Who were the 10 most intimidating, hostile or frightening fast bowlers ever?

[Harsh Thakor]

In this list I am not selecting or ranking in order of overall merit or skill but in terms of depth of fear created amongst opposing batsmen.These pace bowlers were the equivalent of military tanks or bomber planes unleashing an offensive on the cricket field .I am judging them to the extent they were capable of hitting or injuring opponents.


1.Jeff Thomson
2.Sylvester Clarke
3.Patrick Paterson
4.Shoaib Akhtar
5.Michael Holding
6.Colin Croft
7.Dennis Lillee
8.Malcolm Marshall
9.Curtly Ambrose .
10.Imran Khan


Thomson's delivery rising from short of a length could create the effect of an earthquake.Placed Thomson at the top as no bowler was ever as intimidating .Clarke had the most devastating of bouncers.Clarke was quicker than even Holding and Marshall and could hit more batsmen than any Calypso quickie.Paterson would kill the Opposition with his flurry of short-pitched deliveries.Paterson's barrage of bouncers could frighten batsmen more than Marshall.Akhtar posessed the speed of lightning and often it looked like he was showering bullets.Akhtar's speed enabled him to skittle over opponents.Holding's speed through the air created the effect of lightning literally creating the effect of a whispering death..Croft was the equivalent of a boxer on a cricket field capable of unleashing thunderbolts more than even Lillee or Andy Roberts.Lillee took hostility to it's highest depth.Marshall's skidding bouncers would often injure a batsmen.Lillee's determination made him more frightening than quicker bowlers.Ambrose in full flow looked like going to war more than anyone and would be unplayable on bad wicket with his disconcerting bounce from a good length.Imran Khan was an epitome of agression..

 

[Sean143]

Haven't seen most of them bowl but I think Shoaib Akhtar Intimidated batsmen in an era where there was more protection for the batsman.

 

[Yossarian]

Joel Garner?

 

[ExpressPacer]

Fidel Edwards was pretty scary.

 

[Yossarian]

Haven't seen most of them bowl but I think Shoaib Akhtar Intimidated batsmen in an era where there was more protection for the batsman.

Agree. Less protection, unlimited bouncers.
A batsman facing a fearsome bowler with no helmet is a heck of a lot different to facing him whilst wearing a helmet.

 

[UN talkz]

Munaf Patel

 

[badsha001]

Sourav Ganguly

 

[Rightarmfast]

Munaf Patel

Mudassar Nazar?

 

[UN talkz]

Mudassar Nazar?

Wasn't Mudee a batsman????
Nobody can beat Munaf not even Vinay Kumar or Rao Iftikhar Anjum

 

[Proactive_]

Ishant Sharma when he had the long hair.

 

[WengerOut]

Ishant Sharma when he had the long hair.

I believe OP alluded to intimidation by bowling not by face

 

[sam_ahm]

From the bowlers I have seen play

Shoaib Akhtar
Brett Lee
Allan Donald
Curtly Ambrose

I haven't seen the bowlers before 92 so i'm not going to comment on them but still I think the west indian bowlers from 70s and 80s era were probably the most devestating. The likes of Marshall, Garner, Andy Roberts, Holding..

 

[imrankhannsu]

The ones that I have seen:

Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Shohaib Akhter
Curtly Ambrose
Brett Lee
Alan Donald
Andre Nel

 

[big_gamer007]

From the bowlers I have seen play

Shoaib Akhtar
Brett Lee
Allan Donald
Curtly Ambrose

I haven't seen the bowlers before 92 so i'm not going to comment on them but still I think the west indian bowlers from 70s and 80s era were probably the most devestating. The likes of Marshall, Garner, Andy Roberts, Holding..

Read a story somewhere Donald was a nice guy and was advised by someone to put white sunscreen on his face/nose to look more intimidating..

 

[big_gamer007]

The ones that I have seen:

Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Shohaib Akhter
Curtly Ambrose
Brett Lee
Alan Donald
Andre Nel

Brett lee was a brilliant bowler but I think intimidating bowlers are the ones who scare the batsmen by their looks and are always up close to the batsmen in their faces after bowling bouncers..
Someone like lillee, Thompson, ambrose, Shoaib, Waqar.. Lee seemed nice on field

 

[The_Odd_One]

Akhtar, Ambrose, and Donald

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Akhtar is probably the most intimidating bowler of all time. Fpollowed by peak Johnson.

 

[Syed1]

This lad was pretty scary too.

Bowling to the best batsman in the world

dot
four
four
two
yorker of the century

 

[sshakir411]

Shoaib Akhtar

 

[Rayyman]

Ask Shane Watson.

 

[Bewal Express]

The most intimidating( hitting people regularly) i have seen anyone over one series were Mitchell Johnson against England and Brett Schultz against SL in 1993. The most intimidating over a whole career were Allan Donald and Sylvester Clarke. For me bowlers like Shoaib and Brett Lee( they had their moments) didnt hit enough people on a regular basis to be in a all time list.

 

[shaz619]

Allan Donald was scary, just watching him run in you got the feeling there was going to be violence

 

[Ahmad Shah]

In this list I am not selecting or ranking in order of overall merit or skill but in terms of depth of fear created amongst opposing batsmen.These pace bowlers were the equivalent of military tanks or bomber planes unleashing an offensive on the cricket field .I am judging them to the extent they were capable of hitting or injuring opponents.


1.Jeff Thomson
2.Sylvester Clarke
3.Patrick Paterson
4.Shoaib Akhtar
5.Michael Holding
6.Colin Croft
7.Dennis Lillee
8.Malcolm Marshall
9.Curtly Ambrose .
10.Imran Khan


Thomson's delivery rising from short of a length could create the effect of an earthquake.Placed Thomson at the top as no bowler was ever as intimidating .Clarke had the most devastating of bouncers.Clarke was quicker than even Holding and Marshall and could hit more batsmen than any Calypso quickie.Paterson would kill the Opposition with his flurry of short-pitched deliveries.Paterson's barrage of bouncers could frighten batsmen more than Marshall.Akhtar posessed the speed of lightning and often it looked like he was showering bullets.Akhtar's speed enabled him to skittle over opponents.Holding's speed through the air created the effect of lightning literally creating the effect of a whispering death..Croft was the equivalent of a boxer on a cricket field capable of unleashing thunderbolts more than even Lillee or Andy Roberts.Lillee took hostility to it's highest depth.Marshall's skidding bouncers would often injure a batsmen.Lillee's determination made him more frightening than quicker bowlers.Ambrose in full flow looked like going to war more than anyone and would be unplayable on bad wicket with his disconcerting bounce from a good length.Imran Khan was an epitome of agression..

Sylvester clarke???

he was a trundler who hardly bowls at 80 mph

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA1L_cDJEEI&t=5s

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Akhar and 2013 Johnson. Lee was not intimidating, he generated more airspeed than bounce. He had to really bend his back to generate bounce which came naturally to the former two slingers.

Donald was quite intimidating as well. According to Bishop, batsmen lucked out against Waqar because he preferred the fuller length but bowled nasty bouncers when he wanted to.

 

[moghul]

Joel Garner?

He was not fast at all, 125-128 km/h range but had height advantage, never had a good bounces, was not scary but very successful and economical ODI bowler.

 

[Outswinger]

Sylvester clarke???

he was a trundler who hardly bowls at 80 mph

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA1L_cDJEEI&t=5s

Not a chance. This footage is not representative of what he brought to the table.
He was the epitome of a helmet breaking and skull cracking bowler.
I grew up watching him bowl around guys like a young Donald, Le Roux and Rice when he played for Transvaal. They had nothing on him.
He was the king of terrifying bowling and and only Johnson 13/14 came close.
Very sad that he couldn't get a proper Test career.

 

[wrongun]

1.Jeff Thomson
2.Sylvester Clarke
3.Patrick Paterson
4.Shoaib Akhtar
5.Michael Holding
6.Colin Croft
7.Dennis Lillee
8.Malcolm Marshall
9.Curtly Ambrose
10. Brett Lee

I'd just make 1 amendment to the OP's list. Imran was excellent (my fave all time player) but not renowned for producing spells of pure physical threat hostility time & again like the others on this list. So I'd add Brett Lee

Alex Tudor back when the WACA was at its quickest is brutal. He was an allrounder until this delivery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikJj4JPgMBc

Devon Smith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h3V6-QYi9o

He was all smiles & model looks but Brett Lee used to be warned for intimidatory bowling on the regular.

 

[wrongun]

Akhar and 2013 Johnson. Lee was not intimidating, he generated more airspeed than bounce. He had to really bend his back to generate bounce which came naturally to the former two slingers.

Donald was quite intimidating as well. According to Bishop, batsmen lucked out against Waqar because he preferred the fuller length but bowled nasty bouncers when he wanted to.

You cannot be serious. His height just meant his bouncers hit & were harder to duck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQS4hgPtXfo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzQU35DiiCY&t=2s

 

[DRsohail]

jugindar sharma..Sohail Tanvir.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

You cannot be serious. His height just meant his bouncers hit & were harder to duck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQS4hgPtXfo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzQU35DiiCY&t=2s

This is obviously in comparison. Anybody bowling 150+ will be dangerous when they bend their back. I'm not saying he was a lollipop bowler. But generally Lee pitched the ball up and looked to beat the bat more so than knock someone's head off. He strained his back quite a bit to generate bounce which came naturally to the other two because they were slingers with a high front arm and brought it down with force to get on top of the ball.

Lee was more conventional, relied more on his legs, generated pace from the bottom up and ran through the crease whereas the other two waited that extra fraction to really wind up because of the larger arm-paths thus were more on top of the ball. Thomson is another like those two.

 

[wrongun]

His action was different, but the Op specified hostility, intent, not the action by which you generate bounce. Lee bowled a lot of hostile spells. He used to get criticised for bowling nothing but bouncers & yorkers. I think we'll disagree on this one.