Scyld Berry 30 greatest test fast bowlers

[Coronis]

I think in locker rooms they likely discuss this stuff all the time. Heck their entire prep is based on analysing the difficulties in facing players.

Have you ever been in a locker room? I haven’t, but I’m pretty sure its mostly guys whipping each other with towels and comparing **** size.

 

[Johan]

What about Lillee being literally THE greatest pacer ever to where he is now?

Trueman rated Lindwall higher, and that's all that matters, as Fred would himself tell you

 

[capt_Luffy]

Bradman is justified, Qadir and Kirmani might be a little deluded

Kirmani depends really, given it was the specialist age of keepers. On pure keeping he wasn't rated much behind the likes of Knott.

 

[Coronis]

I love how you didn't even try to defend Qadir

Maybe he thought his peer rep was still a defining thing, and Warne and Murali hadn’t surpassed him.

But seriously, any hypothetical team a player can select themselves if they want. Even if they are the best player of all time (e.g Bradman) I might take it more as “these are the 10 guys I would most want to play with” rather than a true ATG XI. Remember also a lot of people’s XIs usually do come with caveats, e.g only rating players they’ve seen or played with/against

 

[Coronis]

Trueman rated Lindwall higher, and that's all that matters, as Fred would himself tell you

Yes but clearly by peer consensus, its not close. Lillee >> Marshall >> McGrath

 

[DrWolverine]

If it is peer consensus among bowlers, the top 3 must be Dennis Lillee, Wasim Akram and Shane Warne.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Scyld Berry's 40 best cricketers of last 40 years - find out who is number one here

This summer marks 40 years since the Telegraph's cricket correspondent Scyld Berry started covering the sport.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Sycld Berry's top 40 Cricketers of last 40 years

1. Viv Richards
2. Imran Khan
3. Shane Warne
4. Malcolm Marshall
5. Ian Botham
6. Sachin Tendulkar
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Jacques Kallis
9. Brian Lara
10. Wasim Akram
11. Ricky Ponting
12. Virender Sehwag
13. Muttiah Muralitharan
14. Curtly Ambrose
15. Dale Steyn
16. Dennis Lillee
17. Allan Border
18. Kapil Dev
19. Glenn McGrath
20. Kumar Sangakkara
21. Richard Hadlee
22. Waqar Younis
23. Graham Gooch
24. Sunil Gavaskar
25. Allan Donald
26. Rahul Dravid
27. Shaun Pollock
28. Kevin Peitersen
29. Mitchell Johnson
30. Graeme Smith
31. Geoffrey Boycott
32. Sanath Jayasuriya
33. Younus Khan (I'm not joking, that's how it's written on Telegraph)
34. Anil Kumble
35. Courtney Walsh
36. Martin Crowe
37. Steve Waugh
38. Andrew Flintoff
39. Andy Flower
40. Abdul Qadir

Boycott played his LAST test in 1982 (42/43 years ago), Botham from 1985 onwards was pretty bad, and what on earth are Jayasuriya and Qadir doing on the list?

 

[capt_Luffy]

If it is peer consensus among bowlers, the top 3 must be Dennis Lillee, Wasim Akram and Shane Warne.

Marshall is fighting for the 3rd with Wasim.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Boycott played his LAST test in 1982 (42/43 years ago), Botham from 1985 onwards was pretty bad, and what on earth are Jayasuriya and Qadir doing on the list?

Tbf it was picked in 2017, so really from 1977.

 

[DrWolverine]

Marshall is fighting for the 3rd with Wasim.

Warne. Marshall. Akram. Lillee.
That’s a good bowling lineup.

 

[subshakerz]

So you're saying the one and only reason Hadlee wasn't seen as the best was because he wasn't English.

Yet before him it was Lillee and during his career it was the skinny black kid from Barbados, who played for the reviled WI pace attack.

No because Hadlee was from NZ, a relatively low profile country compared to Eng, Aus and even WI. Not the only reason but the main reason he didn't get full plaudits.

 

[Coronis]

Warne. Marshall. Akram. Lillee.
That’s a good bowling lineup.

To play

Murali McGrath Hadlee Steyn

 

[subshakerz]

@kyear2 @subshakerz thoughts on Lillee (who made 54 teams, by far the most) vs McGrath (8) or Ambrose (4)?

It's fine because Lillee was the original pacer of the modern era and had a decade at the top before any serious competition came about.

However based on recent ATG XI analysis we did by Lords Cricket, McGrath is the firm pacer choice of the current era compared to that book which was released in 2010. Well ahead of Ambrose and even slightly ahead of Wasim.

 

[peterhrt]

I mean, I do like the confidence in your own skills to pick yourself, for a hypothetical XI at least. Kirmani deluded? I’d have to see his XI but iirc he was regarded pretty highly as a gloveman and was a lock for India before Gilchrist came and made batting look more important.

Kirmani's team had seven men from the sub-continent, three West Indians and one from England.
Gavaskar, Greenidge, Viv Richards, Gower, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan*, Kapil Dev, Kirmani+, Holding, Bedi, Chandrasekhar.

"As it is my team I'll pick myself, though I feel my record justifies it. It was an immense challenge keeping to legendary spinners like Chandrasekhar and Bedi, and the art and ability of a wicket-keeper is judged only when he stands up to spinners."

Number of teams where each wicket-keeper was chosen:

35 - Knott
26 - Gilchrist
10 - Evans
8 - Tallon
7 - Healy
6 - Marsh
3 - Kirmani
2 - Dujon, Grout
1 - Kanhai, Waite

 

[subshakerz]

Kirmani's team had seven men from the sub-continent, three West Indians and one from England.
Gavaskar, Greenidge, Viv Richards, Gower, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan*, Kapil Dev, Kirmani+, Holding, Bedi, Chandrasekhar.

"As it is my team I'll pick myself, though I feel my record justifies it. It was an immense challenge keeping to legendary spinners like Chandrasekhar and Bedi, and the art and ability of a wicket-keeper is judged only when he stands up to spinners."

Number of teams where each wicket-keeper was chosen:

35 - Knott
26 - Gilchrist
10 - Evans
8 - Tallon
7 - Healy
6 - Marsh
3 - Kirmani
2 - Dujon, Grout
1 - Kanhai, Waite

Wow.

If you ever get the time, would be interesting to know the batting choices outside of the obvious of Bradman and Sobers.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Kirmani's team had seven men from the sub-continent, three West Indians and one from England.
Gavaskar, Greenidge, Viv Richards, Gower, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan*, Kapil Dev, Kirmani+, Holding, Bedi, Chandrasekhar.

"As it is my team I'll pick myself, though I feel my record justifies it. It was an immense challenge keeping to legendary spinners like Chandrasekhar and Bedi, and the art and ability of a wicket-keeper is judged only when he stands up to spinners."

Number of teams where each wicket-keeper was chosen:

35 - Knott
26 - Gilchrist
10 - Evans
8 - Tallon
7 - Healy
6 - Marsh
3 - Kirmani
2 - Dujon, Grout
1 - Kanhai, Waite

Wow, so 2 others did choose Kirmani. But whose choice was Kanhai?

 

[Johan]

It's fine because Lillee was the original pacer of the modern era and had a decade at the top before any serious competition came about.

huh, how is 1970 modern

 

[kyear2]

Warne. Marshall. Akram. Lillee.
That’s a good bowling lineup.

Cricinfo though so as well.

 

[peterhrt]

Wow, so 2 others did choose Kirmani. But whose choice was Kanhai?

Ramadhin chose Kanhai as wicket-keeper. He picked Weekes and Worrell as batsmen, but not Walcott as batsman or keeper. Also went for Gupte as leg-spinner, claiming he was just as good as Warne. His team was drawn from those he had played with or against.

Azharuddin and Chandra both selected Kirmani.

 

[peterhrt]

Wow.

If you ever get the time, would be interesting to know the batting choices outside of the obvious of Bradman and Sobers.

Openers:

59 - Gavaskar
26 - Greenidge
21 - Hutton
18 - Barry Richards
14 - Hobbs
7 - Morris
5 - Hanif Mohammad, Hayden
4 - Haynes, Sehwag
3 - Boycott, Hunte
2 - Herbert Sutcliffe
1 - Goddard, Gary Kirsten, Lawry, McGlew, Saeed Anwar, Bob Simpson, Mark Taylor