Greatest Fast Bowlers (based on career peak)

Arguably in order of merit the 10 top fast bowlers of my time are
1.Malcolm Marshall
2.Dennis Lillee
3.Glen Mcgrath
4.Wasim Akram
5.Richard Hadlee
6.Michael Holding
7.Imran Khan
8.Curtly Ambrose
9.Andy Roberts
10.Waqar Younus.

Marshall had an armoury of deliveries that no paceman ever posessed ,Lillee was the most complete,Hadlee and Mcgrath posessed the greatest control of all,Ambrose was the most accurate of all and the best match-winner,Wasim Akram more versatile than any great bowler,Holding consistently the quickets of all with the most perfect of bowling actions,while Imran was the ultimate man to turn a match against the greateset of opponents.Andy Roberts in versatality was the closest to Lillee.

Mcgrath and Hadlee were statistically the best paceman but lacked the agression,pace and versatality of Marshall and Lillee or even Imran or Akram.

akram was the most versatile bowler .. how often u see a "modern day" ATTACKING bowler with an economy of under 4 rpo ... yes it was wasim only who had such stats .. GENIUS !

for me he shud b in the top 3 ...
jus because u cant jus judge on wht ur personal opinion is .. u shud ask int;l players who faced him and had a nightmarish time ,some of the most attackign n finest players of this era say wasim was the toughest to face .. some being " jayasuriya , lara , gilchrist "

Dennis Lillee is The most complete and classical fast bowler of all time and arguably the best.. He had a perfect bowling action great pace, control, movement off the air and the wicket, great versatility combined with unrelenting agression. He could swing the ball both ways ,had a superb leg-cutter, an effective bouncer and could produce subtle changes of pace. He posessed a classical action combined with hostility and agression.In his early days he was tearway fast but became a better bowler when he reduced his pace and concentrated on controlled swing and cut.

Captured 8 wickets for 29 runs against the Rest of the World team at Perth in 1972.In 1973 sufffered a major back-injury but made an almost miraculous recovery, blasting out Englsih and West Indian teams in 1975 and 1976 with partner Jeff Thomson.His 6-26 at Melbourne in the Centenary test in 1977 against England was a classical spell-amongst the greatest of all time where he rattled England with one of the most hostile exhibitions of pace bowling. He repeated that at Melbourne against England in 1979-80 ona flat track where he bowled seam up.He also punished the WEst Indies with 7-83 at Melbourme in 1981-82 with 10 wickets in the match enabling Australia to win win the test match.
Lillee also bowled particularly well in England like his 10 wickets at the Oval in 1972 and his 7-89 and 10 wickets overall at the Oval in 1981-82.He had ever-consistent wicket hall sin test series and In World Series Cricket captured 67 wickets in 15 supertsets against great stalwarts like Viv and Bary Richards.After Packer Cricket for 3 succesive Australian seasons was the Champion bolwer-1979-80,1980-81 and 1981-82,his supremacy marginally challenged by Holding and Imran.
He has captured 5 wickets per test and had his 91 wickets captured in Packer cricket and against Rest of the World in 1972 been added his bowling tally would have reached the magic figure of 446 .Never tried effectively on the sub-continent pitches.Dennis Lille captured more top order wickets and important wickets than Marshall.Hea lso ahd relatively toughrer opponents and overshadowed all the bolwing greats in Packer Cricket.
Dennis Lillee at his best had a brilliant strike rate but his economy rate was higher than stalwarts like Marshall,Imran and Hadlee.In one of Ananth Narayan’s stats analysis he is rated the best fast bowler of all just nosing out Hadleeand Imran and about 2 and a half points above McGrath and Marshall.Infact in both lists he is rated above Mcgrath nad Marshall.Cricinfo selected Lillee in the all-time 11 rating him the best pace bowler of all time.From 1977-1982 he bowled like the ultimate champion converting his strike rate to about 47 balls per wicket.
Career averages
Span Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 5 10
unfiltered 1971-1984 70 132 18467 8493 355 7/83 11/123 23.92 2.75 52.0 23 7 Profile

filtered 1977-1982 30 57 8211 3824 176 7/83 11/123 21.72 2.79 46.6 14 5

For almost 18 months between February 1973 and November 1974, Lillee did not play competitive cricket because of injuries, but came back strongly to become the world's best bowler over the next three years. In 1977, he played in World Series Cricket and demonstrated once again that he was at the peak of his career. In a series that featured the world's top fast bowlers, Lillee took the most wickets, though he also played the most matches, picking up 67 wickets in 14 games across the two seasons
Performance of top bowlers in World Series Cricket
Bowler Team Matches played Wickets taken Average 5
Garth Le Roux World XI 3 17 15.88 2
Mike Procter World XI 4 14 16.07 0
Imran Khan World XI 5 25 20.84 0
Michael Holding West Indies 9 35 23.31 1
Andy Roberts West Indies and World XI 13 50 24.14 1
Joel Garner West Indies and World XI 7 35 24.77 1
Max Walker Australia 7 28 25.42 2
Dennis Lillee Australia 14 67 26.86 4
Jeff Thomson Australia 5 16 29.75



Ananth Narayan, of cricinfo compiled 2 tables of statistical analysis of great bowlers of all categories.In both analyses he made separate tables for bowlers in three different periods.I am only reproducing his figures for the modern era. Ananth has taken into account match performances and career ratings .The ratings of Analysis no1 are

1.Dennis Lillee-48.05

2.Richard Hadlee-47.97

3.Imran Khan-47.9

4.Dale Steyn-45.55

5.Macom Marshall-45.44

6.Glen McGrath-44.86

7..Alan Donald-44.18

8..Curtly Ambrose -44.13

9.Waqar younus -43.55

10.Michael Holding 43.4

Imran Khan

Imran Khan
The greatest Asian fast bowler of all time, bar possibly Wasim Akram. Imran was the pioneer of reverse swing and the first pace bowler to master the art of swining an old ball.Combined with afine action, he had an explosive pace and could produce prodigious swing in all conditions.With Wasim,the greatest ever bolwer with an old ball.He had great agression deploying the bouncer to ruthless use His thunderbolt inswinger was perhaps the best the author has seen,like when he bowled Gavaskar and Vishwanath in the Karachi tset in 1982-83 captturing 5-3 in that spell.Above all he has been the best match-winning pace bowler for Pakistan.Few paceman contributed as much in creating historical landmarks for their nation as Imran.and his bolwing virtually shaped Pakistan’s destiny.HIS 12 for 165 at Sydney in 1976-77 enabled Pakistan to draw a series for the first time in Austrlai and win their first ever tset on Australain soil.In 1982-83 he captured 40 wickest in a6 tset match series agaisnt India on the dead Pakistan tracks, enabling Pakistan to win 3-0.In 1987 his hall of 10-89 at Leeds which won the tse match played a major role in Pakisatn winning their first ever series on Englisgh soil.aftercoming so close before.In 1988 he captured 23 wckets in the West Indies and alamost won a tset series for Pakisatn,whichwould have given them the unofficial test world championship.(No team won atset serise thee since Ian Chappel's Australians in 1973)In the fisrt tset he captured 11 wickest and enabled Pakisatn to win th a test match for the first time by any overseas team in WEst Indise since Australai in 1978.At his best in 1981-1983 when he captured 21 wickets in England,bolwing brillinatly at Headingley and Edgbaston.His 2 5 wicket haul spells at Karachi and Hyderabad in 1982-83 versus India rank amongst the greatest of all time. Ina statistical analysis ahead of Wasim Akram,considering that he gained more wins for his country against great opponents and also captured 8 wickets twice,and 7 wickets 3 times unlike Wasim who has captured 7 or more wickets only once.In an overall stats analysis would contest with Hadlee and Marshall in aphoto-finish.In official stats analysis of paceman thid only o.5 decimla point behind Lillee and Hadlee.He championed the placid,subcontinent surfaces which was attribute to his immense talent.


From 1980 to 1988 he was the best fast bowler in the world in terms of averages and strike rate.
Top bowlers in the world between 1980 and 1988 (Qual: 150 wickets)
Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM
Imran Khan 48 236 17.77 43.6 18/ 5
Richard Hadlee 51 284 19.03 47.0 28/ 7
Malcolm Marshall 58 297 20.20 44.7 18/ 3
Joel Garner 49 210 20.62 51.8 7/ 0
Michael Holding 45 184 23.38 50.3 9/ 1
Dennis Lillee 35 171 24.07 52.3 11/ 3
Average quality of wickets captured (rating of Ananth Narayana)

Bowler Value Points



Imran Khan 25.76 10.00
Lillee D.K 24.58 9.54
Kapil Dev N 23.83 9.25
Hadlee R.J 23.64 9.18
Marshall M.D 22.97 8.92
Garner J 22.18 8.61
Waqar Younis 20.34 7.89
Donald A.A 20.06 7.79
Ambrose C.E.L 20.01 7.77
Wasim Akram 19.56 7.59
McGrath G.D 19.22 7.46

Imran Khan

Imran Khan
The greatest Asian fast bowler of all time, bar possibly Wasim Akram. Imran was the pioneer of reverse swing and the first pace bowler to master the art of swining an old ball.Combined with afine action, he had an explosive pace and could produce prodigious swing in all conditions.With Wasim,the greatest ever bolwer with an old ball.He had great agression deploying the bouncer to ruthless use His thunderbolt inswinger was perhaps the best the author has seen,like when he bowled Gavaskar and Vishwanath in the Karachi tset in 1982-83 captturing 5-3 in that spell.Above all he has been the best match-winning pace bowler for Pakistan.Few paceman contributed as much in creating historical landmarks for their nation as Imran.and his bolwing virtually shaped Pakistan’s destiny.HIS 12 for 165 at Sydney in 1976-77 enabled Pakistan to draw a series for the first time in Austrlai and win their first ever tset on Australain soil.In 1982-83 he captured 40 wickest in a6 tset match series agaisnt India on the dead Pakistan tracks, enabling Pakistan to win 3-0.In 1987 his hall of 10-89 at Leeds which won the tse match played a major role in Pakisatn winning their first ever series on Englisgh soil.aftercoming so close before.In 1988 he captured 23 wckets in the West Indies and alamost won a tset series for Pakisatn,whichwould have given them the unofficial test world championship.(No team won atset serise thee since Ian Chappel's Australians in 1973)In the fisrt tset he captured 11 wickest and enabled Pakisatn to win th a test match for the first time by any overseas team in WEst Indise since Australai in 1978.At his best in 1981-1983 when he captured 21 wickets in England,bolwing brillinatly at Headingley and Edgbaston.His 2 5 wicket haul spells at Karachi and Hyderabad in 1982-83 versus India rank amongst the greatest of all time. Ina statistical analysis ahead of Wasim Akram,considering that he gained more wins for his country against great opponents and also captured 8 wickets twice,and 7 wickets 3 times unlike Wasim who has captured 7 or more wickets only once.In an overall stats analysis would contest with Hadlee and Marshall in aphoto-finish.In official stats analysis of paceman thid only o.5 decimla point behind Lillee and Hadlee.He championed the placid,subcontinent surfaces which was attribute to his immense talent.


From 1980 to 1988 he was the best fast bowler in the world in terms of averages and strike rate.
Top bowlers in the world between 1980 and 1988 (Qual: 150 wickets)
Tests Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM
Imran Khan 48 236 17.77 43.6 18/ 5
Richard Hadlee 51 284 19.03 47.0 28/ 7
Malcolm Marshall 58 297 20.20 44.7 1 8/ 3
Joel Garner 49 210 20.62 51.8 7/ 0
Michael Holding 45 184 23.38 50.3 9/ 1
Dennis Lillee 35 171 24.07 52.3 11/ 3



Average quality of wickets captured (rating of Ananth Narayana)

Bowler Value Points



Imran Khan 25.76 10.00
Lillee D.K 24.58 9.54
Kapil Dev N 23.83 9.25
Hadlee R.J 23.64 9.18
Marshall M.D 22.97 8.92
Garner J 22.18 8.61
Waqar Younis 20.34 7.89
Donald A.A 20.06 7.79
Ambrose C.E.L 20.01 7.77
Wasim Akram 19.56 7.59
McGrath G.D 19.22 7.46

Introduction

This list has tried to assess my selection of the greatest 12 fast bowlers of all time in order of merit considering both overall statistical performance and bowling skills and adjusted accordingly.

Dennis Lillee and Malcolm Marshall are ranked at the top ,being the most complete of fast bolwers. They vie for first place in a photo-finish. Lillee posessed greater consistency in his bowling career than Marshall and was consistently the more durable..Morally he captured 450 wickets if you add Packer and games against Rest of the World. Lillee also had greater 5 wicket and 10 wicket hauls in test Cricket. However Marshall had a better strike rate of 46.7 and an average of 20.94 as against Lillee’s figures of51.0 strike rate and 23.92 average,overshadowing the other great paceman of the famous West Indian quartet. Lillee was classically more complete but Marshall was more lethal possessing an armoury of deliveries which no great paceman could deliver and was greater master in the bio-mechanics of bolwing.He also proved himself on the docile sub-continent tracks which Lillee did not. Where Lillee stood above Marshall was in overall evaluation of match performances, particularly if you add World series Packer stats.Either could be first of second but I may give the benefit of doubt to Lillee.

On pure stats,Sydney Barnes is the champion of all who in helpful condition would have overshadowed any modern great fast bowler. In terms of haul of wickets Mcgrath was the champion of all the genuine quickies with a haul of 563 wickets at 21.64.,who possessed every ingredient of a great pace bowler. Glen Mcgrath posessed greater control and accuracy than any great pace bowler bar Richard Hadlee, but lacked the agressiveness and versatality of Marshall and Lillee .Ray lindwall was rated by some cricketing greats like Fred Trueman and Alan Davidson as the best pace man they ever saw who had greater pace and control than Lillee.Had lindwall played in the years of Lillee and Holding he may well have emerged a champion with his phenomenal skill.Adjusting his figures in the 1980’s he may well have equaled if not surpassed the likes of Hadlee and Imran. Statistically to me Hadlee was the greatest paceman of all, as inspite of playing for a weak team he still captured 5 wickets per test and 36 5 wicket hauls.Richard Hadlee was the most lethal of all bolwers on green tops ,posessing as much control as Mcgrath,but not as productive as Marshall or Lillee,on flat tracks Adding test and one day Cricket Wasim Akram was the greatest of them who was more talented ,versatile and dangerous than Glen Mcgrath ,Richard Hadlee or Imran Khan but did not deliver the goods as much when required.Perhaps no pace bowler ever produced such lethal swing.. Imran Khan was not as lethal as Wasim Akram who possessed a greater repertoire of deliveries and overall bowling skill.However Imran was a greater match-winner than Wasim against superior opposition ,who simply turned and won games against top sides like the West Indies,England or Australia.. Hadlee and Imran have been rated slightly ahead of Glen Mcgrath as they had to carry the brunt of weaker bowling attacks and at their peak periods were marginally more impressive in strike rate and gained wins against superior opposition teams. For sheer speed through the air and bowling action Holding was the king of them all ... Curtly Ambrose was the most accurate paceman of all with Joel Garner and the greatest match-winner amongst pacemen of his era being a supreme champion in bowling to win a match in the 4th innings. However Ambrose was a far more predictable bowler than Roberts, Holding or Marshall. Although the ultimate champion on broken tops he was not as effective as Akram or Mcrath on flat tracks Andy Roberts was more versatile than any West Indian paceman Waqar in his peak could have equaled Lillee or Marshall.In his day his strike rate was the best by any paceman after the War and statistically overshadowed Akram.Daryl Steyn is shaping like a modern great in the class of Marshall and Lillee with the best strike rate of all great pace bolwers.He obtains pace and movement on all types of cracks and is devastating at his best.Ambrose,Donald and Waqar were statistically ahead ofHolding or Akram but lacked the skills of such greats. To me Shoaib Akhtar and Jeff Thomson were the fastest of all, but only possessed pace, unlike the great fastmen.Wes Hall and Ian Botham were unlucky to missout ,both truly great bolwers and match-winners on their day. A very important point is to asses the graet paceman at their peak periods be it Imran,Marshall,Lillee ,Hadlee or Akram.It is worth comparing their strike rates,no of wickets and averages in these periods taking World Series stats into account of Lillee and Imran.

Another criteria is performances in test wins like strike rates ,percentage of wickets and averages.I have used important statistical analyses compiled by S.Rajesh of Cricinfo.to whom I owe my research in the statistical light.I have also adde Ananth Narayan’s tables of analyses.

2.My Ratings

By statistical performance

1.Sydney Barnes
2. RichardHadlee
3.Glen Mcgrath
4.Malcolm Marshall
5.Dennis Lillee
6.Imran Khan
7.Waqar Younus
8.Curtly Ambrose
9.Wasim Akram
10.Fred Trueman
11..Alan Donald
12..Dayle Steyn

Rating by .bowling skill

1.Malcolm Marshall
2.Dennis Lillee
3. Wasim Akram
4. Ray Lindwall
5 Sydney Barnes
6. Glen McGrath
7.Michael Holding
8.Andy Roberts
9.Richard Hadlee

10.Imran Khan
11.Curtly Ambrose
12 Waqar Younus

Overall ratings
1.Dennis Lillee
2.Malcolm Marshall
3.Sydney Barnes
4.Richard Hadlee
5.Imran Khan
6.Glen Mcgrath
7.Ray Lindwall
8.Wasim Akram
9.Michael Holding
10.Curtly Ambrose
11.Fred Trueman
12 Waqar Younus

Stats highlights taken from cvricinfo and Ananth Nataryan from cricinfo blogs.

Best bowling averages in Test wins (Qual: 200 wickets)

tESTS wkts avg str.rt. 5wkt/10 wkt.
Malcolm Marshall 43 254 16.78 38.1 17/ 4
Curtly Ambrose 44 229 16.86 44.4 13/ 3
Waqar Younis 39 222 18.20 35.0 14/ 4

Best test bowler between Jan.1990 and Dec 1997
tESTS wkts avg str.rt. 5wkt/10 wkt
Wasim Akram 48 240 20.05 46.4 16/ 3
Curtly Ambrose 57 247 20.50 52.8 17/ 3
Waqar Younis 46 232 21.23 40.1 19/ 4
Allan Donald 36 171 23.27 48.8 9/ 2
Glenn McGrath 36 164 23.42 53.0 9/ 0
Shane Warne 62 289 24.08 62.9 12/ 3


tESTS wkts avg str.rt. 5wkt/10 wkt
Dennis Lillee 31 203 18.27 39.0 17/ 6
Shaun Pollock 49 223 18.30 47.5 9/ 1
Wasim Akram 41 211 18.48 42.3 13/ 2
Anil Kumble 43 288 18.75 44.4 20/ 5

Best bowling performances from 1983-1991
tESTS wkts avg str.rt. 5wkt/10 wkt
Richard Hadlee 48 262 19.64 47.4 23/ 6
Malcolm Marshall 69 342 19.85 44.9 22/ 4
Joel Garner 30 135 21.28 48.3 5/ 0
Imran Khan 42 156 21.49 50.5 10/ 3
Curtly Ambrose 33 140 23.14 56.1 5/ 1
Wasim Akram 39 143 24.51 58.7 9/ 2
Courtney Wash 50 174 24.95 56.4 5/ 1
As a match-winner, Marshall was among the very best again, with 254 wickets at less than 17. Again, only one bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan, has a better average, and one, Waqar Younis, has a better strike rate. Marshall's performances didn't drop much in defeats either: in the nine Tests in which he played in a losing cause, he still managed an average of less than 28.

Bowling strike rate (Bpw) –compiled by Ananth Narayana

Bowler Value Points

Waqar Younis 43.49 10.00
Marshall M.D 46.77 9.30
Donald A.A 47.03 9.24
Trueman F.S 49.44 8.72
Hadlee R.J 50.85 8.42
Garner J 50.87 8.41
McGrath G.D 51.95 8.18
Lillee D.K 52.02 8.17
Imran Khan 53.75 7.79
Ambrose C.E.L 54.58 7.62
Wasim Akram 54.66 7.60
Kapil Dev N 63.92 5.61


Performance in won matches (Ananth Narayana)


Bowler Value Points


McGrath G.D 0.492 9.84
Marshall M.D 0.486 9.73
Lillee D.K 0.451 9.01
Waqar Younis 0.440 8.81
Donald A.A 0.426 8.51
Trueman F.S 0.419 8.38
Ambrose C.E.L 0.414 8.27
Hadlee R.J 0.398 7.96
Garner J 0.393 7.86
Wasim Akram 0.384 7.68
Imran Khan 0.364 7.27
Kapil Dev N 0.198 3.96

Wasim.Hadlee,Imran and Botham are relatively low which is significant because they were also batsmen.Glenn McGrath’s has extraordinary figures of capturing 414 out of a total haul of 563 wickets wkts in wins at a str rate of 19.19.(capturing 75.3% of his total wickets in wins) Considering his tally of wickets Mcgrath is brilliant. Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee have outstanding averages in wins with Imran capturing 155 at 14.5 .and Hadlee capturing 173 at 13..

% of top order wickets captured (compiled by Ananth Narayana)

Bowler Value Points

McGrath G.D 0.501 10.00
Donald A.A 0.497 9.92
Kapil Dev N 0.494 9.84
Ambrose C.E.L 0.475 9.46
Lillee D.K 0.468 9.33
Imran Khan 0.462 9.21
Trueman F.S 0.453 9.04
Marshall M.D 0.445 8.87
Hadlee R.J 0.439 8.75
Waqar Younis 0.437 8.72
Garner J 0.406 8.09
Wasim Akram 0.394 7.86

Bowling accuracy (Rpo) (compiled by Ananth Narayana)
Bowler Value Points

Ambrose C.E.L 2.31 10.00
Garner J 2.47 9.12
McGrath G.D 2.50 8.98
Imran Khan 2.55 8.74
Wasim Akram 2.59 8.49
Trueman F.S 2.62 8.35
Hadlee R.J 2.63 8.29
Warne S.K 2.65 8.18
Marshall M.D 2.69 7.99
Lillee D.K 2.76 7.61
Kapil Dev N 2.78 7.49
Donald A.A 2.84 7.19
Waqar Younis 3.25 5.02

Bowler percentage contribution in wins wkts in wins
Bowler
Stuart MacGill Wickets in wins Average in wins
165 24.4
197 21.68
414 19.19
155 15.85
225 27.52
510 22.47
254 16.78
167 23.41
152 18.36
233 22.21
222 18.2
203 18.27

Jason Gillespie
Glenn McGrath
Dale Steyn
Brett Lee
Shane Warne
Malcolm Marshall
Jacques Kallis
Michael Holding
Makhaya Ntini
Waqar Younis
Dennis Lillee


Bowling accuracy (Rpo) (compiled by Ananth Narayana)
Bowler Value Points

Ambrose C.E.L 2.31 10.00
Garner J 2.47 9.12
McGrath G.D 2.50 8.98
Imran Khan 2.55 8.74
Wasim Akram 2.59 8.49
Trueman F.S 2.62 8.35
Hadlee R.J 2.63 8.29
Warne S.K 2.65 8.18
Marshall M.D 2.69 7.99
Lillee D.K 2.76 7.61
Kapil Dev N 2.78 7.49
Donald A.A 2.84 7.19
Waqar Younis 3.25 5.02


Peer comparison of average to own team peer bowlers (analyzed by Ananth Narayana)

Bowler Value Points

Hadlee R.J 1.534 10.00
Imran Khan 1.377 8.98
Ambrose C.E.L 1.233 8.04
Donald A.A 1.197 7.80
Lillee D.K 1.188 7.74
Kapil Dev N 1.181 7.70
Marshall M.D 1.170 7.63
Trueman F.S 1.169 7.62
Garner J 1.156 7.54
Wasim Akram 1.151 7.51
McGrath G.D 1.149 7.49
Waqar Younis 1.123 7.32


Average quality of wickets captured (rating of Ananth Narayana)

Bowler Value Points



Imran Khan 25.76 10.00
Lillee D.K 24.58 9.54
Kapil Dev N 23.83 9.25
Hadlee R.J 23.64 9.18
Marshall M.D 22.97 8.92
Garner J 22.18 8.61
Waqar Younis 20.34 7.89
Donald A.A 20.06 7.79
Ambrose C.E.L 20.01 7.77
Wasim Akram 19.56 7.59
McGrath G.D 19.22 7.46

Dale Steyn is the best fast bowler currently.

Iam sure he will be among the greatest fast bowlers, once he retiree.

Dale Steyn is the best fast bowler currently.

Iam sure he will be among the greatest fast bowlers, once he retiree.