A foreword from Rams-H-orns.
This list again by GC about the greatest bowlers he has seen is very interesting. In the list personally I would like to replace Thommo with Hadlee and Underwood with Prasanna.
Again no matter who picks a list of great bowlers or a list of great batsman there will always be some outstanding player that will be left out given the rich history of the game. Instead of looking at the motives behind why a name is picked or why a name is missed let us just treat this as a group picked by a fan of the game who also happens to be a great batsman. Looking forward to this thread being a fun one and see your choices as well as to who feels who should be on the list and who should not be in the list.
Here we go.
‘These guys could out-think and outlast the best’
Colombo, Aug. 22: When it comes to bowlers, Team India coach Greg Chappell, who had asked for “some time mate for my assessment,” pegs countryman Dennis Lillee as his personal best.“All of the bowlers who I have on this list have something special over and above their ability to bowl well. Each has demonstrated their ability to outthink and outlast the very best of batsmen. The strength of their personality is as much a reason for their success as their ability to put the ball in the danger area more often than their counterparts.” Chappell’s picks:
Dennis Lillee
I am biased when it comes to Dennis Lillee. Dennis was as quick as anyone in his early days but having suffered a potential career-threatening back injury, he reinvented himself as one of the cleverest pace bowlers to have played the game. Patience and perseverance became his greatest assets once he reduced his pace and relied on his guile to outthink the very best batsmen.
Andy Roberts
Andy was the nearest thing I saw to Dennis Lillee in my time. Blessed with a strong body and a good mind, Andy used his mind as much as his body to outwit the very best batsmen. Bowling at a fuller length than many of his contemporaries, Roberts swung the ball away from the right-handers and had a deceptively quick and well disguised range of bouncers with which he did most of his damage.
Malcolm Marshall
Malcolm is another who was deceptively quick but who did not rely on pace alone. Like Roberts, the fact that he pitched the ball up to allow it to swing when it was new, made his short deliveries so dangerous. Marshall was probably the most potent of a long line of fast bowlers that emanated from the Caribbean in the latter half of the 20th century.
Jeff Thomson
Jeff Thomson, along with Frank Tyson, is the fastest of quick men that I have witnessed over the past 50 years or so. For two-and-a-half seasons Thommo was the quickest and most lethal of them all. With his slinging action, Thommo was able to generate a combination of pace and bounce from a full length that I have not seen with any other bowler. For those few seasons, until he broke his bowling shoulder in an unfortunate fielding accident, Thommo terrorised batsmen like few other bowlers have managed to do. Having been his captain through much of that period I know the psychological damage his presence had on the opposing teams. “If Lillee didn’t get them Thommo must”.
Shane Warne
Warnie is the best leg spinner I have seen. His ability to spin it big is only a small part of what has made him one of the most destructive and match-winning bowlers of all time. Allied with his unerring accuracy and guile, his strength lies in his ability to land his leg spinner on a spot for over after over and hour after hour. His love of bowling against the best has been another attribute that puts him above nearly every other spin bowler that I have seen. I say nearly because the next man on the list is his equal in that department.
Muttiah Muralitharan
Murali is equal to Shane Warne in his ability to control the ball, spin it big both ways and to have the patience and the love of the contest to bowl for hours in trying conditions to win matches for his team. In terms of wickets per match, Murali has probably been more important for Sri Lanka than Warne has been for Australia during their time, but both of them are wonderful exponents of their art.
Murali has been a con man as much as he has been a conjurer in that he has confused the opposition with his doosra, while continuing to destroy them with his off spinner. His patience and his faith in his ability to take wickets have been as valuable to him as his two-pronged spin.
Derek Underwood
I give a special mention to Underwood who does not fit into the traditional mould of a spin bowler. He ran further than most spinners and bowled it faster through the air than the rest, but his subtle changes of pace and his fantastic control of length were his greatest assets. Given some moisture in the wicket or a broken, dusty surface, I would put him up against Warne and Murali as the most dangerous bowler most likely to bowl any side out cheaply.
AuthorTopic: Greg Chappell's list of Great Bowlers -- So here they are (Read 722 times)
