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10 best genuinely fast bowlers of all time

Harsh Thakor

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10 best genuinely fast bowlers of all-time


1.Malcolm Marshall
2.Wasim Akram
3.Ray Lindwall
4.Dennis Lillee
5.Imran Khan
6.Dale Steyn
7.Curtly Ambrose
8.Fred Trueman
9.Waqar Younus
10.Andy Roberts

Not necessarily in order of merit and combined statistical performances with level of skill.Wasim was the ultimate magician or artist being more versatile than anyone.He surpassed everyone in terms of wiizardry and had a more phenpmenal record in ODI's than anybody. Amongst right armers Lindwall,Marshall and Lillee were almost equally complete with Marshal,the king in terms of records and the most creative.Lindwall and Marshall could create unplayable skidding bounce while Lillee was the ultimate epitome of agression.In terms of figures Imran and Steyn were giants .Steyn had a phenomenal strike rate while in peak era Imran was arguably the best of all in terms of figures.No paceman was ever as accurate as Ambrose or as lethal on a broken track or in a 4th innings.He has won more games on broken tracks in 4th innings than any paceman and in single spells been even more lethal than the likes of Marshall.Fred Trueman was champion in terms of figures on par with Lillee.Waqar Younus was closest to the fastest and could reverse swing a ball more than any right arm paceman.He also had a phenomenal strike rate.In terms of pure skill and versatlity Andy Roberts was virtually the equal of Lillee with his mastery of bouncers at different speeds and a lethal outswinger and offcutter.



Glen Mcgrath or Richard Hadlee may rank amongst the top 5 but were mot genuinely quick.Same is the case with Alec Bedser and Sydney Barnes.Those who missed out by a whisker are Alan Donald ,Michael Holding,Wes Hall,Joel Garner Courtney Walsh and Jeff Thomson in that order.
 
What are you on man? More than half of today's bowlers in tests bowl as quick as Lillee and probably most bowl as quick as Lindwall and Trueman. This is again a classic case of over-hyping the past players. In the actual quickest bowlers list, only 2 or maybe 3 of these can even imagine to feature.
 
Curtley Ambrose
Malcolm Marshal
Waqar younus
Dennis lillee
Jeff thomson
Chaminda vaas
wasim akram
kapil dev
Glenn mcgrath
Dale steyn
 
What are you on man? More than half of today's bowlers in tests bowl as quick as Lillee and probably most bowl as quick as Lindwall and Trueman. This is again a classic case of over-hyping the past players. In the actual quickest bowlers list, only 2 or maybe 3 of these can even imagine to feature.

There are lists, we have lists for the best fast bowler, the best genuine fast bowler, the best genuine bowler, the best bowler, the best bowler without long hair, the best fast bowler batting at 9, the best genuine fast bowler batting at 9. List lists and more lists, you can never have enough lists. If you look at the list of best lists the best list would be the list of the best lists.
 
What are you on man? More than half of today's bowlers in tests bowl as quick as Lillee and probably most bowl as quick as Lindwall and Trueman. This is again a classic case of over-hyping the past players. In the actual quickest bowlers list, only 2 or maybe 3 of these can even imagine to feature.

Speed is not the criteria.I am assessing overall skill in terms of versatility,contraol and accuracy as well as performance.
 
If speed is not the criteria why did you exclude Hadlee and McGrath.

I am ranking the genuinely fast bowlers.Mcgrath and Hadlee were not.What I meant my criteria was not the speed of the genuine quickies but the overall class like control,accuracy,versatility,innovation etc.This list excludes the quickest like Jeff Thomson,Shoiab Akhtar ,Sylvetser Crake and Michael Holding.Hope you understand now.
 
Hadlee started off genuinely fast, but in 1982 he cut his run up and settled for quickish FM with regular properly fast deliveries thrown in.
 
Hadlee started off genuinely fast, but in 1982 he cut his run up and settled for quickish FM with regular properly fast deliveries thrown in.

could you name your best 10 genuine quickies?
 
Marshall
Steyn
Donald
Imran Khan
Wasim
Lillee
Waqar
Holding
Roberts
Snow

Not considered (line/length bowlers):
Ambrose
McGrath
S.Pollock
Garner
Philander
Walsh
 
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Hadlee started off genuinely fast, but in 1982 he cut his run up and settled for quickish FM with regular properly fast deliveries thrown in.

was measured at 129K in 1978/79 fast bowling competition.
 
I am ranking the genuinely fast bowlers.Mcgrath and Hadlee were not.What I meant my criteria was not the speed of the genuine quickies but the overall class like control,accuracy,versatility,innovation etc.This list excludes the quickest like Jeff Thomson,Shoiab Akhtar ,Sylvetser Crake and Michael Holding.Hope you understand now.

Can't place wasim akram then. More often than not he was fast medium. Very similar case with Imran khan.
 
On what basis you have categorized these fast bowlers?

If the criteria is genuine fast bowling then most of them won't feature in this list.
 
was measured at 129K in 1978/79 fast bowling competition.

But you don’t believe any of those do you? Silly “high speed cameras”. Nothing good happened before, oh, 2002 did it?
 
But you don’t believe any of those do you? Silly “high speed cameras”. Nothing good happened before, oh, 2002 did it?

Never said that. As long as there is footage that I can see and verify I will be happy to accept it. You however will take any human beings words over science and common sense. That is the difference between us.

But In before your friends start to troll :)
 
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Trust me folks. Shoaib Akhtar bowled seriously fast. He won you guys a WC semi final on flat pattah by out pacing NZ's gun batsmen.
 
Genuinely. Fast an people not including Mohammed Zaihd or Shoib Akhter
 
Trust me folks. Shoaib Akhtar bowled seriously fast. He won you guys a WC semi final on flat pattah by out pacing NZ's gun batsmen.



Laugh out loud I doubt you will find anyone who would disagree with that.. Shoaib is the fastest of all time period. There maybe someone somewhere who could bowl faster than him but that someone never played cricket at any decent level..

The list is fine apart from lindwall and trueman whom I have never seen bowl and who might be overhyped due to era they played in and skill of their peers..

But other than those two the rest could bowl at decent pace at some point of their careers and arguably have a better record than bowlers like Akhtar or Lee in tests.. Akhtar might have more skills than some of these bowlers but he never achieved his full potential imo.. However in terms of peak skills I would say Waqar or Akhtar are probably at top..
 
Genuine fast
Thomson
Shoaib
Tait
Lee
Clarke
Mohammad sami
Bond
Starc
Roberts
Holding.
 
Curtley Ambrose
Malcolm Marshal
Waqar younus
Dennis lillee
Jeff thomson
Chaminda vaas
wasim akram
kapil dev
Glenn mcgrath
Dale steyn

In terms of genuine pace, Vaas, Kapil, and McGrath don't make the cut. They were tremendous bowlers, not just downright fast.
 
Never said that. As long as there is footage that I can see and verify I will be happy to accept it. You however will take any human beings words over science and common sense. That is the difference between us.

But In before your friends start to troll :)

If you were scientific you would know that one test is not significant. He could have had a cold that day, or could have quickened up in the next couple of years as he filled out.

I can remember Hadlee quite clearly in 1983. He was at a sharpish FM, definitely quicker than Botham but not as quick as Willis and Dilley barring the odd effort ball.

He wrote in his autobiography that he cut his run-up and his pace down on purpose the year before, to try to extend his career and because he found he got more control off the shorter run. So according to the man, he was faster than in 1980-81. Indeed when he turned up at Notts off his shorter run, the County members were asking why they had dropped their overseas quick for a spinner.
 
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I am probably the oldest poster here and have accordingly seen the most cricket. I have vivid memories of cricket from the late 1960s. In that context the 10 best quicks I have seen are:

1. CEL Ambrose
2. Steyn
3. Wasim Akram
4. M. Marshall
5. Michael Holding
6. DK Lillee
7. Imran Khan
8. Donald
9. Waqar Younis
10. Jeff Thomson

Kept in mind 'fast' here.
 
I am probably the oldest poster here and have accordingly seen the most cricket. I have vivid memories of cricket from the late 1960s. In that context the 10 best quicks I have seen are:

1. CEL Ambrose
2. Steyn
3. Wasim Akram
4. M. Marshall
5. Michael Holding
6. DK Lillee
7. Imran Khan
8. Donald
9. Waqar Younis
10. Jeff Thomson

Kept in mind 'fast' here.

junaids is the oldest poster here. i am lowkey sure of that.
 
If you were scientific you would know that one test is not significant. He could have had a cold that day, or could have quickened up in the next couple of years as he filled out.

I can remember Hadlee quite clearly in 1983. He was at a sharpish FM, definitely quicker than Botham but not as quick as Willis and Dilley barring the odd effort ball.

He wrote in his autobiography that he cut his run-up and his pace down on purpose the year before, to try to extend his career and because he found he got more control off the shorter run. So according to the man, he was faster than in 1980-81. Indeed when he turned up at Notts off his shorter run, the County members were asking why they had dropped their overseas quick for a spinner.

One Test is more significant than Zero tests and taking words of players as facts. Furthermore I have checked few other videos of Hadlee bowling and they all are the same. I guess he had a bad day in every one of the videos that exist of him on youtube.

The thing that I never understood is why it is sooooo hard for Old ERA fans to accept these facts that modern tech is settling?
 
I am probably the oldest poster here and have accordingly seen the most cricket. I have vivid memories of cricket from the late 1960s. In that context the 10 best quicks I have seen are:

1. CEL Ambrose
2. Steyn
3. Wasim Akram
4. M. Marshall
5. Michael Holding
6. DK Lillee
7. Imran Khan
8. Donald
9. Waqar Younis
10. Jeff Thomson

Kept in mind 'fast' here.
Great list.No Andy Roberts inspite of phenomenal versatility?Many thought he was the most complete paceman of his time like Lillee himself.List inI Oder of merit?
 
Curtley Ambrose
Malcolm Marshal
Waqar younus
Dennis lillee
Jeff thomson
Chaminda vaas
wasim akram
kapil dev
Glenn mcgrath
Dale steyn

What? Neither was genuinely fast and they definitely wouldn't even get into a list of top 10 pace bowlers of their time, much less all time. McGrath wasn't genuinely fast either but at least he was a world class bowler.
 
Great list.Any order of merit?Where would you rank Holding and Roberts?
Up there with those fellas but you only let me have ten!
Roberts was so clever and set batters up. He had two bouncers - one he showed the batter to make them think he was hittable, then another a yard quicker that took their head off.

Mikey H was so elegant. Raw speed, making everyone else look medium pace in that famous test of 1976 at the Oval. Latterly he slowed down a but but became an advanced bowler, cutting it around, gloving the batters to slip.
 
Typhoon Tyson has to be up there ? [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] [MENTION=134300]Tusker[/MENTION]
 
I am probably the oldest poster here and have accordingly seen the most cricket. I have vivid memories of cricket from the late 1960s. In that context the 10 best quicks I have seen are:

1. CEL Ambrose
2. Steyn
3. Wasim Akram
4. M. Marshall
5. Michael Holding
6. DK Lillee
7. Imran Khan
8. Donald
9. Waqar Younis
10. Jeff Thomson

Kept in mind 'fast' here.

Regard Ambrose greatest?Ahead of Marshall and Wasim?I may disagree .anyway would like know your reason.Also Holding above Lillee?
 
The thing that I never understood is why it is sooooo hard for Old ERA fans to accept these facts that modern tech is settling?


Because the old era tells a better story.
 
Typhoon Tyson has to be up there ? [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] [MENTION=134300]Tusker[/MENTION]

The Typhoon only lasted a couple of seasons before he blew himself out.

Perhaps the medicine and physiotherapist that got Lillee, Imran and Marshall through their early-career injuries was not available to old Frank.
 
Frank Tyson
Wesley Hall
Harold Larwood
Malcolm Marshall
Holding
Roberts
Patterson
Thompson
Shoaib
Tait
B Lee
Waqar
 
Because the old era tells a better story.

yup ... pretty good at passing off fiction as fact .. gotta agree on that. It works till someone starts asking difficult questions and demands proof of the said events. I suppose you want to keep believing in fiction ?
 
You seem to be extremely confused with your thread title. Genuinely fast bowlers means just that, genuinely quick. You cannot post a list and then describe later this is what you meant.

control,accuracy,versatility,innovation etc -

There is no one who has watched cricket would say McGrath was not any of that. He was one of the most complete pacer in recent times and bowled well on all type of wickets. Was successful in ODI's and Tests. He was known for his control and accuracy. I don't understand what innovation means in fast bowling. How many fast bowlers have innovated anything? It is not like Doosra, Carrom Ball or anything to that effect. Please list the innovations of the bowlers you have listed and how many of those innovations are actually popular and is being used by bowlers right now.
 
I think Mitchell Johnson from 2013/14 Ashes to 2013/14 SA/Aus test series is a embodiment of what genuine fast bowler is.....and to me,In that period he is comparable to any ATG genuine fast bowler.
 
You seem to be extremely confused with your thread title. Genuinely fast bowlers means just that, genuinely quick. You cannot post a list and then describe later this is what you meant.

control,accuracy,versatility,innovation etc -

There is no one who has watched cricket would say McGrath was not any of that. He was one of the most complete pacer in recent times and bowled well on all type of wickets. Was successful in ODI's and Tests. He was known for his control and accuracy. I don't understand what innovation means in fast bowling. How many fast bowlers have innovated anything? It is not like Doosra, Carrom Ball or anything to that effect. Please list the innovations of the bowlers you have listed and how many of those innovations are actually popular and is being used by bowlers right now.

Agree but McGrath was not genuinely quick.I am ranking in order the genuinely fast bowlers not in terms of speed but in relation to factors s like control,accuracy and versatility.That is why I rank Wasim and Marshall above Thomson or Lillee above Eaqr.Understand now?
 
yup ... pretty good at passing off fiction as fact .. gotta agree on that. It works till someone starts asking difficult questions and demands proof of the said events. I suppose you want to keep believing in fiction ?

If Hadlee was only at 80 mph in 1978 he would have been at 75 mph after he cut his run-up. But 75 mph was Fraser speed and Hadlee was quicker than that every time I saw him.

So in this case I don’t believe your story.
 
I am probably the oldest poster here and have accordingly seen the most cricket. I have vivid memories of cricket from the late 1960s. In that context the 10 best quicks I have seen are:

1. CEL Ambrose
2. Steyn
3. Wasim Akram
4. M. Marshall
5. Michael Holding
6. DK Lillee
7. Imran Khan
8. Donald
9. Waqar Younis
10. Jeff Thomson

Kept in mind 'fast' here.

Shoaib Akhtar was at the same pace (if not quicker) then Thommo and definitely better wicket taker.

Yes, I have seen both bowl.
 
If Hadlee was only at 80 mph in 1978 he would have been at 75 mph after he cut his run-up. But 75 mph was Fraser speed and Hadlee was quicker than that every time I saw him.

Highlighted in RED is the problem. Unless you have bionic capabilities you just cant figure out bowling speeds by watching.

So in this case I don’t believe your story.

its not a story when there is footage that anyone can scrutinize and confirm on their own. However what you say about most past players is invariably a story that most often than not turns out to be false upon any reasonable fact checking.
 
Highlighted in RED is the problem. Unless you have bionic capabilities you just cant figure out bowling speeds by watching.



its not a story when there is footage that anyone can scrutinize and confirm on their own. However what you say about most past players is invariably a story that most often than not turns out to be false upon any reasonable fact checking.

Sure, there’s no way I can tell that Mitchell Starc is quicker than Nathan Lyon, I would need bionic eyes for that.

I had a look at a couple of Hadlee videos. There is one of him bowling at Botham, about 1982/3 from the scorecard where he looks quickish. There is another from his demolition of Australia in 1985/6 where he looked FM. Another when he got ten in a match in England in 1986 where he looked quick. So I will stick to my beliefs about him. I don’t find your arguments credible on this point.
 
Sure, there’s no way I can tell that Mitchell Starc is quicker than Nathan Lyon, I would need bionic eyes for that.

Read my post again ... I said you cannot find out the bowling speeds of bowlers. Quite different from comparing a Fast bowler with a spinner. Talk about using lame analogies. Not surprising though ... this is what happens when people can't substantiate their long held views on topics very dear to them.


I had a look at a couple of Hadlee videos. There is one of him bowling at Botham, about 1982/3 from the scorecard where he looks quickish. There is another from his demolition of Australia in 1985/6 where he looked FM. Another when he got ten in a match in England in 1986 where he looked quick. So I will stick to my beliefs about him. I don’t find your arguments credible on this point.

So you believe in your eyes more than the technology which measured Hadlee to be a 129K bowler ... that too when he was 8 yrs younger? And then you wonder why some of us dont take the older ERA's seriously. As I have said many times in these OLD vs New discussions ... it almost always comes down to: "thou shall have to take my word over anything else including cold hard facts" which is the basis of most of these fanciful stories of past ERA players that we get hear from time to time. It was an easy sell in a simpler world before internet , google and youtube.

But that said Welcome to the new real world.

Cheers!
 
Shoaib Akhtar was at the same pace (if not quicker) then Thommo and definitely better wicket taker.

Yes, I have seen both bowl.

No doubt Akhtar was a class bowler. That said, it is only a top 10 and thus we have to pick. The icons on one's youth always loom large.
 
Regard Ambrose greatest?Ahead of Marshall and Wasim?I may disagree .anyway would like know your reason.Also Holding above Lillee?

If I had 50 runs to defend and the opposition had 8 wickets in hand in a Test, I'd want Ambrose to bowl.

All these bowlers are great. It comes down often to preferences.
 
If Hadlee was only at 80 mph in 1978 he would have been at 75 mph after he cut his run-up. But 75 mph was Fraser speed and Hadlee was quicker than that every time I saw him.

So in this case I don’t believe your story.

If Hadlee was 80mph, Kapil was 65mph. :)))
 
Read my post again ... I said you cannot find out the bowling speeds of bowlers. Quite different from comparing a Fast bowler with a spinner. Talk about using lame analogies. Not surprising though ... this is what happens when people can't substantiate their long held views on topics very dear to them.




So you believe in your eyes more than the technology which measured Hadlee to be a 129K bowler ... that too when he was 8 yrs younger? And then you wonder why some of us dont take the older ERA's seriously. As I have said many times in these OLD vs New discussions ... it almost always comes down to: "thou shall have to take my word over anything else including cold hard facts" which is the basis of most of these fanciful stories of past ERA players that we get hear from time to time. It was an easy sell in a simpler world before internet , google and youtube.

But that said Welcome to the new real world.

Cheers!
Yet you claim to know approximately how fast Larwood, Bowes and such were at using your eyes. Creative use of double standards.

Something is wrong with that speedo figure for Hadlee. I know what 80-82 mph looks like because Anderson bowls it all day, all season, year on year. If Hadlee slowed down in the early eighties, and I believe he did because the man himself and other authorities like a Trueman said so - then he would have been around 75 mph. That’s Angus Fraser speed. Hadlee was quicker than that in 1986, you can see it from the footage, so your speedo figure is misleading. He must have had a cold that day or was carrying an injury. Your “cold hard facts” are context-dependent, are the beginning of wisdom, not the end.
 
Yet you claim to know approximately how fast Larwood, Bowes and such were at using your eyes. Creative use of double standards.

Something is wrong with that speedo figure for Hadlee. I know what 80-82 mph looks like because Anderson bowls it all day, all season, year on year. If Hadlee slowed down in the early eighties, and I believe he did because the man himself and other authorities like a Trueman said so - then he would have been around 75 mph. That’s Angus Fraser speed. Hadlee was quicker than that in 1986, you can see it from the footage, so your speedo figure is misleading. He must have had a cold that day or was carrying an injury. Your “cold hard facts” are context-dependent, are the beginning of wisdom, not the end.

There is nothing wrong with that figure ... I have double checked it by counting the no.of frames ( which is what I also did for Tyson and Larwood and few others to answer your rhetorical question in the first sentence ).

Bowes and Bedser are someone who you really dont need to take the trouble of measuring frames ... absolute slow medium trundlers.

None of the cricketers no matter how great are an authority on bowling speed measurement. Not Bradman not Trueman not Tendulkar not anyone.

Looking at your responses and those of [MENTION=144456]bujhee kom[/MENTION] it appears that there is this elitist thing going on ... Kapil can never possibly bowl faster than Hadlee neither can Fraser or Anderson etc .... Seriously ?

The one single most important and invaluable lesson that modern Tech has taught cricket lovers is that an unknown rookie can bowl faster and indeed be actually better than any established great. As I have said many times before Cricket has this huge problem of Segregation by classes.

If this is the video you are referring to : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv-QOuf8Xik then yes Hadlee is indeed in the mid 70s as opposed to mid 80s.
 
There is nothing wrong with that figure ... I have double checked it by counting the no.of frames ( which is what I also did for Tyson and Larwood and few others to answer your rhetorical question in the first sentence ).

Bowes and Bedser are someone who you really dont need to take the trouble of measuring frames ... absolute slow medium trundlers.

None of the cricketers no matter how great are an authority on bowling speed measurement. Not Bradman not Trueman not Tendulkar not anyone.

Looking at your responses and those of [MENTION=144456]bujhee kom[/MENTION] it appears that there is this elitist thing going on ... Kapil can never possibly bowl faster than Hadlee neither can Fraser or Anderson etc .... Seriously ?

The one single most important and invaluable lesson that modern Tech has taught cricket lovers is that an unknown rookie can bowl faster and indeed be actually better than any established great. As I have said many times before Cricket has this huge problem of Segregation by classes.

If this is the video you are referring to : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv-QOuf8Xik then yes Hadlee is indeed in the mid 70s as opposed to mid 80s.

Mate we saw Hadlee and we saw Kapil. Hadlee was quicker. You can ask any batsman who faced them both. Hadlee was not genuinely quick like an Imran Khan or Lillee, but he was sharp.
 
Trust me folks. Shoaib Akhtar bowled seriously fast. He won you guys a WC semi final on flat pattah by out pacing NZ's gun batsmen.

He was a beast in his prime, bowling 155+ and with the reverse swing and control he had he was a beast. Unfortunately injuries plagued his career from truly allowing him to become and ATG.
 
Cant really put wasim akram in genuinely quick bracket. He was quick on and off. For most part, he was fast medium.
 
So have I got this right?

Not “who was the quickest bowler”.

More a case of “who were the most dangerous bowlers who regularly bowled at speeds above 140K (87 mph)?”

To which I think I would reply:

1. Malcolm Marshall
2. Fred Trueman
3. Dennis Lillee
4. Ian Bishop pre-injury
5. Mike Procter 1969-1979
6. Andy Roberts
7. Neil Adcock
8. Wasim Akram 1985-1997
9. Dale Steyn
10. Ray Lindwall

I have left out Brian Statham both because I’m not sure he regularly bowled 140+ and because I suspect his action was not clean.
 
1. Thommo
2. Lillee
3. Marshall
4. Waqar
5. Imran
6. Bishop
7. Ambrose
8. Steyn
9. Roberts
10. Shoaib... for a while
 
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