Skip to main content

Cricket Combined Stats 2: Bowlers

A couple of blogs ago I discussed the best batsmen of the modern period. What about the bowlers.

Match winners get a swag of 10 wicket match bags and 5 wicket innings bags.

Most 10 Wicket Bags
1. Muralitharan (20)
2. Warne (10)
3. Hadlee (9)
4. Kumble (8)
5. Lillee (7)
6. I. Khan; Underwood (6)
8. Younis; Akram; Akhtar (5)

Most 5 Wicket Bags
1. Muralitharan (68)
2. Hadlee (41)
3. Warne (38)
4. McGrath (36)
5. Younis (35)
6. Kumble (35)
7. Botham (27)
8. Ambrose (26)
9. Khan, Dev (24)

The stars stand out here; the two spinners Murali and Warne with Kumble and then Underwood in behind. The quickies Hadlee, Lillee, McGrath, Younis, Khan, Akram, Ambrose, Dev and Botham.

The really great bowlers have superb strike rates (balls per wicket). Here we see Akhtar and Younis again with Donald and Lee there. Here Younis really figures in combination with his great 5 wicket and 10 wicket bag stats. Others who are starting to figure prominently are McGrath and Akram.

Best Strike Rate
1. Akhtar; Younis (36.6)
3. Donald (40.0)
4. Lee (40.2)
5. Agarker (41.3)
6. Ntini (43.2)
7. Gough 43.5)
8. McGrath, Akram (44.5)
9. Bishop (45.6)

Best Economy Rate
1. Gibbs (1.99)
2. Underwood, Bedi (2.18)
4. Statham (2.33)
5. Trueman (2.61)
6. Ambrose (2.65)
7. Chatfield (2.76)
8. Hadlee (2.77)
9. Muralitharan (2.83)
10. Walsh (2.88)

Trueman enters the stats here. Ambrose and Hadlee of the quicks above. The spinners Gibbs, Underwood and Bedi are amazingly parsemonious. Murali is hard to get away. One of Walsh's secrets is seen here.

Traditionally the bowlers with the best average are seen as the greatest. There is good reason for this, as their stats bring together their economy with their wicket taking. Here we see the greatness of the quicks Trueman, Donald, Hadlee, Ambrose, Marshall, Holding, Lillee and Akram. The only spinner to feature is Murali.

Best Average
1. Trueman (21.56)
2. McGrath (21.76)
3. Muralitharan (21.84)
4. Donald (22.04)
5. Hadlee (22.10)
6. Ambrose (22.11)
7. Marshall (22.71)
8. Holding (22.84)
9. Lillee (23.22)
10. Akram (23.57)

The ability to take wickets in a pure sense cannot be disregarded.

Most Wickets
1. Muralitharan (1157)
2. Warne (1001)
3. McGrath (949)
4. Akram (916)
5. Kumble (903)
6. Pollock (801)
7. Younis (789)
8. Walsh (746)
9. Vaas (703)
10. Dev (687)

Here the two spinners Murali and Warne stand out. The quicks who have featured throughout McGrath, Akram and Younis stand out.

Putting it together:
Clearly two spinners dominate, Murali and Warne. If we pick the best one it depends a little on how we regard Murali's action. I have a problem here because despite all the decisions of the IRB etc, I can't help feeling there is a problem. How does one bowl a leggie with an off-spinners action without bending the arm? On the other hand, Warne bowls the world's most difficult bowling art; leg-spin bowling. So for me he gets the number one slot.

The best quickies I will not try and pick out; but will go for a group. These include Hadlee, McGrath, Akram, Younis, Lillee, Trueman, Ambrose, Donald, Khan, Holding and Marshall.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Reasons Why A.J. Miller is NOT Jesus!

Note: Forgive me for the long blog, but this one really got me going! Last Sunday night on TV One's Sunday aired the report A.J. The Messiah. The program was the story of A.J. Miller in Queensland in Australia, who, unlike most of us, genuinely believes that he is Jesus. Miller appears at one level to be a normal Aussie bloke, in his early thirties, longish brown hair, unshaven, good looking, articulate and charismatic. Yet, unlike anyone I know but in the manner of other Messiah-claimants, he says without inhibition, "I am actually Jesus." He claims to remember vividly his former life and death including his experience of crucifixion. The memories supposedly began when he was 2 years old and realised later that he was Jesus around 33. In the program he writes on a white-board, "I am Jesus. Deal with it"—to applause from his congregation. He has disciples, some of whom claim to have been with him 2000 years ago including Mary Magdalene who is his "soul-ma

Tribute to Stuart Lange

For anyone who is interested, I have attached my tribute to Rev Stuart Lange here. He is a legend! It was fun to roast him.... A Tribute to Stuart Lange, No Longer Vice Principal Community of Laidlaw… But still church history lecturer… so not a good bye, but my way of Saying Thanks to you for your years as VP Community… Stuart Lange, not Langey; or Longey; or not langgggg.. but Lange! Or, as I like to put it, S.lang… Slang… for good reason. Stuart Lange, history prof, a man who truly embodies his subject; the quintessential historical prof… Slightly eccentric, crooked smile, hooked and bent nose… you know he has a crook elbow too, took the dog for a walk, hit the chain, smashed the elbow… Of course the dog was unharmed… No Surprise, a lover of animals, each year looking after the animals at the Massey Christmas drive through, donkeys, lamas… etc… Then there is his Einsteinlich hair… kind of a wild man of Southland look… in fact… Stuart Lange A face a cartoonist would die for! The ne

Evangelical Presbyterians’ Statement On Same Sex Marriage

I am involved in a group called Presbyterian Affirm. It is an evangelical group within the NZ Presbyterian Church which seeks to promote the gospel and the renewal of churches. A group of us under the leadership of Stuart Lange have worked to put together a statement on same-sex marriage. Our hope is that the government will not pass the legislation, believing that the legislation is not necessary and strays from God’s ideals for humanity. Here is the recently released statement. I would appreciate your thoughts on it. PRESBYTERIAN GROUP OPPOSES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL Presbyterian AFFIRM, a widely-supported conservative network within the Presbyterian denomination, is speaking out against the Bill which would allow same-sex couples to marry, declaring its views in a “Statement on Marriage” (see below). Presbyterian AFFIRM believes that “marriage is a unique human institution and treasure” which has “always been about the pairing of a man and a woman”, and that re-definin