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Ranking the modern left-arm quicks

The Sean

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
As I frequently review and revise my historic rankings of players (because I’m a sad geek with no friends, shut up), one of those which I can never seem to settle on is that of left-arm quicks, particularly of the modern era. As a member of the Brotherhood Of Left Arm Quicks myself, this vexes me.

Wasim Akram is of course the one true all-time great among them, but he was coming to the end of his career by the turn of the century and so I’m more focused on those who came after – we’ve been lucky enough to have half a dozen very, very good ones to follow him in Vaas, Khan, The Mitchells, Boult and Wagner. Boult’s ascent to the 300-club to join Vaas, Khan and Johnson (with Starc to follow sooner rather than later you’d think) has got me thinking about this again and I am still going back and forth as to how to rate them.

So I’m putting it to CW here for your thoughts – how would you rank those six outstanding left-arm quicks?
 
Flem274*

Flem274*

123/5
I don't know.

First thoughts are MJ > Starc and Wagner > Boult.

I think I'm going to put the guys of the motorway era first, so Vaas > Zaheer > the rest.

Johnson had the highest talent and peak of the rest but also the biggest troughs. Wagner the most unique, Boult the most conventional and Starc the biggest underachiever and most likely to go missing despite being the most talented bowler on the list.

Vaas
Zaheer
Johnson
Wagner
Boult
Starc
 
S

subshakerz

International Coach
Flem274* said:
I don't know.

First thoughts are MJ > Starc and Wagner > Boult.

I think I'm going to put the guys of the motorway era first, so Vaas > Zaheer > the rest.

Johnson had the highest talent and peak of the rest but also the biggest troughs. Wagner the most unique, Boult the most conventional and Starc the biggest underachiever and most likely to go missing despite being the most talented bowler on the list.

Vaas
Zaheer
Johnson
Wagner
Boult
Starc
Click to expand...
I am similar but I put Zaheer ahead of Vaas. More of a big match player, better with reverse and played most of his career in a tougher era.
 
The Sean

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
Flem274* said:
I don't know.

First thoughts are MJ > Starc and Wagner > Boult.

I think I'm going to put the guys of the motorway era first, so Vaas > Zaheer > the rest.

Johnson had the highest talent and peak of the rest but also the biggest troughs. Wagner the most unique, Boult the most conventional and Starc the biggest underachiever and most likely to go missing despite being the most talented bowler on the list.

Vaas
Zaheer
Johnson
Wagner
Boult
Starc
Click to expand...
subshakerz said:
I am similar but I put Zaheer ahead of Vaas. More of a big match player, better with reverse and played most of his career in a tougher era.
Click to expand...
Fair play - assuming these are purely Test ratings or are ODIs taken into account?
 
The Sean

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
Immenso said:
Afridi could end up being a level up? A 22 averaging bowler.
Click to expand...
Yeah for sure, I almost gave him a mention but thought it a little too early when compared to the careers of the others. Absolutely on the right trajectory though.
 
C

cricketsavant

U19 12th Man
The Sean said:
As I frequently review and revise my historic rankings of players (because I’m a sad geek with no friends, shut up), one of those which I can never seem to settle on is that of left-arm quicks, particularly of the modern era. As a member of the Brotherhood Of Left Arm Quicks myself, this vexes me.

Wasim Akram is of course the one true all-time great among them, but he was coming to the end of his career by the turn of the century and so I’m more focused on those who came after – we’ve been lucky enough to have half a dozen very, very good ones to follow him in Vaas, Khan, The Mitchells, Boult and Wagner. Boult’s ascent to the 300-club to join Vaas, Khan and Johnson (with Starc to follow sooner rather than later you’d think) has got me thinking about this again and I am still going back and forth as to how to rate them.

So I’m putting it to CW here for your thoughts – how would you rank those six outstanding left-arm quicks?
Click to expand...
Vaas debuted a long, long time ago and played a lot of his games in the 90s and early 00s, not sure if I'd include him.

Johnson, Starc, Wagner, Boult are of a very different generation but none of them are all time greats.

Boult is the most accomplished imo, JOhnson the most fiery in tests and Starc probably has the best all round ability but his test form is very hit and miss.

Boult
Johnson/Starc
Wagner

Am I missing any?
 
TheJediBrah

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
cricketsavant said:
Speaking of ODI specialists, Nathan Bracken was a terrific ODI bowler. I remember me and my friends used to make fun of him because of his lack of pace and how often the keeper would stand up to him, but he was always in the wickets.
Click to expand...
Weird thing to make fun of him for given he could hit 140kph, and the keeper was up to the stumps because he deliberately bowled slower cutters in the middle and later overs.

Plenty of other things to make fun of Nathan Bracken for
 
C

cricketsavant

U19 12th Man
TheJediBrah said:
Weird thing to make fun of him for given he could hit 140kph, and the keeper was up to the stumps because he deliberately bowled slower cutters in the middle and later overs.

Plenty of other things to make fun of Nathan Bracken for
Click to expand...
Could he hit an upper limit of 140? Maybe, I certainly never saw it from him enough. The keeper usually stood up as he bowled gentle medium pace or cut his pace down even more for cutters. Certainly useful in that weird era of ODI cricket as many great bowlers retired as fast bowling was at a low while scores were getting ever bigger.
 
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