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Wasim Akram and Glenn Mcgrath: An analytical comparison

Dawood Ahmad

U19 Vice-Captain
Both legends have been compared in statistical way because of belief of people in "stats don't lie." which is certainly wrong because the answer to all these question is the same.
1. Do stats make a difference between runs conceded by balls edged of bat and runs gotten by shots hit with perfection out the middle of the bat?
2. Do stats show that how much the team relied on a player?
3. Do stats make it obvious weather the player was out of practice or in the foam of his life?

Hence here is an analytical comparison.

How Mcgrath wins?
1. Mcgrath bowled most of his overs in power-play while Wasim did so in non-field restricted overs.
2. Mcgrath sent openers and top order batsmen back to pavilion while most of Wasim's brilliance was showed against tail enders.
3. Mcgrath has gotten more dismissals against the top great batsmen of his era while wasim didn't do that in such an abundance.
4. Mcgrath had pinpoint accuracy in seam and showed perfect variations in swing bowling whereas Wasim swung the ball more, and variated less, was less accurate.
5. Mcgrath was a wicket taker vs the top 8 teams whereas the Wasim took them more against Ireland, Namibia etc.

How Wasim wins?
1. Mcgrath played more for the stronger team which means he couldn't bowl for that team while Wasim bowled against the strongest teams of his era.
2. Mcgrath had better fieldsmen which was his advantage, poorness on field was not Wasim's disadvantage because he was more a bowler who took wickets by hitting stumps, not taking catches.

Here is the comparison, its up to you to chose the best but I will go easily with Mcgrath.

My Next Threads:
My next threads are likely to be:
A big detailed explanation on Gilchrist as one of the top five cricketers.
Glenn Maxwell and David Miller, choosing the best.
A debate on my One day XI
 
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simonlee48

School Boy/Girl Captain
poorness on field was not Wasim's disadvantage because he was more a bowler who took wickets by hitting stumps, not taking catches.
I suspect Wasim targeted the stump a lot more due to having those poor fielders ;) Not the sole reason but surely one of the reason. I will surely call it a disadvantage. We are not talking about Waqar here. Wasim was very good with new ball in his entire career and swung it both ways.
 
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Dawood Ahmad

U19 Vice-Captain
I suspect Wasim targeted the stump a lot more due to having those poor fielders ;) Not the sole reason but surely one of the reason. I will surely call it a disadvantage. We are not talking about Waqar here. Wasim was very good with new ball in his entire career and swung it both ways.

That was a disadvantage in no way, he was never capable of getting an outside edge with a sudden swing.
 
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Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
What I don't actually get is are you comparing them overall or mainly ODIs or Tests?
Seems to definitely be a leaning towards ODI performances with the talk of power plays and beating up on Namibia, which is fine but probably needs to be clarified.
 

Dawood Ahmad

U19 Vice-Captain
I had great debates on them and wanted to show an overall comparison but I wanted to study i.e. I hadn't time for I had to prepare for my chemistry test tommorrow.
And I am sorry that was wrong written by me.
 
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cnerd123

likes this
I warched him for three hours yesterday because I wanted to learn something from him as I am a fast bowler and batsman. I think that you can rate a fast bowler only if you are one.
So Geoff Boycott and Sunil Gavaskar can't rate fast bowlers?
 

simonlee48

School Boy/Girl Captain
I warched him for three hours yesterday because I wanted to learn something from him as I am a fast bowler and batsman..
I meant when Wasim was young, not right now ;)

He used to swing it more than others and both ways. And yea, I played cricket at decent level as a fast bowler but you don't need to be a fast bowler to say, Wasim could swing both ways. Even Boycott's grandma could see that.
 

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