Imran Khan vs Curtly Ambrose vs Dale Steyn vs Wasim Akram – Who is the better Test bowler?

[Ted123]

Who exactly was the better bowler of the four?

Imran has phenomenal record at home averaging 19 with bowl and several match winning performance. But his away average is 25 although it is still pretty balanced and comfortably under 30 in all countries. He is often rated as 3rd best bowler of his era, only behind Marshall and Hadlee.

Dale Steyn has again phenomenal record at home averaging 22 and away average is 25. He has done well and won games in all parts of the world including Australia, England and India. He was also the best bowler of his era by a distance.

Ambrose was arguably the best bowler of the decade 1990s and has phenomenal record in Australia who were best team of that decade. He also has incredible performances in England, South Africa and home and averages 20.5 over his career. The only demerit is he played only 6 tests in Asia and none in India where his bowling may not have suited and think he skipped one series for the same reason but all this made sure he got the best away average among the four.

Wasim is rated among the greatest ever across all formats and is arguably most skilled bowler of all but he still enjoys incredible record and consistency in Tests with 414 wickets at avg of 23 and pretty balanced record home and away combined. In terms of peer reputation, he is often rated as the greatest and most skilled fast bowler of all time and that is despite preference given to Western cricketers back in 90s.

So, how would you rank them as test bowlers purely?

 

[just a fan]

Ambrose
Steyn
Imran - ain't taking his home record seriously lol
Wasim

Ambrose and Steyn would still pip these two even if you don't consider the other twos' ball tampering, bottle caps, home umpiring and God knows what else

 

[ads101]

Steyn. Did it in an era where batsmen generally had the advantage, and was the standout of his era. Can’t think of really any that came close to him. In his era, probably most people considered Anderson to be 2nd best to him, and Steyn was considerably better than Anderson.

McGrath is better than anyone in this list though.

 

[big_gamer007]

That’s one easy list.

Amby
Steyn
IK
Wasim.

Some might rate Steyn above Ambrose for which you can make arguments, other than that the list should be fairly consistent for everyone.

 

[Ted123]

Steyn. Did it in an era where batsmen generally had the advantage, and was the standout of his era. Can’t think of really any that came close to him. In his era, probably most people considered Anderson to be 2nd best to him, and Steyn was considerably better than Anderson.

McGrath is better than anyone in this list though.

Marshall, McGrath and Hadlee top 3.

I have the debate for these four basically.

 

[Ted123]

That’s one easy list.

Amby
Steyn
IK
Wasim.

Some might rate Steyn above Ambrose for which you can make arguments, other than that the list should be fairly consistent for everyone.

Why Steyn and IK above Wasim? Wasim has more peer reputation.

 

[Fanboy375]

Ambrose didn't bowl much in Asia.When he bowl in Pak his ave was 25.

 

[Hitman]

Among them, Curtley Ambrose. An average of below 21 with more than 400 wickets is extraordinary. Dale Steyn reigns supreme among them with an astonishing SR, but I personally give more weight to average.​

 

[Ted123]

Ambrose didn't bowl much in Asia.When he bowl in Pak his ave was 25.

He himself confessed that he didn’t enjoyed bowling in Asia and the weather and conditions wasn’t convenient for his style of bowling. Him not playing helped him boost his average. Cummins also doing the same these days.

IK, Steyn and Wasim played games everywhere.

 

[Buffet]

Steyn
Ambrose
IK
Wasim

 

[Romali_rotti]

Ambrose was an amazing bowler. Now that I think about it Brian Lara was a spoilt player, playing with bowlers like Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop etc for most of his career.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Out of the 4, i would say Dale Steyn is the greatest test pacer followed closely by Ambrose.

I put Steyn ahead of him because I think Ambrose owes a lot of his success to to his intimidating tall built which is a God gift while Steyn is shorter than the rest of the bowlers mentioned here and had to rely on his pace, accuracy, swing and seam and a giant heart of a fighter to have such enormous impact.

Wasim i think is a bigger legend in ODI Cricket than test cricket and if you do an analysis of these guys as an all format bowler then definitely Wasim
Is head and shoulders above the rest which is why he’s regarded so highly. Regardless of format, opposition, pitch Wasim was always a threat giving absolutely nothing away.

I think i am not qualified to speak about Imran Khan because not having followed him as a cricketer during his playing days i cannot comprehend how great he must have been even even though the record speaks for itself, the numbers are right up there among the best ever but generally the old folks talk more about Marshal, Robert’s, Lillee when they talking about fast bowling in that era and not nearly as much about Imran, and I don’t know if that’s white folks bias or probably Imran wasn’t very impactful as a bowler against the right oppositions. This is why i am not very confident to have an opinion on him.

So my rating is as follows :-

Tests :-
1. Steyn
2. Ambrose
3. Wasim
4. Imran

ODIs :-
1. Wasim
2. Ambrose
3. Steyn
4. Imran

All format :-
1. Wasim
2. Steyn
3. Ambrose
4. Imran

 

[Hyder]

If i had to pick test team of all time with three pacers then steyn McGrath and Marshal/Hadlee ll be the three.

IK might/might not make the team as all rounder tho but his batting and bowling stats doesnt coincide with each other much nonetheless he was a phenomenal cricketer

 

[Ab Fan]

In test cricket, it’s between Dale Steyn and Curtly Ambrose. Overall, I will choose Wasim due to admirable skills, versatility and all format performances alongwith WC Final win.

Talking about tests, Ambrose was the best bowler in 90s then McGrath took over till 2005 while Steyn was the best between 2006-2015.

If I am looking for subcontinent performances, Dale Steyn is my choice but if I am looking for a bowler who can destroy Aussies in Australia, Ambrose is the man for it.

Imran was beast in home conditions which were surprisingly flat decks( or whatever be the reasoning) in Pakistan but his average usually falls between 25-30 in all other countries. Tough call but Marshall and Hadlee were the top 2 pacers in 1980s so I will probably have him behind Steyn and Ambrose in Tests and behind Wasim overall. That would be my rating of him as pure bowler.

All in all, top 5 in Tests will be Marshall, McGrath, Hadlee and then any of Steyn or Ambrose.

 

[big_gamer007]

Why Steyn and IK above Wasim? Wasim has more peer reputation.

Wasim is the most talented bowler to play the game, but talent can only get you so far.

Is Wasim the most unplayable of all of them? Yes
Has Wasim got the most diverse skillset of all of them? Yes
Was Wasim the least consistent of all of them? Yes

At the end of the day it’s your performance which differentiates between ATGs and unfortunately Wasim couldn’t perform as well as the other 3 in test cricket.

Wasim is probably top 2 or at max top 3 in LOI’s and will always be rated highly by his peers just because of his skillset. But when you differentiate between top 5 or 6 bowlers/batsman of history you will look at performances as well and in tests he doesn’t have as consistent performances as the other 3 names.

In LOI’s he clears all 3 of them easily.

 

[AZulfi]

At his peak, Imran was a better test bowler than Wasim.

3 of his 6 ten-wicket match hauls were outside Asia (Sydney 1974, Headingley (Leeds) 1987 and Georgetown, West Indies 1988), all of those tests won by Pakistan

 

[AZulfi]

Also let’s not forget Imran missed 2.5 of his peak years from 1983-1986 because of a stress fracture. Otherwise his career stats (already great) would have been even better

 

[Kianig89]

Ambrose played in a weaker team yet staggering numbers, skill wise Wasim tops as all format bowler

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Imran Khan and Curtly Ambrose are level above others.

 

[Justcrazy]

IN TEST

Styen
Imran
Ambrose
Wasim