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Ranking the candidates for best fast/pace bowler ever: The Rankings thread

trundler

trundler

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stephen said:
Steyn's peak performance was around 2010 vs India in India. That's what I'll be remembering him for.

Steyn was a beast. But he was hardly alone in being peerless in his generation. Between 2000 and 2007 McGrath was miles ahead of his contemporaries and in the best era for batting by far. 14 out of 42 batmen in history who averaged 50 or more played during that era. Rabada has played 32 tests now and has a lower average than Steyn. McGrath played 124 tests and has a lower average than Steyn. In between these two Steyn was the best in the world by a long way. There other sub-25 average bowlers who had careers simultaneously with Steyn - Philander, Harris, Pollock, Bond, Abbott, Clark and Asif. For one reason or another none of them played right the way throughout Steyn's career (Pollock due to age, Bond and Harris due to injury, Abbott due to quotas, Clark due to form, Asif due to cheating) but Steyn was hardly alone averaging low 20s during his career.

Interestingly enough, McGrath wasn't peerless during his 2002-2007 reign. Bond, Clark, Akhtar and Asif all had sub-25 averages and >50 wickets taken during this era.

I guess the point is that there is no such thing as a peerless player. Steyn ruled the roost and was the best bowler in the world from 2007-2013ish, but he's not been the first "best bowler in the world" to have happened.
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Well I mean if we were to nitpick - Bradman.
 
Coronis

Coronis

Cricketer Of The Year
trundler said:
I really do think O'Reilly should take it. Not so sure about the other 2 since they're finger spinners. Problem is there's practically no way to soundly judge say Blythe. Would be interesting to see.
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What's wrong with finger spinners?
 
ankitj

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Zinzan said:
I recall this thread with Hadlee coming 2nd to Marshall.

CW must have had more active Kiwis & less active Aussies at that time
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I rate Hadlee #2 after Marshall too. But it is honestly daft to reduce voting results on here to voters' nationalities.
 
trundler

trundler

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Coronis said:
What's wrong with finger spinners?
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Was part joking but I think the other 2 played in vastly more favorable conditions. Laker got dropped for that Ashes series in Australia so that doesn't really fill me with confidence about his bowling on unhelpful tracks. Iremonger feasted on SA and had a short career. Similarly, I rate Grimmett below Tiger as the former averaged 7 more than the latter against the old enemy.
 
B

Bolo

State Captain
stephen said:
Steyn's peak performance was around 2010 vs India in India. That's what I'll be remembering him for.

Steyn was a beast. But he was hardly alone in being peerless in his generation. Between 2000 and 2007 McGrath was miles ahead of his contemporaries and in the best era for batting by far. 14 out of 42 batmen in history who averaged 50 or more played during that era. Rabada has played 32 tests now and has a lower average than Steyn. McGrath played 124 tests and has a lower average than Steyn. In between these two Steyn was the best in the world by a long way. There other sub-25 average bowlers who had careers simultaneously with Steyn - Philander, Harris, Pollock, Bond, Abbott, Clark and Asif. For one reason or another none of them played right the way throughout Steyn's career (Pollock due to age, Bond and Harris due to injury, Abbott due to quotas, Clark due to form, Asif due to cheating) but Steyn was hardly alone averaging low 20s during his career.

Interestingly enough, McGrath wasn't peerless during his 2002-2007 reign. Bond, Clark, Akhtar and Asif all had sub-25 averages and >50 wickets taken during this era.

I guess the point is that there is no such thing as a peerless player. Steyn ruled the roost and was the best bowler in the world from 2007-2013ish, but he's not been the first "best bowler in the world" to have happened.
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I think you are being a bit generous to guys with sub 25 averages and nothing careers. After 2002 there wasn't a bowler other than Steyn and Mcgrath operating with a claim to greatness for a long time (2011 for Philander or 2015 for rabada, depending on how generous you want to be in defining greatness), except for Pollock, who had stopped being great in 2003.

It's happened before that there was a clear best, but not for many decades when there were very few competitive teams.
 
stephen

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Well the 80s only really had Hadlee and Imran if you discount the West Indies. The 70s had Lillee who was the clear best. The 90s was the best era for fast bowling ever with Waqar, Wasim, Ambrose, McGrath, Donald, Pollock and Walsh all having claims to greatness.

The 00s had McGrath and Steyn who were the clear best, with Steyn handing the baton over to Rabada a couple of years ago, though I still maintain that Cummins is every bit as good as Rabada, but he's been operating for one year, not three.

Incidentally, Rabada has played 32 tests now, which is more than 1/3 off Steyn's career, which is just ridiculous given how young and fresh Rabada is.
 
GoodAreasShane

GoodAreasShane

Cricketer Of The Year
Personally I think Patto could be well and truly up there if he can just stay on the park for a decent amount of time. Unfortunately the chances of that are looking more and more remote by the day.
 
Dendarii

Dendarii

International Debutant
stephen said:
Incidentally, Rabada has played 32 tests now, which is more than 1/3 off Steyn's career, which is just ridiculous given how young and fresh Rabada is.
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Given what Rabada's achieved so far at a young age, if he can keep going like that then at some point he's going to start becoming a serious candidate for discussions like this.
 
StephenZA

StephenZA

Hall of Fame Member
Rabada needs to start playing less of the LO's over stuff except when we need him. Why the hell he is playing in these silly T20's I don't know. He played in every game in SL except one ODI. They gonna burn him out and that is stupid.
 
L

Logan

U19 Captain
stephen said:
The 70s had Lillee who was the clear best.
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Andy Roberts was better than Dennis Lillee. Out of 355 wickets, Lillee took 28 wickets outside Aus/Eng. He played 5 Tests in Pak/SL/WI and took 6 wickets at an average of over 90. Andy Roberts took 32 wickets in a single series in India.

Michael Holding came in the second half of the 70s but damn he was good.

I am curious as to why no one has mentioned Bob Willis. He wasn’t the greatest but I think he deserves at least a mention.

StephenZA said:
Why the hell he is playing in these silly T20's I don't know. .
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MONEY


GoodAreasShane said:
Personally I think Patto could be well and truly up there if he can just stay on the park for a decent amount of time.
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For a second I thought you were talking about Patrick Patterson of the West Indies.
 
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