This Rating takes into account only the matches played in the 2000s. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation). So, here are the Top 10 Fast bowlers in ODI cricket in the 2000s.

*Note: All ODI Ratings are updated till 2025-09-15

CONTENTS

3. PRIMARY CRITERIA

3.1. PROLIFIC

3.2. CONSISTENT

3.2.1. Against All Teams

3.2.2. Against Top Teams

3.3. ECONOMIC

3.3.1. Against All Teams

3.3.2. Against Top Teams

3.4. BEST BOWLING BY WKTS (NWT)

3.5. BEST BOWLING BY ECO (NWT)

3.6. PRIMARY RATING

4. CONDITIONS CRITERIA

4.1. HOME/AWAY

4.1.1. At Home

4.1.2. Away From Home

4.2. FAVOURABLE/UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS

4.2.1. Favourable Conditions Rating

4.2.1.1. Non Asians Outside Asia

4.2.1.2. Asians Outside Asia

4.2.2. Unfavourable Conditions Rating

4.2.2.1. Non Asians In Asia

4.2.2.2. Asians In Asia

4.3. CONDITIONS RATING

5. SECONDARY CRITERIA

5.1. WORLD CUP

5.2. IMPACT INNINGS

5.3. TOP FORM

5.4. SECONDARY RATING

6. DECADES RATING

7. NON WEAK TEAMS

8. TOP TEAMS

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA	CONSTITUENTS
Primary	Wickets, Average, Economy, BBI (Wkts & Eco)
Conditions	Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary	World Cup, Top Form, Impact Inns

The Trend Setter (TS)

TS is the player which does the best in a criteria. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Know All About TS. Here is an example:-

TS Ave: 25.00; Player X Ave: 30.00; Section Points: 300.00
TS Points: 300.00(Max); Player X Points: TS Ave/Ave X 300 = 25.00/30.00 X 300 = 250.00
Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Ave being replaced by the Criteria Stat.

TT and NWT

Some sections consider performances only against the top teams (TT) and non weak teams (NWT). Here is some information:-

Win/Loss Ratio is used to determine TT and NWT.
They are calculated by decades.
A bowler's performace is counted in TT or NWT if it comes against that team in the specific decade.
Knock Out and Super Six matches of ODI World Cup are also counted.
TT & NWT may be found in the last section.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT)	15
Min Career Wkts	25

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 5 main sections:-

CRITERIA	STAT	POINTS
Prolific	Wickets Taken	200.00
Consistent	Average	300.00
Economic	Strike Rate	300.00
Best Bowling	Top Inns (Wkts)	100.00
Economic Bowling	Top Inns (Eco)	100.00

PROLIFIC

Criteria: Points For Wickets Taken

RANK	BOWLER	NAT	INNS	WKTS	RAT
TS	B Lee	AUS	182	324	200.00
1	B Lee	AUS	182	324	200.00
2	SM Pollock	SA	215	275	169.75
3	M Ntini	SA	170	264	162.96
4	WPUJC Vaas	SL	195	247	152.47
5	GD McGrath	AUS	147	234	144.44
6	Zaheer Khan	IND	164	232	143.21
7	NW Bracken	AUS	116	174	107.41
8	A Flintoff	ENG	111	162	100.00
9	SE Bond	NZ	75	138	85.19
10	JN Gillespie	AUS	78	119	73.46

CONSISTENT

R Ave

Relative Average (R Ave) is a more accurate type of average. Know How It Is Calculated. Briefly it takes into account:-

Strength of Opposition.
Venues at which a bowler has played.
Time Period in which he has been active

Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Min Qualification For TS
Min Wickets	50
Min Wickets (TT)	30

Against All Teams

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	RUNS	WKTS	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	SE Bond	75	2880	138	20.87	20.64	150.00
1	SE Bond	75	2880	138	20.87	20.64	150.00
2	GD McGrath	147	4746	234	20.28	21.21	145.98
3	A Flintoff	111	3893	162	24.03	23.31	132.82
4	B Lee	182	7456	324	23.01	23.97	129.21
5	NW Bracken	116	4240	174	24.37	24.90	124.35
6	M Ntini	170	6528	264	24.73	25.22	122.78
7	JN Gillespie	78	2885	119	24.24	25.35	122.18
8	SM Pollock	215	6872	275	24.99	25.53	121.29
9	WPUJC Vaas	195	6663	247	26.98	26.97	114.80
10	Zaheer Khan	164	6846	232	29.51	28.95	106.96

Against Top Teams

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	RUNS	WKTS	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	GD McGrath	111	3781	183	20.66	20.88	150.00
1	GD McGrath	111	3781	183	20.66	20.88	150.00
2	SE Bond	57	2311	104	22.22	21.04	148.82
3	B Lee	143	6008	254	23.65	23.80	131.58
4	A Flintoff	80	2977	113	26.35	24.08	130.06
5	NW Bracken	89	3448	138	24.99	24.39	128.42
6	M Ntini	126	5054	196	25.79	25.29	123.82
7	SM Pollock	155	5271	197	26.76	26.26	119.24
8	JN Gillespie	56	2210	78	28.33	28.36	110.44
9	WPUJC Vaas	156	5689	186	30.59	29.37	106.65
10	Zaheer Khan	123	5390	160	33.69	31.45	99.58

ECONOMIC

R ER

Relative Economy Rate (R ER) for bowlers is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with ER.

Criteria: Points For R ER

Min Qualification For TS
Min Balls	1000

Against All Teams

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	BLS	RUNS	ER	R ER	RAT
TS	SM Pollock	215	11365	6872	3.63	3.39	150.00
1	SM Pollock	215	11365	6872	3.63	3.39	150.00
2	GD McGrath	147	7521	4746	3.79	3.56	142.84
3	WPUJC Vaas	195	9663	6663	4.14	3.86	131.78
4	JN Gillespie	78	4195	2885	4.13	3.93	129.36
5	SE Bond	75	4036	2880	4.28	3.97	128.12
6	A Flintoff	111	5382	3893	4.34	3.98	127.69
7	NW Bracken	116	5759	4240	4.42	4.10	123.90
8	M Ntini	170	8627	6528	4.54	4.25	119.68
9	B Lee	182	9478	7456	4.72	4.42	114.87
10	Zaheer Khan	164	8367	6846	4.91	4.52	112.52

Against Top Teams

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	BLS	RUNS	ER	R ER	RAT
TS	SM Pollock	155	8267	5271	3.83	3.49	150.00
1	SM Pollock	155	8267	5271	3.83	3.49	150.00
2	GD McGrath	111	5838	3781	3.89	3.59	145.96
3	A Flintoff	80	4020	2977	4.44	3.95	132.62
4	WPUJC Vaas	156	7840	5689	4.35	3.98	131.55
5	JN Gillespie	56	3078	2210	4.31	4.00	131.09
6	SE Bond	57	3122	2311	4.44	4.03	129.89
7	NW Bracken	89	4602	3448	4.50	4.09	128.21
8	M Ntini	126	6376	5054	4.76	4.34	120.56
9	B Lee	143	7567	6008	4.76	4.39	119.33
10	Zaheer Khan	123	6301	5390	5.13	4.61	113.53

BEST BOWLING BY WKTS (NWT)

BBW

In this criteria, we have taken the top 5 bowling performances by Wkts of a bowler against Non Weak Teams in the 2000s. Best Bowling By Wickets (BBW) is simply the total wickets taken in the 5 innings divided by 5.

Criteria: Points For Wkts Taken In Top 5 Inns

RANK	BOWLER	1	2	3	4	5	BBW	RAT
TS	Waqar Younis	7/36	6/59	5/31	5/38	4/41	5.40	100.00
1	SE Bond	6/19	6/23	5/23	5/25	4/21	5.20	96.30
2	M Ntini	6/22	5/21	5/31	5/37	4/24	5.00	92.59
2	B Lee	5/22	5/27	5/27	5/30	5/38	5.00	92.59
4	WPUJC Vaas	6/25	5/14	5/39	4/22	4/33	4.80	88.89
5	GD McGrath	5/27	5/37	5/49	4/8	4/16	4.60	85.19
5	SM Pollock	5/20	5/23	5/37	4/18	4/24	4.60	85.19
7	A Flintoff	5/19	5/56	4/14	4/17	4/21	4.40	81.48
7	NW Bracken	5/47	5/67	4/19	4/29	4/29	4.40	81.48
9	JN Gillespie	5/22	5/70	4/43	3/13	3/20	4.00	74.07
9	Zaheer Khan	5/42	4/19	4/21	4/42	3/23	4.00	74.07

BEST BOWLING BY ECO (NWT)

BBE

In this criteria, we have taken the top 5 bowling performances by Economy of a bowler against Non Weak Teams. Best Bowling By Economy (BBE) is the Relative Economy of the bowler in the 5 Inns. Only 30+ Balls performaces are counted in this criteria.

Criteria: Points For Economy In Top 5 Inns

RANK	BOWLER	1	2	3	4	5	BBE	RAT
TS	SM Pollock	10.0/9	5.0/6	9.5/12	7.0/9	10.0/13	1.09	100.00
1	SM Pollock	10.0/9	5.0/6	9.5/12	7.0/9	10.0/13	1.09	100.00
2	GD McGrath	10.0/8	6.0/6	6.0/7	10.0/13	9.4/16	1.13	97.01
3	WPUJC Vaas	6.0/6	7.0/8	8.0/10	8.0/11	9.3/14	1.19	92.20
4	A Flintoff	9.4/14	10.0/15	10.0/17	7.0/12	5.0/10	1.50	73.09
5	B Lee	6.0/5	8.0/8	8.2/18	10.0/22	10.0/22	1.66	65.87
6	SE Bond	5.0/7	10.0/15	10.0/19	10.0/21	9.0/19	1.71	64.13
7	NW Bracken	8.0/11	8.0/15	9.4/19	7.0/15	6.0/13	1.75	62.40
8	JN Gillespie	10.0/13	10.0/16	10.0/20	10.0/22	9.0/20	1.77	61.87
9	M Ntini	7.0/12	10.0/18	7.0/13	10.0/20	9.0/19	1.78	61.33
10	Zaheer Khan	9.5/21	10.0/23	9.0/22	6.0/15	7.3/19	2.17	50.33

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above five criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a bowler scored in the five criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40%.

RANK	BOWLER	PRO	CON	ECO	BBW	BBE	RAT	PRI PTS
1	GD McGrath	144.44	295.98	288.80	85.19	97.01	911.41	364.57
2	SM Pollock	169.75	240.53	300.00	85.19	100.00	895.47	358.19
3	B Lee	200.00	260.79	234.20	92.59	65.87	853.46	341.38
4	WPUJC Vaas	152.47	221.45	263.33	88.89	92.20	818.34	327.33
5	M Ntini	162.96	246.60	240.24	92.59	61.33	803.72	321.49
6	SE Bond	85.19	298.82	258.00	96.30	64.13	802.44	320.98
7	A Flintoff	100.00	262.89	260.31	81.48	73.09	777.76	311.10
8	NW Bracken	107.41	252.77	252.11	81.48	62.40	756.17	302.47
9	JN Gillespie	73.46	232.62	260.45	74.07	61.87	702.47	280.99
10	Zaheer Khan	143.21	206.54	226.05	74.07	50.33	700.20	280.08

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions Rating is calculated by applying the five criteria of Primary Rating to various conditions. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points.

The four conditions criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA	POINTS
Home	20.00
Away	80.00
Favourable Conditions	20.00
Unfavourable Conditions	80.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW RATING

Points to note:-

U.A.E. and India are considered as Home for Afghanistan.
U.A.E. is also considered as a second home for Pakistan.
All Home and Away stats of Pakistani and Afghani bowlers are calculated accordingly.

At Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 5

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	ECO	RAT	WTG
1	SM Pollock	93	143	20.24	3.48	910.17	18.20
2	GD McGrath	56	88	20.91	3.66	805.15	16.10
3	B Lee	81	146	22.89	4.57	797.11	15.94
4	M Ntini	76	122	23.98	4.42	754.71	15.09
5	A Flintoff	41	69	20.55	4.28	719.84	14.40
6	WPUJC Vaas	53	61	23.62	3.58	702.57	14.05
7	SE Bond	16	31	18.65	3.95	690.47	13.81
8	NW Bracken	52	77	24.82	4.51	664.67	13.29
9	Zaheer Khan	54	73	33.08	5.26	587.77	11.76
10	JN Gillespie	28	35	31.17	4.10	545.09	10.90

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	ECO	RAT	WTG
1	GD McGrath	91	146	19.90	3.87	892.74	71.42
2	WPUJC Vaas	142	186	28.08	4.32	862.02	68.96
3	B Lee	101	178	23.11	4.85	826.31	66.10
4	SE Bond	59	107	21.51	4.37	820.79	65.66
5	SM Pollock	122	132	30.13	3.74	792.90	63.43
6	M Ntini	94	142	25.37	4.64	771.02	61.68
7	JN Gillespie	50	84	21.36	4.14	753.98	60.32
8	NW Bracken	64	97	24.01	4.34	753.40	60.27
9	A Flintoff	70	93	26.61	4.38	739.97	59.20
10	Zaheer Khan	110	159	27.87	4.74	725.69	58.06

FAVOURABLE/UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS

FC/UC RATING

Points to note:-

Unfavourable Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Spinners and In Asia for Pacers.
Favourable Conditions (FC) are the opposite.

Favourable Conditions Rating

Non Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	ECO	RAT	WTG
1	GD McGrath	130	205	20.30	3.74	900.96	18.02
2	SM Pollock	169	213	25.06	3.58	868.47	17.37
3	B Lee	158	288	22.89	4.72	857.22	17.14
4	SE Bond	64	118	20.51	4.20	807.92	16.16
5	M Ntini	134	205	25.21	4.49	772.88	15.46
6	A Flintoff	87	131	23.05	4.34	765.94	15.32
7	NW Bracken	89	128	25.73	4.53	712.57	14.25
8	JN Gillespie	71	110	24.56	4.20	700.05	14.00

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 5

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	ECO	RAT	WTG
1	WPUJC Vaas	95	130	27.42	4.31	927.71	18.55
2	Zaheer Khan	60	93	25.42	4.68	740.13	14.80

Unfavourable Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 5

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	ECO	RAT	WTG
1	SM Pollock	46	62	24.74	3.79	890.55	71.24
2	M Ntini	36	59	23.05	4.75	842.82	67.43
3	NW Bracken	27	46	20.59	4.06	807.18	64.57
4	A Flintoff	24	31	28.16	4.34	722.57	57.81
5	GD McGrath	17	29	20.14	4.15	721.08	57.69
6	B Lee	24	36	24.03	4.69	695.72	55.66
7	SE Bond	11	20	23.00	4.78	595.34	47.63
8	JN Gillespie	7	9	20.33	3.27	554.11	44.33

Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	ECO	RAT	WTG
1	WPUJC Vaas	100	117	26.48	3.95	910.59	72.85
2	Zaheer Khan	104	139	32.24	5.04	814.08	65.13

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a bowler scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 20%.

RANK	BOWLER	AW	HM	UC	FC	CON PTS
1	WPUJC Vaas	68.96	14.05	72.85	18.55	174.41
2	SM Pollock	63.43	18.20	71.24	17.37	170.25
3	GD McGrath	71.42	16.10	57.69	18.02	163.23
4	M Ntini	61.68	15.09	67.43	15.46	159.66
5	B Lee	66.10	15.94	55.66	17.14	154.85
6	NW Bracken	60.27	13.29	64.57	14.25	152.39
7	Zaheer Khan	58.06	11.76	65.13	14.80	149.74
8	A Flintoff	59.20	14.40	57.81	15.32	146.72
9	SE Bond	65.66	13.81	47.63	16.16	143.26
10	JN Gillespie	60.32	10.90	44.33	14.00	129.55

SECONDARY CRITERIA

The Secondary Rating consists of three parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points.

The three secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA	POINTS
World Cup	150.00
Impact Innings	150.00
Top Form	100.00

WORLD CUP

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 3

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	ECO	RAT	WTG
1	GD McGrath	22	47	14.19	3.97	859.19	128.88
2	WPUJC Vaas	20	36	17.14	3.72	825.32	123.80
3	SE Bond	16	30	17.27	3.51	823.35	123.50
4	NW Bracken	10	16	16.13	3.60	695.35	104.30
5	A Flintoff	13	21	20.86	3.72	671.26	100.69
6	B Lee	10	22	17.91	4.74	658.77	98.82
7	Zaheer Khan	14	23	21.57	4.23	602.08	90.31
8	SM Pollock	16	16	29.25	3.55	552.23	82.83
9	M Ntini	13	16	29.31	4.07	523.03	78.45
10	JN Gillespie	4	8	12.25	3.27	472.41	70.86

IMPACT INNINGS (II)

Impact Innings are those innings which have an impact either in terms of wickets or economy rate. Know All About II. These are the criteria for an inning to be included in II:-

A Bowler takes equal to or more wickets than 4.
A Bowler bowls more than 30 balls and has a low ER.
The required ER is calculated by the number of wickets taken.

IMPACT INNINGS

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	II	II Perc	RAT	WTG
1	SM Pollock	215	115	53.49	985.39	147.81
2	GD McGrath	147	72	48.98	806.89	121.03
3	A Flintoff	111	51	45.95	755.51	113.33
4	JN Gillespie	78	37	47.44	739.26	110.89
5	SE Bond	75	34	45.33	669.96	100.49
6	NW Bracken	116	43	37.07	629.98	94.50
7	WPUJC Vaas	195	67	34.36	611.65	91.75
8	M Ntini	170	54	31.76	587.42	88.11
9	Zaheer Khan	164	52	31.71	564.01	84.60
10	B Lee	182	57	31.32	536.62	80.49

TOP FORM RATING

Points to note:-

Top Form is calculated by taking the best 50 consecutive innings of a bowler.
Only Inns against Non Weak Teams are considered in the rating.
Non Weak Teams may be found in the last section.

TOP FORM

Min Innings Vs Non Weak Teams: 10

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	ECO	RAT	WTG
1	SE Bond	50	97	19.67	4.22	886.81	88.68
2	GD McGrath	50	84	18.52	3.66	864.60	86.46
3	SM Pollock	50	71	22.76	3.73	831.39	83.14
4	B Lee	50	105	19.91	4.71	829.47	82.95
5	NW Bracken	50	94	19.72	4.32	826.02	82.60
6	M Ntini	50	89	21.09	4.38	793.05	79.31
7	WPUJC Vaas	50	71	24.25	4.15	770.25	77.02
8	A Flintoff	50	72	23.96	4.16	757.89	75.79
9	JN Gillespie	50	77	24.10	4.09	755.45	75.54
10	Zaheer Khan	50	75	27.41	5.02	662.66	66.27

SECONDARY RATING

The Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a bowler scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40%.

RANK	BOWLER	WC	II	TF	SEC RAT
1	GD McGrath	128.88	121.03	86.46	336.37
2	SM Pollock	82.83	147.81	83.14	313.78
3	SE Bond	123.50	100.49	88.68	312.68
4	WPUJC Vaas	123.80	91.75	77.02	292.57
5	A Flintoff	100.69	113.33	75.79	289.80
6	NW Bracken	104.30	94.50	82.60	281.40
7	B Lee	98.82	80.49	82.95	262.25
8	JN Gillespie	70.86	110.89	75.54	257.30
9	M Ntini	78.45	88.11	79.31	245.87
10	Zaheer Khan	90.31	84.60	66.27	241.18

DECADES RATING

DECADES Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts.

RANK	BOWLER	NAT	PRI PTS	CON PTS	SEC PTS	FIN RAT
1	GD McGrath	AUS	364.57	163.23	336.37	864.17
2	SM Pollock	SA	358.19	170.25	313.78	842.22
3	WPUJC Vaas	SL	327.33	174.41	292.57	794.32
4	SE Bond	NZ	320.98	143.26	312.68	776.91
5	B Lee	AUS	341.38	154.85	262.25	758.49
6	A Flintoff	ENG	311.10	146.72	289.80	747.63
7	NW Bracken	AUS	302.47	152.39	281.40	736.26
8	M Ntini	SA	321.49	159.66	245.87	727.02
9	Zaheer Khan	IND	280.08	149.74	241.18	671.00
10	JN Gillespie	AUS	280.99	129.55	257.30	667.83

NON WEAK TEAMS

DECADE OF MAT	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1970s	WI	ENG	AUS	NZ	PAK	SL	IND
1980s	WI	ENG	AUS	PAK	IND	NZ	SL	ZIM
1990s	SA	AUS	PAK	WI	IND	SL	ENG	NZ	ZIM
2000s	AUS	SA	SL	PAK	IND	NZ	ENG	WI	BAN
2010s	IND	SA	AUS	ENG	NZ	PAK	SL	BAN	WI
2020s	IND	NZ	SL	AUS	PAK	SA	BAN	ENG	WI	AFG