Top 5 bowling attacks - All Time

[LongHopCassidy]

No team can win a Test without taking 20 wickets (except Australia in Sydney ). Which combinations were the best at this difficult task?

For mine:
1. Wasim, Waqar, Imran, Mushtaq Ahmed (1992)
2. Marshall, Garner, Holding, Croft (1983)
3. McGrath, Gillespie, Lee, Warne (2001)
4. Lillee, Thomson, Walker, Gilmour, Mallett (1974-75)
5. Lindwall, Miller, Johnston, Johnson, McCool (1948)

 

[BoyBrumby]

England 32/33 has got to up there:

Larwood, Voce, Allen, Verity with Wally Hammond's medium pacers as back up.

 

[a massive zebra]

England had an embarrassment of riches in the bowling department during the 1950s. They could choose between Trueman, Tyson, Statham, Laker, Lock and Wardle. In terms of pure depth, this has to be up with the great West Indian pace battery.

 

[C_C]

1. Marshall-Holding-Garner-Croft
2. Marshall-Ambrose-Garner-Walsh
3. Wasim-Waqar-Imran-Qadir
4. McGrath-Warne-Gillespie-Fleming/McGill
5. Trueman-Statham-Laker-Tyson

 

[Dissector]

I am surprised no has mentioned Wasim-Waqar-Mushtaq-Saqlain of around 1996. You can't get a more perfectly varied combination than that: left-arm quick, right-arm quick, leg-spin and off-spin. And at their best all four were great or near-great bowlers.

 

[tooextracool]

I am surprised no has mentioned Wasim-Waqar-Mushtaq-Saqlain of around 1996. You can't get a more perfectly varied combination than that: left-arm quick, right-arm quick, leg-spin and off-spin. And at their best all four were great or near-great bowlers.

waqar and mushtaq were pretty much finished by then unfortunately.

 

[Smudge]

Doull, De Groen, Owens. Patel.

 

[username1234]

Doull, De Groen, Owens. Patel

Yeah Im sure that bowling attack would destroy any team.

 

[Dissector]

waqar and mushtaq were pretty much finished by then unfortunately.

Not really. I did a quick check on Statsguru for their performances in 1996-7 and both averaged around 26-27 over that period. In fact Mushtaq was performing better than his career average and may have been at his peak at this time. Waqar was below his peak and didn't play that many tests but was still a useful bowler.

 

[Smudge]

Yeah Im sure that bowling attack would destroy any team.

They destroyed several times. Unfortunately, it was their teammates' morale.

 

[royGilchrist]

roberts, holding, garner, croft, by far the best in the last 40 years.

warne, mcgrath are pretty good too.

 

[luckyeddie]

roberts, holding, garner, croft, by far the best in the last 40 years.

warne, mcgrath are pretty good too.

welcome back royGilchrist - long time no chat.

As you can probably tell, we could do with some of your common sense round here at the moment.

 

[Autobahn]

roberts, holding, garner, croft, by far the best in the last 40 years.

warne, mcgrath are pretty good too.

Bah! that's like a school team attack compared to the sheer untouchable quality of Pringle, Lewis, DeFreitas, Botham, Illingworth and Reeve.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Don't know whether you could name an Australian quartet from the late 90s early 00s, as it usually was Warne from one end and McGrath from the other bowling out the opponent without letting the other bowlers get much of a go.

I'd go with Roberts, Croft, Holding, Garner.

 

[chaminda_00]

Roberts, Croft, Holding, Garner
Marshall, Garner, Ambrose, Walsh
Lindwall, Millers, Johnston, Johnson, Toshak
Trueman, Statham, Laker, Tyson
Wasim, Waqar, Imran, Qadir

Current aussie just miss out cus of the i think the fourth/fifth bowlers of the other teams are slightly better.

 

[Autobahn]

Wasim, Waqar, Imran, Qadir

They only played together for a couple of series before Qadir retired so not really a long standing attack.

 

[royGilchrist]

nice to see ya eddie...great work with the articles and website.

Wasim, Waqar and Mushtaq is more likely, since Qadir, Waqar and Imran only played for a few matches when Qadir and even Imran was past their prime.

Donald and Pollock was pretty useful too.

Lillee, Thomson, Alderman, Hogg were pretty good too. I think this was the lineup in the early eighties.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Other good attacks (in no particular order):

Hall, Griffith, Sobers, Ramadhin (1958)
Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna, some no name pacer to take the shine off the ball (1980)
Smith, Adcock, Fuller, Goddard, Tayfield (1955)
McKenzie, Davidson, Meckiff, Benaud, Kline (1961)

 

[thierry henry]

Hadlee, Chatfield, Cairns, Bracewell