Devastating stuff from Steyn and in process equals Akram in all time highest wicket takers list.
Cricket
- Thread starter EdWeatherall
- Start date
He's a class above the rest when it comes to modern bowlers.
I find it kinda funny how Anderson manages to be named in the same breath as Steyn by default, just by being the second best bowler around. In truth there's a massive, massive gulf in quality between them.
Stick in them in the 80s, Steyn would still be right in the top tier of bowlers around while Anderson's stock would massively drop by comparison.
Steyn finishes with his 26th five-fer as SA win comfortably. Needs 5 more wickets to become highest wicket taker for South Africa alongside Shaun Pollock (who played nearly 50 more innings). Even looking solely at stats, his strike rate and average are phenomenal.
Surely not far off being the greatest seam bowler ever?
While I don't disagree that Steyn is a much much better bowler, I think Anderson would do okay in the 80s and 90s. He's got a knack for certain conditions and isn't a bad bowler at all.
Naah. Amongst the top tier, maybe. But best, too many in the way.
Steyn is in my top 5 pace bowlers of all time in test cricket. Easily GOAT level.
Too many? No. Just the fact that he is able to have average in 22 range for so long and at-all-time best SR for pacers, in a batsman friendly age, proves how good he is.
Anderson may not be as good as Steyn but he's a fantastic bowler. One of the best out and out swing bowlers I have seen. He'd do very well in most eras.
I'm not really trying to belittle Anderson tbh. Bob Willis was a great bowler of his time, is he ever really mentioned in the same level as the likes of Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan or Malcolm Marshall? Or even alongside Holding, Garner, Andy Roberts?
For me Steyn is right in that top tier, while I'm not sure if Anderson makes the second tier (as great as he is). Its just that there is no other bowler around who is of Steyns calibre that Anderson seems to make it by default. If Asif wasn't a massive tit, I think he would've been a more legitimate challenger to Steyn.
I'm fairly sure most Englishmen regard him as their greatest bowler. As I'm not really too sure about Willis, I'll bow down to their knowledge.
Anderson's control, swing and way he gets batsmen out are all right up there despite not being the quickest. As for whether he's league of the players mentioned above, I'm not really qualified to make that judgement unless i look at stats but then again Anderson has played his entire career in the modern era. Nothing about his bowling suggests he'd struggle though.
Big Show gone mad 
263/3 - highest score ever 
Head spoiled the party by having most of the strike in the final overs. Maxwell would have easily beaten Finch's 156.
Head spoiled the party by having most of the strike in the final overs. Maxwell would have easily beaten Finch's 156.
Australia & Maxwell
Australia have too many players for the top 3 spots.
Finch
Warner
Khawaja
Smith
Maxwell also laying a claim with that inning.
Finch
Warner
Khawaja
Smith
Maxwell also laying a claim with that inning.
Doubt anyone's been watching but the last game of the County Championship is on Sky and its been brilliant.
Saw a bit of it yesterday and been watching since lunch today. Brilliant stuff. Game within a game. Hope Yorkshire get the bonus point.
Would be hilarious if the selfish declaration by the Aussie captain in the Somerset game came back and haunted them.
Me too. If Yorkshire get it I think I'll go down tomorrow. Only a fiver to get in.
India surely a bowler short here? Mishra for Rohit and Ashwin at 6 would maybe have been better?
Quality day in prospect in the County Championship. Will Hill have Middlesex 4/1, draw 3/1 and Yorkshire 4/7. Interesting odds bearing in mind Yorkshire still need to take 8 wickets and knock off whatever the target is. Seems the gambling companies and media fancy Yorkshire because of their experience at winning over recent years and they think Middlesex will either crumble or set too low a target.
If I was in the Middlesex camp I'd just toddle around at 3.5 for the next 60 overs. Tell Yorkshire you want your third straight title you chase down 220 in 20-22 overs.
That's exactly what they should do and what a finish it would be! I've got a fiver on the draw so hoping they cancel each other out!
Fecking hell. This is not how cricket should be played
Just turned the county game on. Yorkshire need 121 off 15 overs. This should be fun.
Pak vs WI game. Analysis here is by Viv and Waqar (host by Ramiz ).
(host by Ramiz ).So, cricket. Bloody hell.
Winning the CC with a hat trick. What a finish!
Winning the CC with a hat trick. What a finish!
Fantastic finish!
Made even better with Lancashire staying up and Yorkshire not winning.
Imad Wasim first Pakistan spin bowler to take 5 wickets in 20/20 format.
Imad is in ridiculous form.
Is this the same team that made 250 in the same format a couple of weeks ago?
Is this the same team that made 250 in the same format a couple of weeks ago?
Imad
Great end to the CC. Winning the title with a hat trick.
NZ off to a good start in the test against India.
NZ off to a good start in the test against India.
Clearly not a real sport, Jesus, how can that kind of stuff be allowed? I don't understand it fully but things just seem weird with how its been explained on sky
Just back from Lord's. A little salty Middlesex won, their complete lack of application with the bat in the second half of the morning and after Lunch forced Yorkshire's hand to offer a ridiculously generous declaration on a pitch that looked pretty hard to bat on.
Bresnan batted superbly again, looked really unlucky to be given out as well.
Bresnan batted superbly again, looked really unlucky to be given out as well.
What are you referring to?
Someone mentioned one team (somorset I think) were playing for a draw, I would guess because a win was out of their reach, but the other 2 teams playing agrees to go all out so no way could their game be a draw, so it meant one of those 2 would win the championship for sure, and somorset definitely would not?
Surely you should be putting your teams best interests first, if you were going to lose, but had the chance to draw you would go for the draw?
Maybe I've misunderstood it all, but that's how it came across
It could've still been a draw, if the bowling team didn't take 10 wickets or the batting team didn't chase the total.
Normally what you would do is set your opposition a massive target, that they would have no hope of chasing. That way you either win or you draw. These two teams just agreed to set a tough but achievable target with enough time in the game for all 3 results.
The main beef was how Middlesex batted at first and still managed to get a decent total for Yorkshire to chase. The did not bat at a pace which suggested they were trying to win the game, if they did and failed fair enough. They were very lucky that Yorkshire were in the same boat and it's such a unique and rare situation to be in that there's no right or wrong answer really, I mean it's favourable to watching a draw peter out but again it does feel contrived and unnatural. However cricket as a game allows for that, you couldn't do it in Football or Basketball say. There's nothing new about it either I mean look at this scorecard featuring a certain Alastair Cook.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/225141.html
I think any captain with the title on the line would have done the same as Franklin and Gale.
Maybe it's because I'm not an actual cricket watcher I think this is all a bit dodgey.
They desperately tried to deny Yorkshire from getting the crucial batting point but failed. That's basically why they won the title.