Best Players of Fast Bowling

[hang on]

willey was a hard man. one of the hardest as botham found out to his chagrin!

 

[Goughy]

Of the ones I've seen it has to be Richards.
and all those saffies were no slouches of playing pace. Cullinan certainly worth a mention.

On current form, I'd have a toss up between Sangakkara and Kallis

Great shout. My first thought was Daryll Cullinan.

Hard to look past Ponting though I also though Gilchrist played the quicks very well.

 

[abmk]

I had always thought that high-quality pace was the weakest area of Tendulkar's game. Not necessarily bad but not outstanding like the rest of his batsmanship. He certainly has performed worse against Pakistan and South Africa than other countries and the one thing they have had in common over his career is a production line of high-quality fast bowlers.

Lara basically ran hot and cold but when he was on, pace bowling was dismissed like everything else. McGrath did sort him out but that is not a huge cross against anyone.

I never thought Aravinda was that great a batsman so maybe a personal bias against him. Never noticed him being particularly great against pace.

Lara performed worse vs Donald ( SA ) and wasim/waqar (Pak ) than Sachin and I think he was quite a bit lesser against genuine quality pace bowling than Sachin ( better against spin though )

 

[abmk]

I would put Inzi and Ponting both ahead of Tendulkar.Infact,in the last 20 odd years those two would be the best players of fast bowling i've seen,with not a lot to choose between them.

Inzi was pretty comfortable against pace per se and had a lot of time to play ( more than anyone else I've seen ) . But he wasn't as comfortable against the movement. Hence his record outside of the SC isn't that good . That bumps him down a bit IMO

 

[abmk]

Playing seam bowling - Ponting at his peak, of everyone I've seen. Didn't look like getting out, and could score at a Gilchrist-like pace if he wanted to.

Disagree, Ashes 2005 in particular proved he was vulnerable against good seam/swing bowling. ( at his peak ). Of course outside of that there is Gough, the recent Ashes, Asif/Aamer in England, Ishant etc .... Bond also made him his bunny in ODIs

Pure pace is definitely Ponting too.

I'd say Inzi or him probably

In terms of playing all kinds of pace in any conditions, especially in terms of difficulty of getting out, peak Dravid of the ones I've seen.

disagree, against top quality pace bowling, I'd take Sachin/Steve over him .

 

[abmk]

The current crop of English batsmen are all very good against pace.

Except only Trott could play Asif/Aamer well

 

[abmk]

Top 10 among the ones I've seen quite a bit of would probably be ( in no particular order )

Sachin, Steve,Ponting, Inzamam,Dravid,Kallis, Lara,Gilchrist, Langer,Sangakkara/Aravinda ( couldn't keep either of them out )

Others ( before that ) would be :

Viv,Chappell,Border,Gavaskar,Gooch,Amarnath,Crowe

 

[Kylez]

Ponting. Not many batsmen could destroy pace bowling like he could, especially short bowling.

 

[Blaze 18]

I had always thought that high-quality pace was the weakest area of Tendulkar's game. Not necessarily bad but not outstanding like the rest of his batsmanship. He certainly has performed worse against Pakistan and South Africa than other countries and the one thing they have had in common over his career is a production line of high-quality fast bowlers.

Lara basically ran hot and cold but when he was on, pace bowling was dismissed like everything else. McGrath did sort him out but that is not a huge cross against anyone.

I never thought Aravinda was that great a batsman so maybe a personal bias against him. Never noticed him being particularly great against pace.

His statistics against Pakistan must be taken in context. He made his debut as a sixteen year old in Pakistan against Imran, Waqar, Wasim and Qadir. After that series in 1989, the only series India-Pakistan played (IIRC) was in 1999, where he scored a magnificent last innings century against Wasim, Waqar and Saqlain (and he was far from fully fit in that innings). Interestingly enough, it is Saqlain and Qadir who got Tendulkar out more often, if I am not mistaken. Wasim and Waqar only dismissed him once each (this is from memory, have to check it) EDIT : yes, Saqlain got him thrice; Qadir, Wasim and Waqar got him once; Imran got him twice. Basically, the blot in his record is his "failures" against Pakistan in the mid 2000s - a period in which he had one of the worst runs in his entire career, courtesy his tennis elbow woes and poor form, and a period in which the Sehwags of the world (hardly known for their prowess against great pace bowling) have Bradmanesque averages in India-Pakistan matches.

As regards South Africa, I think you certainly have a case, but again, the two South African bowlers who troubled him the most were Shaun Pollock and Hansie Cronje (!). Not to say Allan Donald didn't have his moments against Tendulkar, but I'd say it was fairly even. It's worth noting that a lot of his initial tours were all away form home (Pakistan, New Zealand, England, Australia, South Africa), etc. and he did well, as a seventeen year old, in each one of them. IIRC, he scored a record number of centuries away from home for a teenager (or is that away from the subcontinent?. Not sure).

Glenn McGrath definitely had the better of Tendulkar, of that there is no question. However, I wouldn't say he managed to "sort out" Lara. There were times when he got the better of Lara, and there were times when Lara made him look like a U-12 bowler. Over their entire careers, I'd say Lara definitely had the better of the exchanges.

Aravinda was a brilliant player of pace bowling, whatever his other inadequacies. You only have to watch his hundreds vs Pakistan to know that. An extraordinary puller and hooker.

 

[Migara]

Ponting. Not many batsmen could destroy pace bowling like he could, especially short bowling.

Richards was one, de Silva was another and so was Inzi when it came to handling short stuff. All three I rate as good as Ponting against short stuff. And these guys did play some quickest short stuff too.

We know how good Viv was against short stuff. He actually insisted faster men to bounce him! Inzi asking Lee whether he was bowling off spin after hammering him was a prime example of Inzi's ability against short stuff. And I have seen him just murdering short stuff from any bowler. 37 yr.old de Silva sending Lee bowling at 90mph in 2003 WC out of the park was another. Younger de Silva just intimidated every pace bowler in the world to pitch it up to him. No one dared to give him chin music, and that included Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib, Donald, Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop, Imran and Huges.

 

[Debris]

You may be right about Tendulkar. I might be just remembering his relatively poor record against SA and interpreting it as a weakness against pace.

As I said about Lara, he runs hot and cold. There were times when McGrath made Lara look like an U-12 batsman as well. Who had the better of the exchanges is a subjective judgement. His record against Australia was better than most.

We will have to agree to disagree about Aravinda. Any batsman who plays enough test matches will have a few outstanding innings but there were not enough to convince me.

 

[hang on]

regarding Tendulkar, he doesn't have an excellent record against the saffers but he has played some absolutely fantastic innings against donald and co., the 169 being one of them. didn't really have trouble against fast bowling. also, the way he handled lee -- some of the best fast bowling i've seen - at his best in 08 and then steyn and morkel makes rate him so highly. also his innings as a kid at perth.

was more prone to getting out to quality seam bowling of the pollock and mcgrath variety.

 

[Cevno]

Sachin used to get out more to the likes of Razzaq,Cronje more often than Wasim,Waqar or Donald for some reason.
Has to be surely among the best players of fast bowling in both forms of the game.

Among other both Ponting and Dravid at their peaks were exceptional against the pacers.
Inzamam was very good too and had so much time against Fast bowlers. And Aravinda De Silva was pretty good against the pacers too.

Damien Martyn,Steve Waugh maybe come to mind too.

 

[vcs]

Except only Trott could play Asif/Aamer well

Cook in his recent form would do well against them IMO and Bell was missing (who performed well against Steyn and co. in SA, saving a Test in Cape Town IIRC). I agree Pietersen in his recent form looks shaky against any kind of quality bowling and Strauss seems to have developed a weakness to left-armers recently.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Extreme pace (150 kph +) bowled accurately is a frightening prospect for any human. IMHO, it's more about your reflexes and natural ability than the trigger movements of your feet and hands or what any coaching manual would tell you.

Men who pick the length quicker than the others invariably seem to have more time to play raw pace and whatever their statistical records may say, they are never the ones that get rushed into their strokes. Discipline, run-hunger and a host of other things go into making a good batsman great or vice-versa!

I am going purely by the ability to pick the length early and play that extra half a second late. My nominations would be (post helmet-era players):


1) Aravinda de Silva

2) Ricky Ponting

3) Martin Crowe

4) Inzamam-ul-Haq

5) Robin Smith (possibly on par with Richie Richardson)


Of these players, I have only seen some live in action. However, old video footages, articles and opinions have done enough to convince me that these men are right up there when facing raw pace.

Hypothetically, if the Jupiterians organise a cricket game with planet Earth and they have humanoids hurling the ball at 170-180 kmph, I'd have these men batting in my top 6 for Team Earth!

 

[honestbharani]

I had always thought that high-quality pace was the weakest area of Tendulkar's game. Not necessarily bad but not outstanding like the rest of his batsmanship. He certainly has performed worse against Pakistan and South Africa than other countries and the one thing they have had in common over his career is a production line of high-quality fast bowlers.

Lara basically ran hot and cold but when he was on, pace bowling was dismissed like everything else. McGrath did sort him out but that is not a huge cross against anyone.

I never thought Aravinda was that great a batsman so maybe a personal bias against him. Never noticed him being particularly great against pace.

Lara averaged something like 50+ against McGrath. McGrath rated him the best batsman he has bowled to when he retired.. He sorted Lara out as much as Lara sorted him out..

 

[miscer]

You may be right about Tendulkar. I might be just remembering his relatively poor record against SA and interpreting it as a weakness against pace.

he doesn't have a poor record against anyone.

his combined average in aus, nz, eng and saf is 54 and so is pontings.

 

[Zinzan]

R Ponting & M D Crowe are the best I've seen

 

[Himannv]

Viv Richards. He just dominated against pace.

 

[subshakerz]

Would add Michael Slater, fearless against pure pace, he would either smash or get out early.