Top Ten Bowlers in Cricket History

The Top Ten
1 Wasim Akram Wasim Akram is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach and former cricketer, captain of Pakistan national cricket team.

The best bowler to have played the game in the recent 2/3 decades. Ability to swing the ball both ways, at a very good pace and the reverse swing. The most feared bowler for many batsman during his time (Especially from early 90s until his retirement).

Wasim Akram and quick and was a master in swing and seam. Although subcontinental pitch does not supports the fast bowling, Wasim Akram mangaed to move ball in both ways and took more than 900 wickets. "Sultan of Swing" took over 400 Test wickets, and holds the record for amount of wickets in ODIs (502) and List A cricket (881). An average of 23.62 in Test matches from 104 appearances is an impressive one. He is only one of three bowlers to record two hat-tricks in Test cricket, and only one of three to have achieved the same feat in ODI cricket.

I remember the match where he bowled out three Indian players in a row with his classic in-swing toe-breakers. He and Waqar Younis ruled in cricket. War Younis should be in the number 2 spot. Ajmal was the first bowler to ever spin in ALL ways and he invented a new way also. He hid the ball well and was the best spinner of all time. Akhtar was the first bowler to beat 100mph but other than that he was crap. In a non-official test Adam Gilchrist beat him in a bowling competition-He is only a sick keeper and batsman but not a bowler but he still beat Akthar.

In other words Pakistan have produced the best bowlers in history

He is Worlds First class bowler and also known as KOS (King Of Swing). Although subcontinental pitch does not supports the fast bowling, Wasim Akram mangaed to move ball in both ways and took more than 900 wickets. "Sultan of Swing" took over 400 Test wickets, and holds the record for amount of wickets in ODIs (502) and List A cricket (881). An average of 23.62 in Test matches from 104 appearances is an impressive one.

2 Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne was an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer who captained the Australian national team

"Warnie", as he was known by all proud Australians, was not given much of a chance when his test career first began in January 1992 at 22 against India. In two Tests his overall figures were 1 for 228, not exactly a promising start.

The next tour was the Ashes series of 92-93 where Warne took 34 wickets and became, in my opinion, the best bowler of any kind ever to grace the pitch.

Just like Sir Donald Bradman who was the greatest batsman ever in history and will never be matched, Warne is the greatest in history for bowlers and will never be matched.

Test Record - 708/3,154 @ 4.45 runs per wicket. This is more important than balls bowled per wicket I feel simply because this is the way that most spectators view an over. They know there is 6 balls (provided no wides or no-balls are bowled) per over but are more interested in how many wickets are taken to how many runs are scored. This is the best average of runs per wicket EVER by a bowler who has played more than ...more

For Admin:
Why Wasim Akram Shane Warne is the Best bowler in the world. He is the second highest wicket taker in all formats of the game. If Wasim Akram is the King Of swing Shane Warne is also The King Of Spin. Did You see Shane Warne's Ball to Chanderpaul and Shane Warne's Bowl to Strauss when you see These bowls And Shane Warne's Full profile then say how is the best bowler in the world.

Shane warne is my favourite bowler and player he is the king of spin I would say. He is a perfect example of a leg spin. The man with the title of doing the ball of the century is just unbelievable. But I wouldn't say that wasim akram is bad. He is the king of swing the ultimate paceman.

"He could bowl anything he wanted from a top spinner to a googly, conceding
The fact that he took hundreds of wickets, he thought about the batters
Techniques, then bowled using his intelligence, thought "I'm gonna bowl
A googly, bowled, and took a perfect wicket. "

3 Brett Lee Brett Lee is a former Australian international cricketer and film actor. He is a former Channel Nine Commentator.

I love him in his battlefield.. One of the great bowler of cricket... And he is my favorite player forever.. Though he retire from international cricket he will be always in my memory... No one will be there in cricket as brett lee in this era and everyone love him due to his unique style of balling so I love him.. Not only me all love him... The worlds number 1 baller is brett lee in my opinion..

Why does lee have only 5% of the votes... He is faster and better... He pitches the ball right up to the batsman and he is the most feared bowler when he is at his best... I'm sorry to say. But this is the worst ever list created! He should be at the top... In fact he is better than warne... Anyway lee... If the lists says no too... You're the best!...

Brett is the best bowler in my humble opinion... Love his cute face and super bowling skills.. See you soon as no. 1. Brett is the best of all. Austrailian kangaroo you rock. You are a very fast bowler and can confuse any batsman. I want to just drag this position to number 1

I don't why he is not at least in top 3... he is the most accurate fast bowler I have ever seen. Imagine yourself facing a bowl with a speed of 158 km/h which is directed straight at your toes with a late swing... you should get the idea now

4 Dale Steyn

Currently easily the best bowler in the world. I don't care who you, what the pitch is like, could be concrete flat but if Dale Steyn is running into you your always, always a little nervous. Unlike most swing/seam bowlers who need helpful conditions Dale makes things happen by consistently being in the right area at an uncomfortable speed.

Best bowler of all time. He is so good under pressure and when you are hoping for him to play well he strikes up and calls 5 wickets for the team! Dale stein is the best cricketer of all time!

He is the champion of champions bowler and I think wasim akram is not the best bowler in the world dale steyn is able to called best bowler in the world.

He bowls the ball with the swing as well as the great speed. Generally the swing bowlers did not bowl swing the ball at more then 140kmph but he done that miracle in every match.

5 Glenn Mcgrath

Was ranked the number one player by the Australian Cricket Board for 8 years of his playing career with the top contract given to a player more then Warne, Waugh, Hayden, Ponting and Gilchrist BEST PLAYER in the best team of all time and to finish up career with Player of the World Cup, all so 4 finals 3 wins and did all this while his wife Jane struggled with cancer.

Laugh out loud there is something wrong with the list! I am a Indian but have no problem in saying that what the hell Harbhajan is doing up there? Oh come on just because he is Indian don't support him just for that sake! And yeah Glenn McGrath is simply the best!

Most incredible fast bowler I witnessed playing.
He had this knack of producing peaches every now and then which had the batsman guessing only to be castled or trapped it front.
He was as economical too... He hated being scored off.

Glenn Mcgrath, We can say that he is the real king of swing and perfect line and length. If you had ever seen the last Ashes held by Mcgrath, You wont get voted to Wazim Akram and others. His 5 wicket spell before the team just getting 25 runs,in 21 is amazing stuff ever. In that match he bowled out 3 with his higly extreme off cutters.
If you ever seen the wicket of Threscothick of England, Macgrath with his reverse swinging spell, Watch it inYoutube, You will got certainly openyour mouth wide.
Iam Sure. That's why Glenn Mcgrath Deserves the Top
By Aromal Biju,Nilamel

6 Muttiah Muralitharan

He made the spin bowling attacking and he is the number 1 baller with the statistics. He have more 10 wickets and 5 wicket howls in test cricket and the leading wicket taker in ODI format as well.
Those who compare his wicket tally with warne and say as he took more wickets against Bangladesh & Zimbabwe, remember that when warne was playing most of the li non asian teams including England always struggles against spin, which makes the wickets against those teams are much easier. Also warne often picks the bottom half of the batting lineup after the pacers cleans the top order, which make murali a much better baller than him.

You did not put put muttiah on first but at least put it on third. Why have you put that chucker harbhajan singh. Type on Google harbhajan singh chucks and you'll see that he really chucks, he's the biggest chucker in the history of cricket. I can't believe that he's still playing. That cheater. And somebody should know that muralitharan is not a fast bowler, Malinga is of course

He is a true son of mother lanka & I think he should be the number 01 with no disrespect to Wasim Akram, and also Lasith Malinga should be here if there's Zaheer Khan & Harbhajan Singh, because he is a far better bowler than both of them.

Murali sustained a career of over two decades and averaged 6 wickets a match. That's a difficult goal to achieve and he did it with a great deal of class unlike the rather gobby Shane Warne. His world records are a testament to both endurance and talent.

7 Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and a former Indian cricketer and cricket commentator.

One and only Bhajji. The Singh is the King. He is the best off spinner at the present in the world and best bowler to bowl 'Doosra'.

Harbhajan singh doesn't deserve to be #8, Saeed Ajmal is WAYYY better than Harbhajan singh, I never knew who Harbhajan singh even is?

He is best bowler in the world
He is amazing spinner as well as he is famous for his helicopter shot.
His action is also good

He has played for India from many years and still holds his ground in the team.

8 Shoaib Akhtar

Yes, but Viv Richards would've put him into the grandstands, even with the toothpick bat he had in his day. Jeff Thomson was the quickest I've seen & they say Frank Tyson was quicker!

Shoaib akhtar is superb bowler he can knock out every one almost every batsman is scared of him when he bowls no one could hit a six while he is bowling.

I love his action and the superb speed. I think that he is the best bowler of the world. I love his yorkers and the bouncers

I think he must stands for the 1st position he is an amazing bowler fastest in the world. Bowled at 100.02 MPH and 161 KPH

I love his action and the superb speed. I think that he is the best bowler of the world. I love his yorkers and the bouncers

9 Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan is an Indian former cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014.

For me he is always among Indian greats like Sachin, Kapil, Gavaskar, Ganguly, Dravid and many others. India wouldn't have attained numerous uno spot in tests without this guy nor even the WC 2011. Generally fast bowlers are considered more brawn than brains, but this guy along with likes of Wasim and Anderson have made a strong statement that "Bowlers do utilise their brain even while bowling at 140kmph "

No Indian fast bowler should be in the list. Reason because Indians have never produced Express Fast Bowler ever in the history. All were medium pacers. On the question of why Indians don't produce as good fast bowlers as Pakistan even though the soil is the same Geoffrey Boycott thinks diet may be the reason why Pakistan produces more good fast bowlers. Indians are veggies! They get Khassee

Best Indian bowler ever Zaheer khan his ability of swinging bowl both side is just awesome no one could match him in this type of bowling. And I think he is now worlds best

Zaheer is th best is he would have been when India tour england then India could win the game easily and he would be the mann of the match...

10 Waqar Younis

I think he must stands for the 1st position. The reason for this is that he is brave in his technique of bowling, very athletic, superb run up, excellent command on swing, innovation in cricket such as waqar special & deadly swinging yorkers are the specialty. He is also the master of reverse swing. In your list none of the bowler have such capabilities. So it is requested consider him in your top ranking. I mean number 1.

I've never understood why Wasim gets so much more acclaim that Waqar. They're both equally great, in my view, and Waqar was without doubt one of the most lethal bowlers of all time: pace, violent late swing, brilliant yorkers, superb control of late swing with the old ball. To have him behind Steyn, Akhtar, Lee and (especially) Zaheer Khan is completely ludicrous. An all-time legend.

Awesome bowler. You are selective in talking fastest wickets. Dennis Lillee took 300 wickets in just 56 Tests. Strike rates mean nothing! I'd want a guy who can give me 5 wickets in a match, than someone who delivers 3, with a prettier strike rate!

I have watched the history of cricket and know every guy by his name, stats, and performance but I can't figure out who is zaheer khan and harbhajan. I think they are batsman so somebody might have mistaken them for bowlers.

The Contenders
11 Mitchell Johnson

He really proved himself in the Premiere League. He doesn't belong at the top with the great bowlers of cricket history, but he really deserves to be at least an honorable mention.

Great bowler always has been.

Bowls nice bouncer ashes

Better than Zaheer khan

12 Saeed Ajmal

He is an world class bowler who can destroy any batting order. He is a great off spinner and his doosra is one of the most difficult bowls to play.

I think that saeed ajmal is the best bowler no one stand against his doosra and teesra.

What if he is in top 10 shut the people that vote from him He is the worst spin bowler.

He is just the best bowler ever! I like you a lot!

13 Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble should be on the top three. He had been one of the consistent bowlers of India. He took 10 wickets in a test match against Pakistan. He is one of the leading wicket-takers in test cricket. He is a great t20 bowler as well. He has a great record in the ipl. He can read the batsman's mind. He is regarded as India's best bowler of all time.

No one can read a batsman's mind better than him. He is the man with most number of variations.

His bowling may seems simple but that's where his power comes from. It's looks simple, but it's not, records are showing how successful he has been for India.

Anil kumble is one of the few bowlers who has ever taken 10 wickets in a match. He also has the highest number of wickets out of all time Indian bowlers.

14 Imran Khan

The best cricketer and the best politician in the world who won us the world cup and is going to set up Pakistan now.

How is Malinga in front of him? He's amazingly good at ball AND bat... Unlike many others on this list

The Best captain, bowler and can bat whenever his team is danger...

Great captain under his captaincy Pakistani team was called cornered tiger

15 Allan Donald

This guy is definitely a top 10 bowler of all time, some might even argue top 5! Does no one voting here have any cricket knowledge? Come on do yourself a favour an read up and check some youtube clips of AD. You will definitely learn a few things.

Devastating bowler and great fighter. He should be in top 10. In my childhood & teenage (80s & early 90s), some names used to create scare in the mind…Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Richard Hadlee etc., but Ambrose and Mc Donald tops that scary list of my memories.

He has Great pace, accuracy, swing, aggression all things that one fast bowler needs.

Clearly people voting hete have shaky cricket knowledge... How can Inzimaam feature higher than AD!? No West Indian greate in the T10, really!?

16 James Anderson James Michael Anderson,, usually known as Jimmy Anderson, is an English international cricketer who plays for Lancashire County

I feel that he is so consistent and unplayable at the start of the spell. I have seen him make greats of the game look like fools. Deserve to be higher up the list than he is currently

Wow, what a player! Swinging, nipping, A nightmare to play in his conditions. Even on dead tracks in Dubai he performed well. What an inspiration!

King of swing: best of his era. 100% best "fast" bowler since McGrath and of all time definitely belongs in the top 5.

He is the best he should be no1. He does the best bowling. No one can match him he truley should be number 1.

17 Ravichandran Ashwin

Very economical bowler who has an excellent temparement and tough mind to torment the batsmen with his variations, like the carrom ball.

At the time I viewed this page Ravichandran Ashwin was at 17. He is the next Shane Warne ( the best bowler before he retired ). He should at least be at the top 5.

Best spinners and young youth who can change the cricket history. Ashwin is the wonderful bowler took 5 wickets hault many times. Young Indian can face any batsmen using his carrom ball

He is the best bowler. I love him and when I see bowling in tests, ODIs, and T20s My hopes for India to win increases. He is the best bowler in the world. My name is Manav Sheth. I would like to meet him.

18 Chaminda Vaas

One of the best opening bowlers in world cricket history.

Definitely underrated.. You should watch YouTube..

A hero wii not expect number 1 rank he is the hero...

Best of swing bowling

19 Sunil Narine

The most talented bowler all time. Nobody face it perfectly.

He is the best spinner of 2014 and his knuckle balls are awesome.

He is the best spinner, he should be a 1st bowler.

The best spinner I have ever seen!

20 Lasith Malinga

He is the king of yorkers. He can take as much wickets in in and out swing.

Now he's playing his final stage, but he is still bawling brilliantly... he's the no one fast bawler for all time

He is the best bowler of all time and also the only bowler to get three hat-tricks in the world. He is amazing! the true Lankan Lion

He is the number 1 bowler in the world.

21 Shaun Tait

He is the first bowler to hurt AB!

Tait is the worst

Best bowler ever

Yaya he's good

22 Mohammad Amir

Dude who ever you are, you are making a mistake to put M. Amir in 33.
He should be in top 5... He is the most most talented and best swinger of the pace bowl I'have ever seen in my life in only just in the age of 19...
He is the real king and the master of swing bowling!

What can I say about this guy.
I am speechless. Such an amazing bowler ever in cricket history.
At very young age he swing the bowl in both side.
MAn he is much better than wasim and others.
He should be at top of the list.

So much talent wasi, karma said he just started off is the same as when I was at my peak he will be back hopefully for the World Cup. Very good all the old bowlers have something to say about the young Pakistani bowler talent to another level of bowling

Amir proves homself again and again he is the best bowler cricket ever produced it would be disrespect for him to be on no 33...if he would be playing for last 6 years he would have been a major threat to the world although every one has a beginning he falls rise again and conquer the world...proud of #AMIR

23 Bhuvneshwar Kumar

I don't know what to say about Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He is a brilliant bowler in this history and also with good lookz. He has the ability to get wickets with a new ball. Whatever I'll say is less for him. I never seen such great bowler like him. When I first saw Bhuvi in his debut match, !, I got surprised. His best in T20 carrier is 3-9 and for me that's a superb score. Whether anyone believe or not, he is really the best for me. Just for your info... I'm Pinky. Thanks for giving me such opportunity to see you in this very early age. You're really ma idol. ! I love you Sir ji!

Young Indian bowler who has achieved more than what anyone with his ability would have. Perfect wrist position enables him to swing ball both ways. Very desciplined and amazingly very mature head over young shoulders. Given his determination and dedication, he is all set to enter the book of greats!

He is one of the best swinger I have ever seen & he is the king in death overs also he is purple cap holder of ipl 2016 I am a big fan of this man. Good luck bro for ipl 2019.

I think he is the future of Indian cricket with astonishing accuracy at this age. I hope so he will be able to learn from his mistakes & improve to be the be ther bes.

24 Fred Trueman

There has never been a better bowler than Fred. He had to battle the snobby 'suits' : the English selectors at Lords who avoided picking him for England on many occasions because they didn't like his fiery behavior and attitude to authority. If he had been picked repeatedly as he should been his average and wickets taken would be much much better. Strong as an Ox, very fast, fiery and very intimidating to batsmen he could move the ball in any way he chose. He is truly the greatest. The true number 1.

Having seen " fiery Fred " in my youth I feel I can compare some of the greats of yesteryear with today's greats and Freddie Trueman is up with the best.

25 Monty Panesar
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