Greatest Pace Bowler since 1970

Below is a personal view of the greatest pace bowlers since 1970

Top Level (Bowlers who were the strike bowler in an already great bowling lineup)

• Malcolm Marshall - WI
• Dennis Lillee - Aus
• Waqar Younis - Pak

Second Level (Bowlers who were the 2nd choice in a great lineup or strike bowlers in a good one)

• Joel Garner - WI
• Curtly Ambrose - WI
• Glen McGrath - Aus
• Alan Donald - SA
• Wasim Akram - Pak
• Imran Khan - Pak
• Michael Holding - WI
• Richard Hadlee - NZ

As a crude ranking for me this would be

1. Malcolm Marshall
2. Dennis Lillee (looses for not playing in India)
   
3. Waqar Younis
4. Curtly Ambrose
5. Imran Khan
6. Michael Holding
7. Richard Hadlee
8. Glen McGrath
9. Wasim Akram
10. Joel Garner
11. Alan Donald

Below this rung I would place a lot of good bowlers, some of these would be

• Kapil Dev
• Ian Botham
• Courtney Walsh
• Bob Willis
• Jeff Thompson
• Andy Roberts
• Craig McDermott
• Sean Pollock

On a side note, during Australia's phase of domination 1994 to 2008, their opponents had

• Curtly Ambrose (4 years)
• Alan Donald (8 years though the last phase he was a shadow of himself)
• Wasim Akram (5 years, 10 tests with last test 1999 against them, again a shadow of himself after 1996)
• Waqar Younis (8 years, 8 tests with the last 3 when he was almost finished)

With the exception of Ambrose (3 years at his peak) and to an extend Donald (about 4 years at his peak), there was no quality pace bowler at the peak of his prowess in any opposing team.

Now with the emergence of new quality pacers like Steyn, Ishant etc. the contest is getting more even.

Competitive tennis, cricket in 2009

This looks likely to be a more competitive year in tennis. The days of Roger Federer being invincible seem to be over. Now Andy Murray has caught up, Nadal and Djokovic did last year and with 4 contenders for the slams with a few dark horses lurking as well in Safin, Roddick, Hewitt this year has a high chance of unpredictable results.

Cricket seems to be along something similar with other teams catching up with Australia as it comes down a level.