Your top 5 bowlers of all time?

[Iafeta]

I had the chance to have lunch and a few beers with a few modern test players when i was overseas recently and apparently most players in the 90 will tell you Akram was the best by far.

*Cough* bullsh!t *cough*

 

[hineyrulz]

It's not really that simple - I guess it depends on what stock you place in a limited period vs a long career... Waqar for a decent period was as good as, if not better than anyone. I also disagree with your 50 test cutoff as many of the earlier greats are eliminated.

But, I agree that Wasim Akram was a remarkable bowler (and IMo better than Waqar)- I remember his first test (I think) against NZ - I think he took 5, and sconed Lance Cairns... probably the best left arm pace bowler ever, the only one that would come close (that I can think of) would be Allan Davidson who is terribly underrated

Davo's record was amazing, i think he averaged under 20 per wicket. He was also a more than handy lower order bat. Apparently he met Wasim in 1999 and they chatted about bowling. Being a left armer i would have loved to have been a fly on the wall.

 

[watatank]

In no particular order

Glenn McGrath
Shane Warne
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Courtney Walsh

 

[JJ]

Davo's record was amazing, i think he averaged under 20 per wicket. He was also a more than handy lower order bat. Apparently he met Wasim in 1999 and they chatted about bowling. Being a left armer i would have loved to have been a fly on the wall.

Indeed - I am puzzled as to why he's not often mentioned in the same discussions as Lindwall, Miller, Lillee and McGrath... he should be, and I'd probably have him at McGrath's expense with Lindwall, Miller and Lillee in my all-time Australian team

44 tests, 186 wickets at 20.5, 14 5wi
1328 runs at 24.6 - like Lindwall he was really a bowling all-rounder, his first-class average with the bat was 32.9

 

[Freddo]

Out of those I've seen:

1. Shane Warne - Best spinner ever
2. Curtley Ambrose - Probably the most intimidating bowler I've seen
3. Wasim Akram - Fantastic swing bowler, revolutionised reverse swing
4. Glenn McGrath - Unbelievably accurate, always backed up his talk
5. Courtney Walsh - Had speed and accuracy, a rare combo

totally agree

 

[ScottyTheHotty]

in the history of the game im going to have to give my top 5, and they're all australian (which just goes to show the strength and dominance of australian cricket) -

1 - shane warne...record speaks for itself, plus is a family man and has a lot of charm and charisma which kept the crowds coming

2 - glenn mcgrath.......fantastic to watch, line and length impecable and i know from experience extremely hard to face

3 - jason gillespie......amazing bowler, and double centurion. should never have been dropped

4 - brett lee.....an out and out paceman and wicket taker and he's damn good looking too

5 - my very own cousin, doug bollinger.....an unorthodox choice and one which has probably thrown in a few surprises to you all, but he's a consistant performer and very, very dedicated and has been for many years, has been on a hattrick many times and his batting and fielding have improved immensely too. its a crime that he's been playing in a baggy blue instead of a baggy green for all these years.


it was hard to leave otu the lilee's and the thompsons and the akrams and pollocks etc, but that is my top 5 and i think you'll all agree if you take a look at their figures and the matches they were playig in and the quality of their team mates and opponents that they are a very worthy top 5.

cheers

scott

 

[Bazal]

:lol: :lol: :lol:
You're either 7 years old or have amassed cricketing knowledge equivalent to Martin Langs mastery of quantum physics...

 

[TheParraboy]

:lol: :lol: :lol:
You're either 7 years old or have amassed cricketing knowledge equivalent to Martin Langs mastery of quantum physics...

:lol:

He has also been sent to Banistan :lol:

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

1. warnie
2. akram
3. mcgrath
4. ambrose
5. donald

 

[MKEB...]

I was looking at Waqar's stats, he was only ever a really genuinely threatening bowler in the 4 early years of his career. Excluding his poor first 5 tests for this analysis.

From his 6th test to his 32nd test, precisely from October 10 1990 to October 2 1994, he was extremely deadly, 19 five-fors, 4 ten wicket matches. In this time he averaged 17 with the ball, with a phenomenal strike rate of 32.7, & an economy of 3.17 (below his overall career economy).

In the rest of his career (55 matches) he only managed 3 more five-fors, & 1 more ten wicket match. In this time he averaged 28 with the ball, 2 of the 3 five-fors he took were against Zimbabwe & Bangladesh, & the 3rd one was part of his only ten wicket haul, againt South Africa in 97/98.

And you will find that most of his decent hauls were against NZ, ... the b4stard

 

[budz]

I reckon Ambrose was a better bowler than Walsh.

 

[hineyrulz]

Ambrose>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Walsh.

 

[JJ]

Walsh is not even among the best 5 West Indian bowlers ever...

He was a great servant of Windies cricket, and a world-class quick, had longevity etc etc - but was really just a solid performer at test level for an awfully long time... in recent times Holding, Garner, Roberts, Croft, Marshall and Ambrose were all easily better than him (Croft a similar but better bowler in many ways)

 

[hineyrulz]

Walsh is not even among the best 5 West Indian bowlers ever...

He was a great servant of Windies cricket, and a world-class quick, had longevity etc etc - but was really just a solid performer at test level for an awfully long time... in recent times Holding, Garner, Roberts, Croft, Marshall and Ambrose were all easily better than him (Croft a similar but better bowler in many ways)

Pretty much spot on, in the 80's Walsh was always just the 4th Quick. It wasn't till all the greats had gone when he finally came out of there shadow.

 

[Twizzle]

I reckon Ambrose was a better bowler than Walsh.

Walsh had longevity, but was no where near the bowler big Curtly was imo

big Curtly is a bass player in a reggae band now

 

[hineyrulz]

Walsh had longevity, but was no where near the bowler big Curtly was imo

big Curtly is a bass player in a reggae band now

I think he jams with Ritchie Rich, apparently not a bad voice either for the big man.