Top Cricket Bowlers: Consistency and longevity has been the key for some fast bowlers in this article we are going to look at the top 5 of them.
Although the introduction of T20 cricket might have made the modern-day cricket fans habitual of some mammoth sixes. Yet there is no greater sight in cricket than to see the ball shattering the stumps at a speed of 140kmph. While there have been some pace bowlers in the world who have done this time and again for their country and were a terror in all the formats they played.
Top Cricket Bowlers Of All Time
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Shane Bond – New Zealand
The New Zealand bowler had raw and untamed pace. Shane Bond was a natural swinger of the ball, especially on home soil. The Kiwi pacer bowled his fastest delivery which was 156.4 kmph during the 2005 ICC Men’s World Cup.
Despite the fact that Shane Bond’s career was affected by continuous and long term injuries, he managed to take 87 wickets in Tests, 147 wickets in ODIs and 25 wickets in T20Is. His economy rate was less than 4.3 in both in both ODIs and Tests to see him become the top cricket bowlers.
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Jeff Thomson
An old-age past bowler, who was an inspiration for a lot of Australian modern-era greats. He was the primary fast bowler in the world in mid 70s. Thomson recorded the fastest ball to be ever bowled for many years as he touched 160 kmph against Wet Indies in 1975.
In his 13 year spell for Australia, Thomson took 200 wickets in Tests and 55 wickets in ODIs. He is one of the handful bowlers from the older generation whose economy rate never crossed more than 4.4 in neither ODIs nor Tests.
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Brett Lee
He is arguably he best fast bowler ever produced by Australia. Brett Lee had the ability to perform under any condition by taking wickets in any format. Unlike the other bowlers mentioned in the list, Brett Lee’s longevity was his key. His fastest delivery was against West Indies in 2003, wherein clocked the speed of his delivery to be 161.8 kmph.
Lee took 380 wickets in ODIs and 310 wickets in Tests with an average 23.38 and 30.82 respectively. Unlike many bowlers in the world, Lee could get the ball to swing even when it became old under the worst of conditions.
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Shoaib Akhtar
The ‘Rawalpindi Express’ was been a true sensation for Pakistan, who found his way to glory from the farm fields in Lahore. Shoaib Akhtar was the heir was Waqar Younis and Wasim Akhram in the Pakistani bowling attack and he even justified his presence time and again by taking on the big named batsman with his sheer mongering pace.
He took 178 wickets in Test cricket and 247 wickets in ODIs.
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Wasim Akhram
He is undoubtedly the best fast bowler of all time, even though his wicket tally contains average number, yet he carried Pakistan on his shoulders to triumph in major cricketing series and World Cup. The left arm fast bowler had the ability to make the ball talk and walk under any conditions. The terror that he spread among the world class batsman, was inevitable.
Wasim Akhram gave both to fierce and raw fast bowling in Pakistan and led their bowling attack for many years in both ODIs and Tests. Akram, one of the founders of reverse swing bowling, claimed 414 wickets in just over 100 Tests at an average of 23.62. He took 502 wickets in 356 ODIs.
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