John Snow vs Brian Statham

[Johan]

I've always been of the opinion that Statham was the better bowler, largely due to the Trueman comparisons and the fact that before a terrible 7 match stretch, he was averaging 23 with more than a decade under his belt with very good numbers in Australia/West Indies, made me rate him higher. But contextually, even at that point, his overall average against Australia (27.82) and West Indies (30.23) weren't impressive, his away numbers in Australia (26.16) and West Indies (28.69) were but not home. Even at that point, his home Ashes numbers (29.73) were a little dissapointing, and his home record against West Indies (33.30) was not good at all.

Snow is a bit of the opposite, he played his cricket primarily against Australia and West Indies, and he did put very good numbers against Australia (25.61) and West Indies (26.63), he took an absurd 76.7% of his wickets against Australia and the West Indies compared to Statham's 44.0%. More importantly, Snow absolutely dominated in Australia (22.84) and the West Indies (18.67). His home Ashes record (27.26) is also superior to Statham, his home numbers against West Indies (31.40) are also better as he atleast quickly took wickets at a good rate (57.0 SR) and maintained a decent WPI (2.36). He also withstood the wrath of IVA Richards in 1976.

finally, Snow would also have the harder era, considering the English and Australian wickets of 60s and early 70s had become more batting friendly. But when discussed in the pantheon of English pacers, Statham is almost universally rated higher than Snow and has much better numbers against non Australian/Windies teams.

so overall, who do you think was better?

 

[BazBall21]

Statham has the superior body of work but I'd take Snow against a strong batting lineup.

 

[Gob]

One came back from the dead so the answer is pretty obvious

 

[subshakerz]

Tie

 

[Johan]

Statham has the superior body of work but I'd take Snow against a strong batting lineup.

Snow functions better as the main bowler while Statham is the quintessential second pacer. Snow would always go for wickets but Statham would be content with just building preassure and not giving runs, amplifying the chances of the other bowler to take the wickets.