Fast Bowler Survival - 2020 edition

[stephen]

Here is the full rankings thus far:

105 Trevor Goddard
104 Bob Woolmer
103 Eddie Barlow
102 Michael Kasprowicz
101 Arthur Fielder
100 Graham Dilley
99 Ben Hilfenhaus
98 Mohammad Abbas
97 Tony Gray
96 Peter Lever
95 Amar Singh
94 Richard Collinge
93 Dick Motz
92 Patrick Patterson
91 Peter Siddle
90 Bill Voce
89 Geoff Arnold
88 Jasprit Bumrah
87 Frank Foster
86 John Lever
85 Peter Loader
84 Javagal Srinath
83 Ernie Toshack
82 Geoff Lawson
81 Chris Old
80 Bruce Taylor
79 Mohammad Nissar
78 Rodney Hogg
77 Kemar Roach
76 Mohammed Shami
75 Makhaya Ntini
74 Andrew Flintoff
73 Craig McDermott
72 Charlie Griffith
71 Peter Heine
70 Paul Reiffel
69 Gubby Allen
68 Billy Barnes
67 Josh Hazlewood
66 Tom Richardson
65 Ryan Harris
64 Jack Gregory
63 Morné Morkel
62 Ken Farnes
61 Merv Hughes
60 Ted McDonald
59 Trent Boult
58 Manny Martindale
57 Wayne Daniel
56 Mitchell Starc
55 Terry Alderman
54 Mitchell Johnson
53 Stuart Broad
52 Jack Cowie
51 Neil Wagner
50 Graham McKenzie
49 Kagiso Rabada
48 Bruce Reid
47 Vernon Philander
46 Fazal Mahmood
45 Bill Johnston
44 Colin Croft
43 Jeff Thompson
42 Ian Botham
41 Kapil Dev
40 Charlie Turner
39 Jason Gillespie
38 Ian Bishop
37 Frank Tyson
36 Peter Pollock
35 Bob Willis
34 James Anderson
33 Keith Miller
32 John Snow
31 Shoaib Akhtar
30 Neil Adcock
29 Shane Bond
28 Harold Larwood
27 Maurice Tate
26 Mike Procter
25 Wes Hall
24 Brian Statham
23 Pat Cummins
22 Frederick Spofforth
21 Alec Bedser
20 Courtney Walsh
19 George Lohmann
18 Shaun Pollock
17 Andy Roberts
16 Ray Lindwall
15 Alan Davidson
14 Michael Holding
13 Allan Donald
12 Waqar Younis
11 Imran Khan
10 Fred Trueman
9 Sydney Barnes

 

[ankitj]

I don't think this forum rates the bottom 3 of top 8 ahead of Trueman, Imran and Barnes.

 

[stephen]

I don't think this forum rates the bottom 3 of top 8 ahead of Trueman, Imran and Barnes.

That's not how they voted though!

 

[Line and Length]

These bowlers are all fine strike bowlers and I'm going to base my future votes on their strike rates. We had three post-war bowlers (Donald, Trueman and Holding) who were eliminated in the last round when any one of them would have made the top four of the final 8 purely on strike rate. I'm not going to compare Barnes with the others as his strike rate (the best of all) was achieved in an entirely different era.
I guess I'm disappointed because "Fiery Fred" was eliminated when he is superior to all but 2 of the final 8 based on strike rate.

 

[stephen]

Strike rate isn't the only thing about pace bowling though. Basically the idea behind doing this is that you order the bowlers based on how you would draft them. If strike rate is the key factor for you then that's perfectly fine and is a good metric to judge a bowler by. But it's not the only metric and everyone is rating these guys differently and they'll have their own biases towards who they would pick.

I'm personally a bit sad that Trueman didn't make the 8 too, but it's really tough placing him ahead of any of the guys who made it because we're talking about the absolute cream of the crop. The best of the best.

 

[Line and Length]

Best strike bowler = Best strike rate.

Averages are incidental. It's all about getting crucial breakthroughs for your team!

 

[Starfighter]

Nah, strike rate is often not bowler dependent. Modern bowers have great strike rates because batsmen score quickly and are impatient, whereas batmen in, say, the fifties and sixties really ground things out. Compare Rabada's 40.6 strike rate at 3.38 rpo compared to Davidson's 62.1 at 1.92. It was a different game then. Trueman is very much an anomaly in that era.

 

[trundler]

It's also condition dependent. Rabada, Donald, Steyn and Philander (at home) all have gun strike rates. They're all great bowlers too but still. Someone like Trueman، Marshall or Waqar stands out but it's very much case by case.

 

[Starfighter]

Anyone who played much of their career on late fifties/sixties Australian pitches is gonna struggle on the strike rate front.

 

[trundler]

Thirties too. Wonder how conditions in Australia changed in the early 50s.

 

[Line and Length]

Nah, strike rate is often not bowler dependent. Modern bowers have great strike rates because batsmen score quickly and are impatient, whereas batmen in, say, the fifties and sixties really ground things out. Compare Rabada's 40.6 strike rate at 3.38 rpo compared to Davidson's 62.1 at 1.92. It was a different game then. Trueman is very much an anomaly in that era.

Perhaps he was ahead of his time!

 

[stephen]

Quarter Finals Results

The following 4 bowlers progress to the semi finals:

Malcolm Marshall
Richard Hadlee
Glenn McGrath
Curtly Ambrose

Here are the full results:

Group I

Malcolm Marshall	1.125
Richard Hadlee	2.375
Dale Steyn	2.8125
Dennis Lillee	3.6875
	
Group II
	
Glenn McGrath	1.4375
Curtly Ambrose	2.125
Joel Garner	3.1875
Wasim Akram	3.25

 

[stephen]

The final 4 held no real surprises, but Dale Steyn made a charge to topple Hadlee. Garner and Akram were separated by a single rank over 16 votes. Very close call between the two.

 

[harsh.ag]

The final 4 held no real surprises, but Dale Steyn made a charge to topple Hadlee. Garner and Akram were separated by a single rank over 16 votes. Very close call between the two.

Would have held Steyn if he was in Group II

 

[ankitj]

Who was #5 last time this was done? Top 4 remained unchanged I can see.

 

[stephen]

This was the order last time. Far less bowlers were nominated that time. I plan on showing the full list at the end with how they moved from last time once the grand final is complete.

1 Malcolm Marshall
2 Richard Hadlee
3 Glenn McGrath
4 Curly Ambrose
5 Imran Khan
6 Waqar Younis
7 Dennis Lillee
8 Wasim Akram
9 Fred Trueman
10 Sydney Barnes
11 Joel Garner
12 Michael Holding
13 Ray Lindwall
14 Allan Davidson
15 Allan Donald
16 Harold Larwood
17 Frank Tyson
18 Andy Roberts
19 Shaun Pollock
20 Keith Miller
21 George Lohmann
22 Shane Bond
23 John Snow
24 Jeff Thomson
25 Bob Willis
26 Courtney Walsh
27 Neil Adcock
28 Brian Statham
29 Maurice Tate
30 Dale Steyn
31 Ian Botham
32 Wes Hall
33 Peter Pollock
34 Fazal Mahmood
35 Alec Bedser
36 Frederick Spofforth
37 Jack Gregory
38 Mohammad Nissar
39 Bruce Reid
40 Jason Gillespie
41 Kapil Dev
42 Jack Cowie
43 Ian Bishop
44 Shoaib Akhtar

 

[stephen]

From memory, Teja had gone on a propaganda blitz for Waqar in the lead up to that competition.

 

[stephen]

Semi Final Results

Malcolm Marshall d Richard Hadlee 14 votes to 2
Glenn McGrath d Curtly Ambrose 14 votes to 2

Malcolm Marshall and Glenn McGrath progress to the grand final.
Richard Hadlee and Curtly Ambrose will fight it out in the consolation final.

 

[ankitj]

Philander very low in this ranking. Should be top 25 or 30

 

[stephen]

Philander very low in this ranking. Should be top 25 or 30

I get the feeling that he'll be higher rated in the 2030 edition. He was under appreciated in his time and even with his reputation as a friendly-track bully he still put up excellent numbers.