In my books, taking into consideration their records, impact on the game, expert opinion and their aura, the top tier of fast bowlers would consist of, in no particular order, Lillee, Trueman, Hadlee, Marshall, McGrath, Imran, Akram, Steyn, Ambrose, Barnes
And the next would consist of Donald, Waqar, Lindwall, Spofforth, Roberts, Holding, Davidson, Garner, Larwood, Botham
The third tier would have S. Pollock, Walsh, Anderson, M.Johnson, Fazal, Bedser, Miller, Snow, Hall, P. Pollock
To bring up the top 40 let's have Kapil, Vaas, Bishop, Akhthar, Croft, Harris, Thompson, Adcock, Willis, Statham in the fourth tier
S. Broad, Gough, Tate, Bond, Ntini, McDermott, Caddick, Hughes, Reid, Tyson would round off the top 50.
anyone from the top 10 could be the greatest.
Lillee and Ambrose didn't play in India. Hadlee and Lillee didn't do well in Pakistan. Barnes and McGrath were not "fast". Akram has a patchy record in England, one of the most important countries where your greatness is truly tested. Steyn has a high economy rate. Trueman and Imran's home vs away record is slightly uneven. Considering such non issues, we can conclude that Marshall could be the primus inter pares. He has an outstanding all round record against all countries, in all countries. Despite other ATGs in the team, he took bucketloads of wickets and five fers over a long career. He was a match winner. He was fast and accurate and he was box office. It should be him.