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Your five greatest ODI bowlers of all time?

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Ted123

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My picks:

Akram
Mcgrath
Garner
Murali
Starc

Close miss- Pollock, Ambrose, Warne, Saqlain
 
AlizeeFan said:
How come Waqar is not there?

Wasim
Waqar
Murali
McGrath/Lee
Saqlain/Donald
Click to expand...

Waqar failed against the best team of his era (Aus) and his record in WC's and finals don't really stand out.

I think both Lee and McGrath should be in the top 5. Wasim, obviously. Garner/Donald/Murali/Saqlain too.
 
Wasim akram
Waqar Younis
Saqlain mushtaq
Shoaib akhtar
Shane warne
 
Wasim
Waqar
Saqlain
Imran
Akhtar

This is the list of top5 greatest odi bowlers of all time.
 
Glenn McGrath
Muralitharan
Joel Garner
Wasim Akram
Shaun Pollock

Richard Hadlee
Waqar Younis
Brett Lee
Curtley Ambrose
Saqlain

comes next.
 
Have a look at Dennis Lillee's ODI record. Didn't play many, but spectacular results.
 
Robert said:
Have a look at Dennis Lillee's ODI record. Didn't play many, but spectacular results.
Click to expand...

Just checked his record, only 103 wickets, an average of 33.33 at an economy above 4 (which is equivalent to an economy above 6 in this era) in the World Cup. Yeah, he’s not fit enough to tie the shoelaces of any of the top 10 best odi bowlers of all time
 
Fast:
Akram
McGrath
Garner
Lee
Akhtar

Starc is too young to be in so far. But he is well on his way.

Spinner:
Saqlain
Murli
Warne
Ajmal
 
Depends on your criteria.

Warne was v good (not great) in most ODI series but always produced in big games, big tournaments.

Akram- hardly needs explaining on this forum
Lee- a terror with only 10 overs to bowl. Could charge in, swing it out, reverse the old & decent slower ball. Could also get the odd belting but if you want to bowl teams out, I pick Lee.
Murali- like Warne, so versatile he could do it all, attack, defend, bowl any stage + perform on big stages.
Warne- already explained.
Garner- the avg, the bowling, the yorkers, the strike rate. Man, have a look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytNOth31K60 , he could get lift anywhere and if a pitch was green or uneven- he used to just chuckle and advise the batsman, "No contest."

is my pick.
 
wrongun said:
Depends on your criteria.

Warne was v good (not great) in most ODI series but always produced in big games, big tournaments.

Akram- hardly needs explaining on this forum
Lee- a terror with only 10 overs to bowl. Could charge in, swing it out, reverse the old & decent slower ball. Could also get the odd belting but if you want to bowl teams out, I pick Lee.
Murali- like Warne, so versatile he could do it all, attack, defend, bowl any stage + perform on big stages.
Warne- already explained.
Garner- the avg, the bowling, the yorkers, the strike rate. Man, have a look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytNOth31K60 , he could get lift anywhere and if a pitch was green or uneven- he used to just chuckle and advise the batsman, "No contest."

is my pick.
Click to expand...

Donald was a bigger terror than lee
 
McGrath
Murali
Wasim
Pollock
Garner
 
What ever name you put up there two names will be there :Wasim and Waqar
 
Mainul said:
What ever name you put up there two names will be there :Wasim and Waqar
Click to expand...

It's obvious that Wasim belongs there, but Waqar ?

Waqar ER against Aus, SA, SL, Eng is within touching distance of 5. That's ridiculously expensive for the era he played. His career ER is 4.7 which includes all minnows. One and half wickets in each match doesn't justify such expensive ER. Not a bad bowlers, but he doesn't have a case to be up there with Wasim as default.
 
Last edited:
Buffet said:
It's obvious that Wasim belongs there, but Waqar ?

Waqar ER against Aus, SA, SL, Eng is within touching distance of 5. That's ridiculously expensive for the era he played. His career ER is 4.7 which includes all minnows. One and half wickets in each match doesn't justify such expensive ER. Not a bad bowlers, but he doesn't have a case to be up there with Wasim as default.
Click to expand...

You put Pollock over Donald , whom I taught was a better odi bowler, any special reason?, I still remember 96 triangular odi series in India where he terrified every batsman on pitches which was not good for fast bowling.
 
ODI bowlers (min 250 wickets , Avg under 30)

[table= class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Player [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Wkts [/td][td]Ave [/td][td]Econ [/td][td]SR [/td][td]4W [/td][td]5W [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AA Donald (SA) [/td][td]164 [/td][td]272 [/td][td]21.78 [/td][td]4.15 [/td][td]31.4 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Saqlain Mushtaq (PAK) [/td][td]169 [/td][td]288 [/td][td]21.78 [/td][td]4.29 [/td][td]30.4 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]6 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]GD McGrath (AUS/ICC) [/td][td]250 [/td][td]381 [/td][td]22.02 [/td][td]3.88 [/td][td]34 [/td][td]9 [/td][td]7 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]M Muralitharan (Asia/ICC/SL) [/td][td]350 [/td][td]534 [/td][td]23.08 [/td][td]3.93 [/td][td]35.2 [/td][td]15 [/td][td]10 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]B Lee (AUS) [/td][td]221 [/td][td]380 [/td][td]23.36 [/td][td]4.76 [/td][td]29.4 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]9 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Wasim Akram (PAK) [/td][td]356 [/td][td]502 [/td][td]23.52 [/td][td]3.89 [/td][td]36.2 [/td][td]17 [/td][td]6 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Waqar Younis (PAK) [/td][td]262 [/td][td]416 [/td][td]23.84 [/td][td]4.68 [/td][td]30.5 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]13 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SM Pollock (Afr/ICC/SA) [/td][td]303 [/td][td]393 [/td][td]24.5 [/td][td]3.67 [/td][td]39.9 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]5 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]M Ntini (ICC/SA) [/td][td]173 [/td][td]266 [/td][td]24.65 [/td][td]4.53 [/td][td]32.6 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]4 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SK Warne (AUS/ICC) [/td][td]194 [/td][td]293 [/td][td]25.73 [/td][td]4.25 [/td][td]36.3 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]N Kapil Dev (INDIA) [/td][td]225 [/td][td]253 [/td][td]27.45 [/td][td]3.71 [/td][td]44.2 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]WPUJC Vaas (Asia/SL) [/td][td]322 [/td][td]400 [/td][td]27.53 [/td][td]4.18 [/td][td]39.4 [/td][td]9 [/td][td]4 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AB Agarkar (INDIA) [/td][td]191 [/td][td]288 [/td][td]27.85 [/td][td]5.07 [/td][td]32.9 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]J Srinath (INDIA) [/td][td]229 [/td][td]315 [/td][td]28.08 [/td][td]4.44 [/td][td]37.8 [/td][td]7 [/td][td]3 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SL Malinga (SL) [/td][td]204 [/td][td]301 [/td][td]28.92 [/td][td]5.31 [/td][td]32.6 [/td][td]9 [/td][td]7 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]JM Anderson (ENG) [/td][td]194 [/td][td]269 [/td][td]29.22 [/td][td]4.92 [/td][td]35.6 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Z Khan (Asia/INDIA) [/td][td]200 [/td][td]282 [/td][td]29.43 [/td][td]4.93 [/td][td]35.8 [/td][td]7 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[/table]
 
My pick would be (taking longevity as factor)
Mcgrath
Akram
Murali
Donald
Saqlain

Without longevity factor (excluding above players)
Garner
Bond
Lillee
Holding
Hadlee
 
Buffet said:
It's obvious that Wasim belongs there, but Waqar ?

Waqar ER against Aus, SA, SL, Eng is within touching distance of 5. That's ridiculously expensive for the era he played. His career ER is 4.7 which includes all minnows. One and half wickets in each match doesn't justify such expensive ER. Not a bad bowlers, but he doesn't have a case to be up there with Wasim as default.
Click to expand...

He had a phenomenal SR.only Lee and Saqlain had a better SR.
 
1) Wasim Akram
2) Glenn McGrath
3) Saqlain Mushtaq
4) Muttiah Muralitharan
5) Brett Lee/Waqar Younis

What's Lee's performance in World Cups like? If he's done better than Waqar, then he'll be the undisputed #5 otherwise it there is nothing to separate the two speedsters. One has the consistency, the other one has the peak.
 
Navdeep Srivastava said:
You put Pollock over Donald , whom I taught was a better odi bowler, any special reason?, I still remember 96 triangular odi series in India where he terrified every batsman on pitches which was not good for fast bowling.
Click to expand...

Pollock was very difficult to score. Donald could go for runs. Not saying that Donald was not a gun ODI bowler, but I will take Pollock over Donald in ODI format.
 
Mainul said:
He had a phenomenal SR.only Lee and Saqlain had a better SR.
Click to expand...

That SR translates to 1.5 wickets per match. SR is a huge thing in the test format because you are not limited to 10 overs, but here it is not going to have the same impact. You could surely win ODI matches by bowling teams out, but most ODI matches are won by outscoring the opposition. 1.5 wickets on average is not going to help that much if you give 5 runs per over.
 
I will put it this way. Majority of times, Test matches are won by out-bowling the opposition. In ODI's it's not true. You win due to outscoring the opposition. I do get the point that you can limit scoring by taking wickets, but you can bowl only 10 overs as bowler.
 
Wasim Akram
Glenn McGrath
Shaun Pollock
Muttiah Muralitharan
Brett Lee

Next five

Shane Warne
Shane Bond
Chaminda Vaas
Allan Donald
Waqar Younis

I have listed the ones i have watched playing. Imo, Shane Bond was probably the most talented out of the bunch but due to injuries and politics( ISL) his career got cut short. In current era Starc, Shami, Rabada etc have the chance to make it to the list by the time they retire.
 
Bilal7 said:
1) Wasim Akram
2) Glenn McGrath
3) Saqlain Mushtaq
4) Muttiah Muralitharan
5) Brett Lee/Waqar Younis

What's Lee's performance in World Cups like? If he's done better than Waqar, then he'll be the undisputed #5 otherwise it there is nothing to separate the two speedsters. One has the consistency, the other one has the peak.
Click to expand...
Lee was terrifying in the 2003 WC , bowling 150+ on average . He broke sanath arm was very deadly accurate.
 
Bilal7 said:
1) Wasim Akram
2) Glenn McGrath
3) Saqlain Mushtaq
4) Muttiah Muralitharan
5) Brett Lee/Waqar Younis

What's Lee's performance in World Cups like? If he's done better than Waqar, then he'll be the undisputed #5 otherwise it there is nothing to separate the two speedsters. One has the consistency, the other one has the peak.
Click to expand...

Lee has done better than wasim waqar mcgrath and every other bowler in the history of the game, I think he has the best bowling average against non minnows in the world cups, lee is comfortably ahead of waqar
 
Buffet said:
Pollock was very difficult to score. Donald could go for runs. Not saying that Donald was not a gun ODI bowler, but I will take Pollock over Donald in ODI format.
Click to expand...

Donald was THE guy in the 90s, Pollock may have great stats (Don't know if he has better stats than donald or not) but Donald was the guy teams were afraid of, I started watching cricket in 1996 and I knew about donald back then and I only came to know of pollocks name in early 2000s even though I had watched him play plenty of times, that's because he was never the guy who was talked about, it was always Donald vs Sachin, Donald vs Lara, Donald vs waugh. Donald had an aura of greatness, Pollock mostly lived under his shadow till he retired, that's why Donald will always be ahead of Pollock because he was the leader of the pack when both played together.
 
1.Wasim Akram
2.Glen Mcgrath
3.Joel Garner
4.Richard Hadlee
5.Dennis Lillee
 
ToeCrusher2 said:
Donald was a bigger terror than lee
Click to expand...

I disagree. They are close on most stats- Donald gets some Lee gets some but in terms of being a match winner, lets look at 4 or 5 wicket innings, times they have almost won a match on their own basically. Of course they won't win all those games but then again they might have some match winning 3fers too so it's a fair enough guide as to a matchwinner. Both had to share wickets with strong attacks.

Donald produced a 4/5 wicket haul on average every 12.6 games

Lee did so far more frequently, at a 5/5 wicket haul every 9.6 games.

He was more of a terror.
 
ToeCrusher2 said:
Donald was THE guy in the 90s, Pollock may have great stats (Don't know if he has better stats than donald or not) but Donald was the guy teams were afraid of, I started watching cricket in 1996 and I knew about donald back then and I only came to know of pollocks name in early 2000s even though I had watched him play plenty of times, that's because he was never the guy who was talked about, it was always Donald vs Sachin, Donald vs Lara, Donald vs waugh. Donald had an aura of greatness, Pollock mostly lived under his shadow till he retired, that's why Donald will always be ahead of Pollock because he was the leader of the pack when both played together.
Click to expand...

All those battles were mainly in the test format. Pollock was consistently ranked number 1 in the ODI format.

In PP , many threads about battle of Akhtar vs xyz. Still Akhtar is no one in ODI format if you talk about all time greats. Donald was surely an ATG in ODI fromat, but having names in battle is not going to help you win matches.
 
Rating trend of Donald VS Pollock

donald.jpg
.
.

Ranking trend of Donald Vs Pollock
Donald2.jpg

Rankings are not always perfect because you can have many gun bowlers playing at the same time, but such a huge gap in ratings over their career tells a story here.
 
ToeCrusher2 said:
Donald was THE guy in the 90s, Pollock may have great stats (Don't know if he has better stats than donald or not) but Donald was the guy teams were afraid of, I started watching cricket in 1996 and I knew about donald back then and I only came to know of pollocks name in early 2000s even though I had watched him play plenty of times, that's because he was never the guy who was talked about, it was always Donald vs Sachin, Donald vs Lara, Donald vs waugh. Donald had an aura of greatness, Pollock mostly lived under his shadow till he retired, that's why Donald will always be ahead of Pollock because he was the leader of the pack when both played together.
Click to expand...

That is what was the case only in tests. Pollock played second fiddle lots of times and he never could terrorise the bowler with pace like Donald did.

In ODIs he was as good as Donald if not better.
 
Buffet said:
That SR translates to 1.5 wickets per match. SR is a huge thing in the test format because you are not limited to 10 overs, but here it is not going to have the same impact. You could surely win ODI matches by bowling teams out, but most ODI matches are won by outscoring the opposition. 1.5 wickets on average is not going to help that much if you give 5 runs per over.
Click to expand...

Waqar took 5 wickets haul 13 times! No one even near him.He was a match winner, could do that single handedly.You can win matches by taking wickets.Gavin Larsen,Harris of Newzealand were very economical bowlers but do they belong to all time great list? No
 
My list would be:

1. Wasim
2. Garner
3. Mcgrath
4. Murali
5. Ambrose
 
Ten greatest bowlers in odis?

Think this one also deserved a thread. Afterall, bowlers have to work harder than batsmen.

So, here is my pick:-

Wasim
McGrath
Garner
Murali
Saqlain
Pollock
Warne
Lee
Ambrose
Donald

What's yours?
 
Ted123 said:
My picks:

Akram
Mcgrath
Garner
Murali
Starc

Close miss- Pollock, Ambrose, Warne, Saqlain
Click to expand...

Starc :virat really ? ? Give him some time , he has loooooooooooooooong way to go before claiming to be ATG.
 
In no order:

Akram
Garner
McGrath/Donald tied for me
Saqlain
Lee
Bond
Waqar
Pollock
Warne
Murali

I cheated by putting 11 in there but anyway.
 
I have McGrath at #1

The number of matches he's taken away from the opposition in only his opening burst, especially against top teams, I don't think anyone comes close to that. Turning up for a match as a batsman, half the match was lost in the mind itself knowing McGrath would be starting at the other end.

For sure many others were more complete LOI bowlers with ability to exploit reverse swing and bowl exceptionally in death overs but nothing like McGrath making all that needless with his 5-2-12-3 looking opening spells.

I hated seeing him bowl to us. Would just not give an inch.
 
Only know Wasim MAcgrath and Saqlain were great.not sure about Murli??Warne has done well in WC.
 
McGrath
Wasim
Garner
Warne
Starc (been excellent in odis in this era)
 
Buffet said:
He doesn't have performance to be in the top 10 in ODI format and list is for the top 5.
Click to expand...

Maybe not in major tournaments but in ODI’s?

Come on mate, the guy has the 3rd highest wickets, 27 4-fers, 13 5-fers, including three in a row, all at an average of less than 24. That includes playing on mostly dead tracks.
 
Waqar not being in the top just because he didn’t do well in WC finals makes no sense. If a performance in a WC is the only criterion then surly Madan Lal needs to be considered because he preformed well in the 1983 final (3/31), but he is not because he didn’t do anything else.

My 5:
Wasim
Murli
McGrath
Garner
Waqar/Lee

Shoaib
 
sunnyside said:
Waqar not being in the top just because he didn’t do well in WC finals makes no sense. If a performance in a WC is the only criterion then surly Madan Lal needs to be considered because he preformed well in the 1983 final (3/31), but he is not because he didn’t do anything else.

My 5:
Wasim
Murli
McGrath
Garner
Waqar/Lee

Shoaib
Click to expand...

Its tough to leave out Waqar .
 
Remember the one Indian guy years ago who used to claim Zaheer Khan is among the top 10 bowlers (Tests + ODI's) of all time ? :)))
 
Buffet said:
He doesn't have performance to be in the top 10 in ODI format and list is for the top 5.
Click to expand...

Yes, agreed. Waqar should not be even in top 10.

He has zero standout performance in World Cup, let alone in winning cause.
 
How flat pitch,heavy bat,fielding rule apilcable only on batsman not on bowler.if we can apply same theory here then strac rabada,bolt ,tahir,hasan,bumrah better than most of the past atg bowler.
 
ManFan said:
Maybe not in major tournaments but in ODI’s?

Come on mate, the guy has the 3rd highest wickets, 27 4-fers, 13 5-fers, including three in a row, all at an average of less than 24. That includes playing on mostly dead tracks.
Click to expand...

He was expensive and took 1.5 wickets in each match. You will lose more often than win with those numbers in ODI format. You win ODI mostly by outscoring other team. In tests, you win by bowling them out. Anyway, due to only able to bowl 10 overs, and getting 1.5 wickets in each match, it's not going to win too many matches when compared to some one picking only 1 wicket and being a lot less expensive.

He is not a poor ODI bowler, but point was about being one of the best in history to make a cut for the top 10. You can make a stronger case for other 10-12 bowlers.
 
Last edited:
ManFan said:
Maybe not in major tournaments but in ODI’s?

Come on mate, the guy has the 3rd highest wickets, 27 4-fers, 13 5-fers, including three in a row, all at an average of less than 24. That includes playing on mostly dead tracks.
Click to expand...

Just to add some context with my comment.

Rankings are never perfect at any time, but they do take account of context. Flawed, but the most objective measure. I can find better looking rating trend than Wasim, but I will take Wasim over others. So as long as you are some where in ball park, other things comes in place.

I will take Waqar vs Pollock to make my point. I consider Pollock as one of the best in ODI and he is highly underrated in PP. Waqar's peak ratings are below Pollock's entire career. How do you even put these two in same ball park? With such a huge difference, we are just going by sentiments to even discuss Waqar in this thread.

Waqar_Pollock.jpg
 
Last edited:
Also, this dead track argument is normalized in rating trend. They take account of individual contribution in specific match while considering total match score. 50/2 will earn you more points if both teams are scoring 270 as compared to 40/2 when both teams are scoring 200.
 
Buffet said:
Just to add some context with my comment.

Rankings are never perfect at any time, but they do take account of context. Flawed, but the most objective measure. I can find better looking rating trend than Wasim, but I will take Wasim over others. So as long as you are some where in ball park, other things comes in place.

I will take Waqar vs Pollock to make my point. I consider Pollock as one of the best in ODI and he is highly underrated in PP. Waqar's peak ratings are below Pollock's entire career. How do you even put these two in same ball park? With such a huge difference, we are just going by sentiments to even discuss Waqar in this thread.

View attachment 81369
Click to expand...

This should do it. I have always maintained that Pollock is a top tier bonafide ATG in odis and he also has an iconic performance in a World Cup semi final against the great Australian team.

Waqar is still an ATG because he popularised reverse swing during those days when the ball gets old alongwith Wasim and was famous for his toe-crushing yorkers, something which inspired many younger players.
 
Ab Fan said:
Yes, agreed. Waqar should not be even in top 10.

He has zero standout performance in World Cup, let alone in winning cause.
Click to expand...

I would not pick Waqar even in my 3rd all time ODI XI. Not even a single good World Cup and poor performance against both Australia and India. On top, Pakistan lost a World Cup due to his poor bowling.
 
1. Mohammad Shami
2. Mitchel Starc
3. Glenn McGrath
4. Jasprit Bumrah
5. Wasim Akram
 
1. Wasim Akram
2. Shoaib Akhtar
3. Saqlain Mushtaq
4. Shane Warne
5. Joel Garner

Honourable mention: Glen McGrath, Saeed Ajmal, Nathan Bracken, Murali, Waqar Younis, Allan Donald and Shane Bond
 
Top 10:-

Aus - McGrath, Starc, Warne
SA - S Pollock
Eng - None
WI - Garner
Pak - Wasim, Saqlain
Ind - Bumrah
NZ - Hadlee
SL - Murali

That's my top 10.

Donald, Waqar, Shami, Lee were on a tad expensive side.
 
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