The10 Greatest Bowlers of all time(Relive:Dennis Lillee's 8-29 against Rest of the World XI)

[AkshayS]

1. Mutthiah Murlidharan
2. Malcolm Marshall
3. Wasim Akram
4. Shane Warne
5. Joel Garner
6. Curtley Ambrose
7. Glen Mcgrath
8. Richard Hadlee
9. Dennis Lillee
10. Sydney Barnes

 

[Shoaib87]

THE 10 GREATEST TEST BOWLERS OF ALL TIME

We had pretty good response with regards to The 10 Greatest batsmen of all time.

Now time to shift gears to The 10 Greatest Bowlers of all time.

Criteria:

Minimum 200 Wickets.

Bowler type: Specialist Bowlers only.

Exception: Sidney Barnes (189 wickets in 27 tests)

Sir Gary Sobers is a genuine Allrounder (Bat & Ball both equal),Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Sir Richard Hadlee and Sir Ian Botham are Bowling All Rounders and Jack Kallis is a Batting All Rounder and thus have not been considered.

Here?s my selection:

1. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
2. Shane Warne (Australia)
3. Wasim Akram (Pakistan)
4. Glen McGraw(Australia)
5. Malcolm Marshall (West Indies)
6. Dennis Lillee (Australia)
7. Sydney Barnes (England)
8. Fred Trueman(England)
9. Courtney Walsh ,Courtney Ambrose(Both West Indies)Anil Kumble( India)
10. Michael Holding(West Indies), Abdul Kader

Let?s see what?s reader?s selection?

Good luck and Cheers!

Seriously,calling Garry Sobers a genuine allrounder either has to be peak of bias or biggest joke ever.Sobers took 31 wickets in his first 3 tests @ 50 with 100+ strike rate.Was mediocre for another one third of his career & merely useful for the rest.I don't understand how he qualifies as an allrounder,let alone genuine or greatest allrounder ever.For me,He's a great batsman who could bowl.Only Imran & Miller qualify as genuine allrounders.

 

[sifter132]

Only Imran & Miller qualify as genuine allrounders.

Well you're opening a can of worms there mate. If you start picking holes in Sobers record, one could say that Imran wasn't a good batsman until the 2nd half of his career, and by then his bowling was decent, but not quite as brilliant as before. Also, I think Ian Botham was a pretty genuine allrounder too. Scored 12 centuries I think. Sure he was hit and miss with the bat, and failed v WI, but not many bad batsmen score 12 centuries (although Marcus North might prove me wrong yet) A couple of others that I think were pretty balanced allrounders: Tony Greig and Aubrey Faulkner. Both very underrated players.

I realise it's a bit off topic sorry So I'll chuck in my top 10 bowlers ever:

1 Glenn McGrath
2 Sir Richard Hadlee
3 Malcolm Marshall
4 Sydney Barnes
5 Curtley Ambrose
6 Imran Khan
7 George Lohmann
8 Shane Warne
9 Muttiah Muralitharan
10 Joel Garner

 

[Shoaib87]

Well you're opening a can of worms there mate. If you start picking holes in Sobers record, one could say that Imran wasn't a good batsman until the 2nd half of his career, and by then his bowling was decent, but not quite as brilliant as before. Also, I think Ian Botham was a pretty genuine allrounder too. Scored 12 centuries I think. Sure he was hit and miss with the bat, and failed v WI, but not many bad batsmen score 12 centuries (although Marcus North might prove me wrong yet) A couple of others that I think were pretty balanced allrounders: Tony Greig and Aubrey Faulkner. Both very underrated players.

I realise it's a bit off topic sorry So I'll chuck in my top 10 bowlers ever:

1 Glenn McGrath
2 Sir Richard Hadlee
3 Malcolm Marshall
4 Sydney Barnes
5 Curtley Ambrose
6 Imran Khan
7 George Lohmann
8 Shane Warne
9 Muttiah Muralitharan
10 Joel Garner

Even If I stop cherry picking the stats & consider his career,Sobers was brilliant by no strech of imagination.A career strike rate of 92 & 2.56 wickets per match put him in the category of Mohammad Sami & Ajit Agarkar type of bowlers.If he was not a great batter,he would've never been able to maintain his place in the team.Sonny Valentine & Ramdin were miles ahead of him in terms of spin bowling & not to mention Wes Hall & other west indian quicks.But Imran & Miller could maintain a place in almost all teams of the world on batting alone.Regarding Ian Botham,his peak(1978-1982) is the second best peak ever of an allrounder(Only Imran has better & longer peak) but then he got worst & worst as a bowler.I think if he had retired after 1986 Ashes series,his record would've been as good as that of Imran & Miller,if not better.Botham & Kapil"I played 50 more tests than I should've just to break the world record"Dev both made the mistake of not retiring at proper time & hence making their records mediocre as compared to others.

Shoaib87 added 2 Minutes and 43 Seconds later...

My top 10 bowlers ever:

Imran Khan
Richard Hadlee
Malcom Marshall
Wasim Akram
Glenn McGrath
Curtley Ambrose
Sydney Barnes
Allan Donald
Muttiah Muralitharan
Shane Warne

 

[rosewt02]

No paticular order -

Waqar Younis
Wasim Akram
Glen McGrath
Shane Warne - Absolote genius! IMO hes the best player whose ever lived,
Dennis Lillee - My fast bowling idol
Muttiah Muralitharan
Anil Kumble - So underated
Richard Hadlee
Michael Holding
Curtly Ambrose
Fred Trueman

 

[khalek]

Glenn Mcgrath
Malcolm Marshall
Murali
Warne
Imran Khan
Wasim Akram
Dennis Lillee
Courtney Walsh
Allan Donald
Shaun Pollock

 

[ChefMan21]

Hmmm.... This is a tough one....

1. Warne
2. Barnes
3. Murali
4. Marshall
5. Lindwall
6. McGrath
7. Lillee
8. O'Reilly
9. Ambrose
10. Holding

I'm not sure that I am happy with the order but that's my top 10 at the moment. Left Akram, Khan and the like out due to the contentious all-rounder issue.

 

[used2bcool]

In no particular order,

Murali, Warne, Marshall, Wasim, Trueman, Holding, Imran, Ambrose, McGrath, Hadlee.

Honorable Mentions: Kumble, Lindwall, Walsh, Donald.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Warne, Murali, Barnes, Imran Khan, Wasim, Marshall, Bill O'Reilly (taking Bradman's word on this one), McGrath (if only for his remarkable consistency)...picking 2 more is hard. Anyone really out of Bedser, Truemen, Kumble, Lohmann, Donald, Lillee, Ambrose, Holding, Waqar, Walsh, Lindwall, Hadlee...

Quite hard to choose.

 

[used2bcool]

I've seen a few lists with George Lohmann, and that's a name I don't know. Anyone care to shed a bit of light? Who was he and why is he held in such high regard? I see some absolutely freakish numbers but wasn't that par for the course in the 1890s/1900s?

 

[ZoraxDoom]

He had freakish numbers, but was the best of his era.

Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | Cricinfo.com

On pure statistics, George Lohmann has a right to up there with the greatest Test bowlers of all time. Rated by contemporaries as the most difficult opponent, he bowled at little more than medium pace but was able to make the ball seam both ways, and his constant experimentation led to variations in angle, flight and pace. Add into the equation his metronomic accuracy, and he was often unplayable.

Same with Bart King:

Though by 1908 he was 35 years old, his bowling average was the lowest of the English season. His 87 wickets were taken in just 10 matches. He bowled very fast in his early days, and developed the ability to swing the ball late from leg. Judges such as Pelham Warner, C.B.Fry and H.V.Horden ranked him amongst the great bowlers.

There is so little information about them, there really is just word of mouth to go by. It's hard to decide how good they are. Especially since bowlers like Briggs and Turner have received equally high praises.

It's hard to put all this into perspective. These guys were labelled the best bowlers ever. Barnes, Bedser, Verity, Bill O'Reily were also labelled as the best bowlers ever by those who saw them. And then there are Lillee, Marshall, Wasim, Murali, Warne...how does one decide?

 

[Thongale]

Malcolm Marshall, Muththiah Muralitharan, Sydney Barnes, Curtley Ambrose, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Fred Trueman, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Michael Holding, Richard Hadlee

 

[Themer]

Haha, robin's reasoning for not allowing allrounders into the poll was ridiculous. If you're one of the best bowlers ever you're one of the best bowlers ever regardless of the fact that you can bat a bit.

 

[War]

I've seen a few lists with George Lohmann, and that's a name I don't know. Anyone care to shed a bit of light? Who was he and why is he held in such high regard? I see some absolutely freakish numbers but wasn't that par for the course in the 1890s/1900s?

The problem for me with picking bowlers like Barnes & Lohmann in list of your greatest ever bowlers, is because they had the unfair advantage of bowling on uncovered wickets, in totally different era of cricket to what bowlers like Marshall, Lillee etc had to bowl in.

My top fast bowers of all time IMO who i would consider "great" (the top 4 is in order of who was the best, but the next 16 is in subjective order)

1. Marshall
2. Lilllee
3. Hadlee
4. Imran
5. Trueman
6. Akram
7. Donald
8. Ambrose
9. Lindwall
10. McGrath
11. Waqar
12. Holding
13. Snow
14. Hall
15. Roberts
16. Procter
17. Statham
18. Garner
19. P Pollock
20. Larwood
21. N Adcock
22. Walsh
23. A Davidson