Brett Lee The World Best Fast Bowler At The Moment?

[Cricket_god]

And you seem to have missed his effort in Pakistan where he took 5/56.
Sure, he's not the most consistant bowler around, but he bowls wicket taking deliveries.

i saw that match it was more bad shots than steyn beating the bat ,
he was being hammered in the first few overs

 

[irottev]

He's proven himself to be a very consistent and fast young bowler. He's up there and very close to Lee in terms of current form.

Consistency isn't just based on results. I've watched him. Sometimes he bowls the ball all over the show. Not so often recently. When I say consistency, I'm meaning Lee lands the ball in the right areas a lot more then Steyn does. Steyn will improve. Without a doubt.

 

[SciD]

Steyn is new kid on the block and will improve with time. Lee on the other hand is in international criket for 9 years and it has taken him 8 years to become consistently good. earlier he was only fast and furious. Therefore by the time Steyn reaches 9 years in international cricket he will be as good as Lee is now.

 

[punterpupnroy]

Steyn is new kid on the block and will improve with time. Lee on the other hand is in international criket for 9 years and it has taken him 8 years to become consistently good. earlier he was only fast and furious. Therefore by the time Steyn reaches 9 years in international cricket he will be as good as Lee is now.

maybe better?

 

[SciD]

maybe better?

hope so. its all down to the fitness. Bret Lee is very very fit guy and hardly seems to get injured.

 

[shanghai]

Hi Everybody,

In my opinion, as far as in form fast bowlers, or any bowler for that matter is concerned, Dale Steyn is untouchable and Brett Lee is not even close.

Comparing Brett Lee to Dale Steyn, is as ridiculous as calling Brett Lee the best fast bowler in the world.

I just saw Steyn taking 4 wickets in 16 balls again on a flat and lifeless Durban 4th day pitch.

If we look at stats alone, then of the modern day fast bowlers, the likes of brett lee and even mgrath do not come close to Shane Bond and Steyn when it come to the ability to take wickets.

I dont just want to give you guys my opinion, I'd like to back it up with stats too. So, since we are talking about "IN FORM fast bowlers", lets take the last 10 test matches played as a base.

Here I list:
..........Matches played.......Wickets.......Runs.......Average.......Strike Rate
Lee..........10.......................50...........1258........25,16............46,70
Steyn.......10.......................59............989........16,76............30,10

If you want to look at the last 5 tests, well, Steyn has taken an amazing 40 wickets in the last 5 test matches he has played.

Steyn is also on his way to become the fastest bowler to reach 100 test wickets, in about 20 games, after Ian Botham, a feat only bettered by bowlers 100 years ago.

As for Shoaib Akthar, when he is at his best, he is number 1 for sure. Anyways, If I had to choose 2 fast bowlers in my team, it would be Steyn and Akthar when he is at his best! Brett Lee is at his best a slightly above average fast bowler.

Take Care

 

[Adarsh]

You mentioned Akhtar ! Hah!

 

[King Pietersen]

Yeh, i thought you were making a decent, coherent point until the final section about Akhtar. Steyn has a brilliant record in his last 10 games though, an average of 16 is awesome.

 

[shanghai]

Sorry, I mean, at his best, I would have him in my team, I will edit my previous post to get rid of any confusion!

 

[irottev]

Quality of opposition has also got to be taken into consideration. Steyn hasn't matched up against Australia or India or England yet much. Off the top of my head.

 

[JamesyJames3]

He played against England. But it was his debut series, and he was pretty ineffective.

I'm excited to see him in the summer in conditions that should suit him.

 

[King Pietersen]

His first test series was against England, he took 8 wickets at a fairly dissapointing 52, and he took 6 wickets at 18 in a home series against India. The only one of those teams you mentioned that he hasnt played is Australia. He took 8 wickets at 36 IN Sri Lanka, which are very good figures for a pace bowler in Sri Lanka, he took 9 wickets at 24 in Pakistan. He's bowled all over the world, against almost every opposition, and taken wickets against all of them. I'm sure he'll take a large amount of wickets in England, and i also believe he will take wickets against Australia when they play eachother. Steyn has definetly proven himself to me.

 

[Sureshot]

He hasn't proven himself until he's played the best. He's not played in Australia nor against Australia. Not to belittle what he's done, which has been fantastic, but it's against the best that you're judged.

 

[wolf]

But not a fast bowler.

For me I would class a fast bowler as someone who is not medium pace, e.g. not Ganguly, Collingwood style.

Anyway someone who has not been mentioned is Zaheer Khan, who is an excellent bowler from what I have seen. Also Flintoff is quality, shame it looks unlikely he will ever bowl the same again due to injury.

 

[shanghai]

McGrath and Warne has never played against Australia either. How can we judge them then?

The man has got a long way to go, for sure.

To get back to the original post - calling Brett Lee the best fast bowler in the world - it seems like just because Australia is the best team in the world, there are always people calling the best bowler in their team(Lee), the best bowler in the world, and the best fielder in their team(Symonds), the best fielder in the world.