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Curtly Ambrose vs Dennis Lillee

who was better in their respective home conditions


  • Total voters
    22

Sliferxxxx

State Vice-Captain
Dennis Lillee

1. He took 5.5 WPM. Ambrose took 3.9 WPM.

2. He took a five-wicket haul nearly twice as often. Lillee once every 2.9 matches versus Ambrose’s 4.7.
Ambrose for obvious reasons was never going to touch Lillee where wpm or 5 fors are concerned. Besides the shoulder surgery he usually had much more world class competition: Marshall, Bishop and Walsh.
 

DrWolverine

International Captain
Maybe that’s what separates Marshall from the other great WestIndies fast bowlers.

Marshall played alongside some of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and yet had 5.06 WPM at home.
 

subshakerz

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Ambrose for obvious reasons was never going to touch Lillee where wpm or 5 fors are concerned. Besides the shoulder surgery he usually had much more world class competition: Marshall, Bishop and Walsh.
My argument is that when he had less competition post shoulder injury his WPM still declined.
 

subshakerz

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Ambrose for obvious reasons was never going to touch Lillee where wpm or 5 fors are concerned. Besides the shoulder surgery he usually had much more world class competition: Marshall, Bishop and Walsh.
Lillee bowled on average around 43 overs a game.

Ambrose during his peak form 88 to 94 was actually pretty close to that, around 41 overs a game. So it's not like he was bowling much less and had a lot less chance to get wickets.

But after his shoulder injury, Ambrose bowls far less than, only 34 overs a game. And his WPM drops despite there being less quality bowlers around.

So Ambrose to me doesn't get away with justifying a much less WPM than Lillee.
 

Sliferxxxx

State Vice-Captain
My argument is that when he had less competition post shoulder injury his WPM still declined.
Ambrose had a consistent foil his entire career in the form of Walsh. Lillee never had anything close. You also see it with Wasim, who had Waqar as a consistent foil. Ambrose as stated was also less diminished after surgery.
 

Sliferxxxx

State Vice-Captain
If we're just going on wpm and nothing else, then there shouldn't be any debate when it comes to Warne v Murali. But there is because Warne suffers from the same thing Ambrose did ie a consistent world class foil to take wickets. Murali didn't.
 

Sliferxxxx

State Vice-Captain
Most don't consider it close and that's the problem
Like who? If I've ever given the impression that it wasn't close then I humbly apologize. Matter of fact, between about a dozen or so fast bowlers, overall it's close. The differences come in when you consider era, opposition, performances in X country, teammates bla bla bla.
 

Sliferxxxx

State Vice-Captain
Maybe that’s what separates Marshall from the other great WestIndies fast bowlers.

Marshall played alongside some of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and yet had 5.06 WPM at home.
What's astonishing is someone posted that at his peak, he took around 6 wpm. There is an argument that his average and sr were helped out by having other greats. IMO, that's the nature of cricket and he's not unique to Malcolm but how does one account for the wpm (particularly at his peak).
 

subshakerz

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You just made that up. Most of the people rate Ambrose in their top 5, and Lillee in the periphery of top 10. It's definitely close.
I mean that's not close isn't it if there are 4-5 places between them? Obviously I'm not suggesting folks think 20 places between them.
 

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