? Countless.

The last three home Ashes series were won by such spells.

He’s blown cold at times, but he’s won us matches consistently over a long period of time and been part of one of Test Cricket’s best ever new ball partnerships.

I’m a big fan of Goughy, but for me this isn’t a question that needs much thought at all. We had some good players in the 90s, who were unfortunate to play then but as a result of that there’s long been a tendency to overstate them on here against contemporaries who didn’t have to suffer the same fate.

Anderson and Broad are the best seamers England have had in my life, Cook the best opener, Pietersen and Root the best middle order bats etc. You can list good players - some very good like Gough, or Thorpe but the reality is they aren’t as good as the examples I’ve just listed. Maybe if they played in this central contract era they could have been. They didn’t and they weren’t.

You're right but Gough's action though

 

[wpdavid]

Does Gough walk when he edges it to second slip?

Probably, but probably not when he edges to the keeper and said keeper's too crap to avoid spilling it to the slips.

 

[morgieb]

In terms of raw bowling ability I think they're kinda comparable (my impression of Gough was that he could bowl killer spells too, it's just that he was playing for a ****tier team so they didn't count for as much as what it should've), but Broad has had the better career. Did it for longer and in general seems more reliable.

 

[harsh.ag]

Gough more consistent and played in a weaker attack. Broad with greater highs and lows, the highs translating into wins both because of his performance and the superior performance of his teammates.