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Progression of the 'best fast bowler' title post war

trundler

trundler

Well-known member
Who do you think have been the best bowlers of their eras Post War? For me, it goes: Lindwall-Trueman-Lillee-Hadlee-Marshall-Waqar (4 years)-Ambrose-McGrath-Steyn.
 
trundler

trundler

Well-known member
Lindwall is easily the starting point. Made it to Benaud's all time XI and rated highly by peers. Then, comes Fred Trueman. His career did overlap with Lindwall but he was the standout of that era till his retirement. He is succeeded by Lillee - who is considered by many pundits and players (Imran, Hadlee etc) to be the greatest quick ever. The first 'modern', intelligent quick. Came back from a back injury and changed his game from hammer down to outwit. Most wickets by the end of his career, most fifers and 10 wicket hauls as well. Another lauded as one of the greatest ever. He was at his best from 78' to 88, averaging 5.5 wickets per match. Next in line is Marshall. He became the fastest in the world in 1983 and became the spearhead of the quarter and lead an aging Windies side to invincibility. After 1983, Marshall was top-notch but he went into full beast mode in 87'. From 1990-94, Waqar Younis reached heights never touched before. Sub 20 average and 7 wickets per match for 4 years! Too bad he was never the same afterwards. The next choice was the trickiest. Wasim was never rated as the #1 bowler at any point in ICC rankings and he had started to decline from 1996 onward due to health issues. McGrath was still a noob at the highest level. So, I decided to go with Curtly who was at his peak. His worthiest rival would be, imo, Donald. The next was a no-brainer. McGrath was the greatest of late 90s, going all the way to 06/7. No batsman of his era mastered him. None. Got Lara out a dozen times, Tendulkar averaged below 20 against him. No batsmen could claim to have the wood over him. Seemingly simple, yet effective. Most wickets for a pacer. Was one of the main reasons for Australia's success at the time. Now, comes the contemporary era. A no-brainer, as well. Steyn has been good all over the world like his predecessor and has an immaculate record in a batsman's world. Fierce, aggressive, brutal, but masterful. One of the greatest ever and people will come to recognise that sooner or later.
 
BoyBrumby

BoyBrumby

Englishman
If we're looking at genuinely quick, as opposed to seam-up, bowlers then Sir Richard wasn't ever really worthy of the "RF" assignation either.

There's also a pretty big gap between Fred and DKL too. Jon Snow or Peter Pollock names to consider for the interregnum.
 
Mr Miyagi

Mr Miyagi

Banned
trundler said:
Who do you think have been the best bowlers of their eras Post War? For me, it goes: Lindwall-Trueman-Lillee-Hadlee-Marshall-Waqar (4 years)-Ambrose-McGrath-Steyn.
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Steyn has missed so many games of late, that you really need to open up for a new contender.

Philander is a fair shout. So of course is the likely favourite in Rabada. A case could possibly be even made for Anderson.
 
trundler

trundler

Well-known member
Mr Miyagi said:
Steyn has missed so many games of late, that you really need to open up for a new contender.

Philander is a fair shout. So of course is the likely favourite in Rabada. A case could possibly be even made for Anderson.
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Yeah, but that is still playing out in front of us. Rabada is fairly new, still but Philander is indeed a fair shout. Plus, he's a trundler! :laugh:
 
Borges

Borges

Well-known member
There is Dale Steyn.

Then there is [FONT=DDG_ProximaNova]Malcolm Marshall.

Then there is a big list, containing a lot of other names.[/FONT]
 
TheJediBrah

TheJediBrah

Well-known member
Chrish said:
Yeah I consider MCG as one of the top 3 bowlers ever; but he really wasn't a pace bowler
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140s regularly early-on his career. 130-135 regularly throughout most. He was no Shoaib Akhtar but he was a pace bowler.

Definitely slower than most at that level though, and far more effective than anyone at his pace should have been.
 
GoodAreasShane

GoodAreasShane

Well-known member
Yeah, pretty sure McGrath was getting it though at 140ish as late as the 1999 World Cup, it was mostly the second half of his career where he was the metronomic medium-fast seamer we all remember.
 
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