Top 3 pacers of each decade since 1950s

[maddgenius]

I was going through stats while selecting my players for ongoing test draft so thought it's worth sharing the list I compiled.

I set the cut off of minimum 100 wickets. Only exception is Alan Davidson who got 90+ wickets in both 1950's and 1960's but his bowling average of 20 was too good to be ignored in a decade where only one bowler with over 100 wickets had sub 25 average i.e. Trueman



Preference was given to bowling average apart from the following exceptions where the difference in average was negligible compared to the number of wickets taken:

2010's: Steyn and Anderson ahead of Rabada and Philander
1960's: Graham McKenzie ahead of Peter Pollock

 

[maddgenius]

[HTML]Decade	Player	     Matches	Wickets	Avg	SR	Econ	5	10	Unlucky to miss out
2010's	Dale Steyn	59	267	22.29	43.9	3.04	15	2	Vernon Philander
	James Anderson	106	429	24.35	54.9	2.65	20	3	Kagiso Rabada
	Pat Cummins	29	139	21.92	47.2	2.78	5	1	Stuart Broad
2000's	Glenn Mcgrath	66	297	20.53	51.4	2.39	14	2	Shane Bond
	Shaun Pollock	70	260	24.76	61.0	2.43	6	1	Jason Gillespie
	Shoaib Akhtar	33	144	22.21	39.6	3.35	11	2	
1990's	Curtly Ambrose	71	309	20.14	52.2	2.31	21	3	Alan Donald
	Wasim Akram	62	289	21.45	48.9	2.63	17	3	Courtney Walsh
	Waqar Younis	56	375	21.71	40.9	3.18	21	5	Ian Bishop
1980's	Imran Khan	54	256	19.12	47.0	2.43	18	5	Joel Garner
	Richard Hadlee	53	289	19.28	47.9	2.41	28	7	Michael Holding
        M Marshall	63	323	19.91	44.5	2.68	22	4	
1970's	Ian Botham	22	118	19.27	45.6	2.53	12	2	Andy Roberts
	Dennis Lillee	35	184	23.78	51.6	2.76	12	4	Jeff Thomson
	Bob Willis	51	182	24.78	54.4	2.72	11	0	
1960's	Alan Davidson	17	94	20.56	56.5	2.18	9	1	Peter Pollock
	Fred Trueman	36	179	22.01	50.1	2.63	12	3	Jon Snow
	Graham McKenzie	54	238	27.91	67.7	2.47	16	3	
1950's	Alec Bedser	28	147	19.84	56.9	2.09	13	3	Keith Miller
	Fazal Mahmood	26	125	22.12	62.5	2.59	12	4	Ray Lindwall
	Brian Statham	47	159	23.50	62.8	2.24	5	0	Frank Tyson

[/HTML]

 

[Junaids]

1950's
1. Trueman
2. Statham
3. Adcock

1960's
1. Trueman
2. Hall
3. Davidson

1970's
1. Procter (Tests plus SuperTests)
2. Lillee
3. Roberts

1980's
1. Marshall
2. Imran
3. Hadlee

1990's
1. Wasim Akram
2. Ambrose
3. Waqar

2000's
1. McGrath
2. Pollock
3. Flintoff

2010's
1. Steyn
2. Cummins
3. Anderson
3.

 

[maddgenius]

1950's
1. Trueman
2. Statham
3. Adcock

1960's
1. Trueman
2. Hall
3. Davidson

1970's
1. Procter (Tests plus SuperTests)
2. Lillee
3. Roberts

1980's
1. Marshall
2. Imran
3. Hadlee

1990's
1. Wasim Akram
2. Ambrose
3. Waqar

2000's
1. McGrath
2. Pollock
3. Flintoff

2010's
1. Steyn
2. Cummins
3. Anderson
3.

Flintoff with 3 5fers in 74 matches @ 32.3 ahead of Akhtar who had 11 5fers in 33 matches @ 22.2?

I forgot to add that I avoided putting a bowler in 2 decades. This is why no Trueman in 1950's

Also, the only criteria of selection is bowling average in that particular decade.

 

[MMHS]

1950:
1. Lindwall
2. Alec Bedsar
3. Truman

1960:
1. Davidson
2. Truman
3. Wes Hall/GD Mackenzie (not sure)

1970:
1. Lillee
2. Roberts
3. Snow

1980:
1. Marshall
2. Imran
3. Hadlee

1990:
1. Wasim Akram
2. Ambrose
3. WY

2000:
1. McGrath
2. Shoaib
3. Bond/Asif (both unfulfilled potential)

2010:
1. Styen
2. Jimmy
3. Phillander

2020 (Probable):
1. Cummins
2. Rabada
3. Shaheen

 

[Junaids]

Flintoff with 3 5fers in 74 matches @ 32.3 ahead of Akhtar who had 11 5fers in 33 matches @ 22.2?

I forgot to add that I avoided putting a bowler in 2 decades. This is why no Trueman in 1950's

Also, the only criteria of selection is bowling average in that particular decade.

I fully accept that Shoaib was a better bowler than Flintoff. But he was never fit and available - you've just described him managing to play 33 Tests in the time that Fred played 74.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Fazal, Imran, Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib Akhtar! What a bowling lineup!

Asif and Amir are so frustrating. They should have been there alongside Steyn and Jimmy

Let's hope that Shaheen Shah Afridi keeps his focus!

PS: [MENTION=53377]jeetu[/MENTION] how do you post tables?

 

[therealAB]

50's:
Lindwall, Bedser, Trueman

60's:

Trueman
Davidson
Peter Pollock

70's:
Proctor
Lillee
Holding

80's:
Marshall
Imran
Hadlee

90's:
Donald
Curtly
McGrath

00's:
McGrath
Daylight
Pollock
Shoaib

10's:
Steyn
Daylight
Jimmy
Rabada

 

[maddgenius]

50's:
Lindwall, Bedser, Trueman

60's:

Trueman
Davidson
Peter Pollock

70's:
Proctor
Lillee
Holding

80's:
Marshall
Imran
Hadlee

90's:
Donald
Curtly
McGrath

00's:
McGrath
Daylight
Pollock
Shoaib

10's:
Steyn
Daylight
Jimmy
Rabada

Wow, you're the only one so far who has excluded Wasim & Waqar from 90's

 

[therealAB]

Wow, you're the only one so far who has excluded Wasim & Waqar from 90's

My views on Wasim have been explained multiple times (low wpm, low percentage of top order wickets). Waqar was only good at the start of the decade against weaker teams, whereas McGrath had huge series vs England, WI, Ind etc

 

[jeetu]

Fazal, Imran, Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib Akhtar! What a bowling lineup!

Asif and Amir are so frustrating. They should have been there alongside Steyn and Jimmy

Let's hope that Shaheen Shah Afridi keeps his focus!

PS: [MENTION=53377]jeetu[/MENTION] how do you post tables?

Pakpassion supports BBCode. I use it to post table.
Easiest is to use "forum table maker" plugin for excel.
There are also sites which can convert csv (comma seperated values) to BBCode.
Alternatively , if you don't use spreadsheet , then use it site
https://www.teamopolis.com/tools/bbcode-table-generator.aspx

 

[Ab Fan]

My picks from 1970s strictly for tests are

1970:
1. Lillee
2. Roberts
3. Willis

1980:

1. Marshall
2. Hadlee
3. Imran

1990:-

Ambrose
Wasim
Donald

2000:-

McGrath
Pollock
Shoaib

2010:-

Steyn
Anderson
Rabada

Spinners:-

1970s- Bedi/Underwood
1980s- Qadir
1990s- Warne
2000s- Murali
2010s- Ashwin/Herath

 

[Last Monetarist]

1950s:
Trueman
Lindwall
Statham

1960s:
Trueman
Hall
Pollock

1970s:
Lillee
Roberts
Willis

1980s:
Marshall
Hadlee
Imran

1990s:
Ambrose
Donald
Wasim

2000s:
McGrath
Ntini
Shoaib

2010s:
Steyn
Anderson
Philander

 

[maddgenius]

[MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION] [MENTION=147674]The Viper[/MENTION]

Kindly replace the attachment in OP with this image as attachment isn't clearly visible

 

[Robert]

1950's. Lindwall, Trueman, Miller

1960's Hall, Davidson, McKenzie

1970's Lillee, Roberts, Willis

1980's Marshall, Imran, Hadlee

1990's Donald, Ambrose, Wasim

2000's McGrath, Pollock, Ntini

2010's Steyn, Cummins, Anderson

 

[KP From India]

Zaheer Khan should be in 2000s.
Bowled better than wasim Akram.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Decade	Player	Matches	Wickets	Avg	SR	Econ	5	10	Unlucky to miss out
2010's	Dale Steyn	59	267	22.29	43.9	3.04	15	2	Vernon Philander
	James Anderson	106	429	24.35	54.9	2.65	20	3	Kagiso Rabada
	Pat Cummins	29	139	21.92	47.2	2.78	5	1	Stuart Broad
2000's	Glenn Mcgrath	66	297	20.53	51.4	2.39	14	2	Shane Bond
	Shaun Pollock	70	260	24.76	61.0	2.43	6	1	Jason Gillespie
	Shoaib Akhtar	33	144	22.21	39.6	3.35	11	2
1990's	Curtly Ambrose	71	309	20.14	52.2	2.31	21	3	Alan Donald
	Wasim Akram	62	289	21.45	48.9	2.63	17	3	Courtney Walsh
	Waqar Younis	56	375	21.71	40.9	3.18	21	5	Ian Bishop
1980's	Imran Khan	54	256	19.12	47.0	2.43	18	5	Joel Garner
	Richard Hadlee	53	289	19.28	47.9	2.41	28	7	Michael Holding
	M Marshall	63	323	19.91	44.5	2.68	22	4
1970's	Ian Botham	22	118	19.27	45.6	2.53	12	2	Andy Roberts
	Dennis Lillee	35	184	23.78	51.6	2.76	12	4	Jeff Thomson
	Bob Willis	51	182	24.78	54.4	2.72	11	0
1960's	Alan Davidson	17	94	20.56	56.5	2.18	9	1	Peter Pollock
	Fred Trueman	36	179	22.01	50.1	2.63	12	3	Jon Snow
	Graham McKenzie	54	238	27.91	67.7	2.47	16	3
1950's	Alec Bedser	28	147	19.84	56.9	2.09	13	3	Keith Miller
	Fazal Mahmood	26	125	22.12	62.5	2.59	12	4	Ray Lindwall
	Brian Statham	47	159	23.50	62.8	2.24	5	0	Frank Tyson

Some facts(^above table):

*James Anderson has played a monstrous number of 106 games and 429 wickets. Simply extraordinary numbers.

*Imran Khan has had an average of 19.12, the best among all these legends. Now add his 50+ bat average in decade. Now add his captaincy and unfortunate injury... the greatest of them all! #justsaying

*Shoaib Akhtar had the best strike rate. Add to that absolute roads where he played with so many 500+ scoring games, the Pakistani fielding and especially the Kamran Akmal factor Take that haters! I say the man walked the talk!

*Alec Bedser has the lowest economy rate. The man in underrated at PP.


*Richard Hadlee had 28 5fers in 80s. That's more than Jimmy and Cummins combined Ridiculous numbers. The man also had 7 10fers. What a legend.


Some personal opinions:
IK is the greatest, 2Ws were an authentic force to be reckoned with in 90s and Shoaib Akhtar is right when he says he would have had a better career if he had played under IK.

 

[maddgenius]

Decade	Player	Matches	Wickets	Avg	SR	Econ	5	10	Unlucky to miss out
2010's	Dale Steyn	59	267	22.29	43.9	3.04	15	2	Vernon Philander
	James Anderson	106	429	24.35	54.9	2.65	20	3	Kagiso Rabada
	Pat Cummins	29	139	21.92	47.2	2.78	5	1	Stuart Broad
2000's	Glenn Mcgrath	66	297	20.53	51.4	2.39	14	2	Shane Bond
	Shaun Pollock	70	260	24.76	61.0	2.43	6	1	Jason Gillespie
	Shoaib Akhtar	33	144	22.21	39.6	3.35	11	2
1990's	Curtly Ambrose	71	309	20.14	52.2	2.31	21	3	Alan Donald
	Wasim Akram	62	289	21.45	48.9	2.63	17	3	Courtney Walsh
	Waqar Younis	56	375	21.71	40.9	3.18	21	5	Ian Bishop
1980's	Imran Khan	54	256	19.12	47.0	2.43	18	5	Joel Garner
	Richard Hadlee	53	289	19.28	47.9	2.41	28	7	Michael Holding
	M Marshall	63	323	19.91	44.5	2.68	22	4
1970's	Ian Botham	22	118	19.27	45.6	2.53	12	2	Andy Roberts
	Dennis Lillee	35	184	23.78	51.6	2.76	12	4	Jeff Thomson
	Bob Willis	51	182	24.78	54.4	2.72	11	0
1960's	Alan Davidson	17	94	20.56	56.5	2.18	9	1	Peter Pollock
	Fred Trueman	36	179	22.01	50.1	2.63	12	3	Jon Snow
	Graham McKenzie	54	238	27.91	67.7	2.47	16	3
1950's	Alec Bedser	28	147	19.84	56.9	2.09	13	3	Keith Miller
	Fazal Mahmood	26	125	22.12	62.5	2.59	12	4	Ray Lindwall
	Brian Statham	47	159	23.50	62.8	2.24	5	0	Frank Tyson

Some facts(^above table):

*James Anderson has played a monstrous number of 106 games and 429 wickets. Simply extraordinary numbers.

*Imran Khan has had an average of 19.12, the best among all these legends. Now add his 50+ bat average in decade. Now add his captaincy and unfortunate injury... the greatest of them all! #justsaying

*Shoaib Akhtar had the best strike rate. Add to that absolute roads where he played with so many 500+ scoring games, the Pakistani fielding and especially the Kamran Akmal factor Take that haters! I say the man walked the talk!

*Alec Bedser has the lowest economy rate. The man in underrated at PP.


*Richard Hadlee had 28 5fers in 80s. That's more than Jimmy and Cummins combined Ridiculous numbers. The man also had 7 10fers. What a legend.


Some personal opinions:
IK is the greatest, 2Ws were an authentic force to be reckoned with in 90s and Shoaib Akhtar is right when he says he would have had a better career if he had played under IK.

I'd like to add another interesting fact:

Botham in 70's, Hadlee in 80's and Davidson in 60's had an average of less than 2 matches per a 5 wicket haul. So they were basically picking a 5fer every 2nd game.

Also, no one picked Fazal despite picking up 12 5 fers in 25 games @ 22

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

I'd like to add another interesting fact:

Botham in 70's, Hadlee in 80's and Davidson in 60's had an average of less than 2 matches per a 5 wicket haul. So they were basically picking a 5fer every 2nd game.

Also, no one picked Fazal despite picking up 12 5 fers in 25 games @ 22

All three of them were match winning bowlers.

Fazal is the one who started it all for Pakistan! Fantastic Fazal! Pakistan finest!