Top 15 Non-Asian Fast Bowlers In Tests Outside Asia

All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards. Our ratings are based on conditions and diverse oppositions. Before the above mentioned date, there were primarily only two teams which dominated cricket. Moreover, matches were of unequal length with some ending in 4 days and some being timeless. Post 1950, West Indies and South Africa grew as test teams. Moreover, Asian teams India and Pakistan started improving after 1950 and became compenent at home at least. Performance in Asia and outside Asia are integral to our overall rating. How the rating works is explained in highlighted sections. So, here are the Top 15 Non Asian Fast bowlers in matches Outside Asia

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2023-01-08

NA O A Rating

This rating only include stats of Non Asian Fast bowlers in matches Outside Asia. The rating is divided into sections to make it easy to understand how it is calculated. Before each section, its criteria is highlighted in bold. Our ratings are dynamic, and as new matches are played, the rating of earlier bowlers may change if current bowlers set new benchmarks.

The Trend Setter

The Trend Setter (TS) is the player which does the best in a criteria. The rating of all other players are calculated as percentage points of TS. Let’s taken an example to understand it:-

  • Let’s assume that Glenn McGrath has taken 500 wkts, which is the highest. This makes him the TS.
  • Another player, say Jason Gillespie, has taken 250 wkts.
  • If the rating is out of 250, McGrath will get the full points (pts), that is 250.
  • The points of Gillespie are calculated as His Wkts/McGrath’s Wkts*250. This comes out to be 125.
  • Thus the formula is (Wkts Taken/Wkts Taken By TS)*Max Points.
  • All ratings are calculated similarly with Wkts being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
  • Obviously, for average the formula is reverased as the lower average is better for a bowler.
  • For Average and Strike Rate, a bowler is eligible to be TS only if he has taken a minimum number of wickets, which are mentioned in the qualificaton.
  • Lastly, it is to be noted that it is not necessary for a TS to be part of the rating as he might have topped in a criteria but not done well in others.

QUALIFICATION


Min Innings 20
Min Wickets (TS AVE SR) 50
Min Wickets v/s Top Teams (TS AVE) 25
The Eras

The first criteria Prolific gives points for wkts taken. We have divided cricket from 1950 onwards into 3 broad eras. This has been done to make it fair for players from earlier era, when less cricket was played, and also for current players, who are in the middle of their careers. Let’s take an example:-

  • Let’s assume Murlidharan has taken 500 wickets, which is the maximum and gives him 250 points.
  • Now, say Underwood in earlier times took 250 wkts, which was the max for his era.
  • If there are no eras, he would get 50% of the pts, that is 125.
  • Instead of that, we reduced 50 pts (according to %age) from the max to arrive at the figure of 200 pts for Underwood.
  • Now, everyone in his era is compared to Underwood and not Murlidharan.
  • So a player who has taken 50 Wkts in Underwood’s era will get (50/250)*200 pts or 40pts.
  • Eras are calculated by MP, which is the mean of the years a player: First Played (FP) and Last Played (LP).

PROLIFIC


Criteria: Points For Wickets Taken

Era 1 MP before 1991
Era 2 MP between 1990 and 2016
Era 3 MP greater than 2015
RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS RJ Hadlee NZ 1973 1990 1981.5 128 363 210.00
1 RJ Hadlee NZ 1973 1990 1981.5 128 363 210.00
2 DK Lillee AUS 1971 1984 1977.5 126 349 201.90
3 IT Botham ENG 1977 1992 1984.5 154 348 201.32
4 FS Trueman ENG 1952 1965 1958.5 127 307 177.60
5 MD Marshall WI 1978 1991 1984.5 117 305 176.45
6 J Garner WI 1977 1987 1982 106 249 144.05
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS JM Anderson ENG 2003 2022 2012.5 278 593 250.00
1 JM Anderson ENG 2003 2022 2012.5 278 593 250.00
2 SCJ Broad ENG 2007 2022 2014.5 256 522 220.07
3 GD McGrath AUS 1993 2007 2000 207 491 207.00
4 CA Walsh WI 1984 2001 1992.5 211 442 186.34
5 CEL Ambrose WI 1988 2000 1994 169 387 163.15
6 DW Steyn SA 2004 2019 2011.5 133 347 146.29
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS WKTS RAT
TS TA Boult NZ 2011 2022 2016.5 117 267 200.00
1 K Rabada SA 2015 2022 2018.5 87 246 184.27
2 VD Philander SA 2011 2020 2015.5 102 208 155.81
3 PJ Cummins AUS 2011 2023 2017 73 186 139.33
C Ave

The Comparative Average (C Ave) for bowlers is calculated by taken into account two factors:-

  • First is the average of batsmen in the decades the bowler played.
  • Second is the average of the opposition batsmen at Home, in Asia or outside Asia; whichever is applicable.
  • The average of the opposing team’s batsmen is also calculated by decades.
  • Higher C Ave suggest that more runs were scored by the batsmen in the above mentioned factors.
  • Thus it was difficult to get Wkts and the bowler will benefit from this.
  • Lower C Ave means the opposite.
R Ave

The Relative Average (R Ave) is calculated using the C Ave. Its formula is (Bowler Ave/C Ave)*A Constant Factor. This constant doesn’t affect the rating as it is the same for everone. If your C Ave is comparatively high, your R Ave will be low; which is better for bowlers. Broadly speaking, the following bowlers will benefit from this system:-

  • Bowlers who have played more in unfavourable conditions.
  • Asian fast bowlers and Non-Asian spin bowlers whereever applicable.
  • Bowlers who have played in an era where the batsmen dominated, like the 2000s
  • Bowlers who have played more against top opposition than weaker teams.
Top Teams (TT)

The R Ave Rating is divided into two parts:-

  • One is Overall which gives points for the overall R Ave.
  • The second part is Against Top Teams, which gives points for R Ave against top teams.
  • Win/Loss Ratio is used to determine top teams.
  • The top teams are calculated by decades.
  • Further, they are divided into In Asia and Outside Asia.
  • To be a top team, the team should be among the top teams in the specific condition (Asia or outside Asia) or among the top teams of the decade overall.
  • A bowler’s performace is counted in TT if he palyed against it in the specific condition and in the specific decade.
  • The Top Teams may be found in the last section of the rating.

CONSISTENT


Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Against All Teams

RANK BOWLER INNS RUNS WKTS AVE C AVE R AVE RAT
TS FH Tyson 29 1411 76 18.57 28.19 21.07 150.00
1 GD McGrath 207 10528 491 21.44 31.06 22.09 143.08
2 CEL Ambrose 169 8096 387 20.92 30.05 22.28 141.90
3 PJ Cummins 73 3742 186 20.12 28.70 22.43 140.92
4 MD Marshall 117 6239 305 20.46 29.03 22.55 140.17
5 VD Philander 102 4391 208 21.11 29.38 22.99 137.48
6 J Garner 106 5241 249 21.05 28.98 23.24 136.01
7 DW Steyn 133 7858 347 22.65 30.47 23.78 132.92
8 FS Trueman 127 6625 307 21.58 28.94 23.86 132.49
9 K Rabada 87 5341 246 21.71 28.85 24.08 131.25
10 RJ Hadlee 128 8143 363 22.43 29.51 24.33 129.94
11 DK Lillee 126 8083 349 23.16 29.41 25.20 125.44
12 CA Walsh 211 11107 442 25.13 30.59 26.29 120.23
13 JM Anderson 278 15443 593 26.04 30.38 27.43 115.22
14 SCJ Broad 256 14044 522 26.90 30.01 28.69 110.19
15 IT Botham 154 9957 348 28.61 29.79 30.73 102.85

Against Top Teams

RANK BOWLER INNS RUNS WKTS AVE C AVE R AVE RAT
TS SR Clark 32 1498 71 21.10 32.80 20.58 150.00
1 J Garner 89 4252 217 19.59 28.98 21.64 142.70
2 CEL Ambrose 134 6763 329 20.56 30.05 21.89 141.04
3 GD McGrath 153 8075 370 21.82 31.06 22.49 137.29
4 MD Marshall 102 5454 265 20.58 29.03 22.69 136.06
5 PJ Cummins 64 3342 161 20.76 28.70 23.14 133.39
6 RJ Hadlee 106 6869 311 22.09 29.51 23.95 128.89
7 VD Philander 71 3205 142 22.57 29.38 24.58 125.59
8 DK Lillee 104 6426 280 22.95 29.41 24.97 123.64
9 DW Steyn 87 5439 227 23.96 30.47 25.16 122.70
10 FS Trueman 89 5038 212 23.76 28.94 26.27 117.51
11 K Rabada 61 4131 173 23.88 28.85 26.49 116.56
12 CA Walsh 175 9383 363 25.85 30.59 27.04 114.16
13 SCJ Broad 180 10167 368 27.63 30.01 29.46 104.81
14 JM Anderson 194 11365 394 28.85 30.38 30.39 101.60
15 IT Botham 126 8459 274 30.87 29.79 33.16 93.10
C SR And R SR

The Comparative Strike Rate (C SR) and Relative Strike Rate (R SR) for bowlers is calculated using the same method as in C Ave and R Ave with average replaced with SR. Points to note are:-

  • Bowlers from the earlier era benefit from R SR.
  • This is because more balls were taken to get a Wkt back then as batsmen had better defensive technique.
  • Rest of the factors are the same as in R Ave

ATTACKING


Criteria: Points For R SR or Relative Balls/Wkt

RANK BOWLER INNS BLS WKTS SR C SR R SR RAT
TS FH Tyson 29 3452 76 45.42 74.36 39.70 250.00
1 K Rabada 87 9239 246 37.56 55.63 43.88 226.20
2 FS Trueman 127 15178 307 49.44 70.44 45.62 217.58
3 DW Steyn 133 14653 347 42.23 57.76 47.52 208.85
4 MD Marshall 117 14123 305 46.30 62.44 48.20 205.93
5 DK Lillee 126 17675 349 50.64 65.60 50.18 197.79
6 PJ Cummins 73 8292 186 44.58 55.64 52.08 190.59
7 J Garner 106 12632 249 50.73 63.08 52.27 189.88
8 RJ Hadlee 128 19009 363 52.37 64.00 53.18 186.63
9 GD McGrath 207 25297 491 51.52 61.65 54.32 182.73
10 VD Philander 102 9935 208 47.76 56.24 55.20 179.81
11 CEL Ambrose 169 21089 387 54.49 63.22 56.03 177.15
12 IT Botham 154 19750 348 56.75 64.56 57.14 173.71
13 CA Walsh 211 26534 442 60.03 63.64 61.32 161.88
14 SCJ Broad 256 28324 522 54.26 57.52 61.32 161.87
15 JM Anderson 278 32709 593 55.16 58.12 61.69 160.90
BBW

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 bowling performances by Wkts of a bowler. Best Bowling By Wickets (BBW) is simply the total wickets taken in the 7 innings divided by 7.

BEST BOWLING (WKTS)


Criteria: Points For Wkts Taken In Top 7 Inns

RANK BOWLER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BBW RAT
TS GD McGrath 8/24 8/38 7/76 7/76 6/17 6/47 6/50 6.86 100.00
1 GD McGrath 8/24 8/38 7/76 7/76 6/17 6/47 6/50 6.86 100.00
2 RJ Hadlee 9/52 7/23 7/116 6/26 6/50 6/51 6/53 6.71 97.92
3 IT Botham 8/34 8/103 6/34 6/78 6/90 6/95 6/101 6.57 95.83
3 SCJ Broad 8/15 7/44 7/72 6/17 6/25 6/31 6/46 6.57 95.83
5 FS Trueman 8/31 7/44 7/75 6/30 6/31 6/100 5/27 6.43 93.75
5 CEL Ambrose 8/45 7/25 6/24 6/34 6/51 6/52 6/74 6.43 93.75
5 MD Marshall 7/22 7/53 7/80 6/32 6/55 6/69 6/85 6.43 93.75
8 DK Lillee 7/83 7/89 6/26 6/53 6/60 6/66 6/72 6.29 91.67
9 CA Walsh 7/37 6/18 6/54 6/61 6/62 6/74 6/80 6.14 89.58
10 JM Anderson 7/42 7/43 6/17 6/42 6/47 5/16 5/20 6.00 87.50
11 DW Steyn 6/8 6/34 6/49 6/50 6/72 6/100 5/17 5.86 85.42
12 K Rabada 7/112 6/32 6/54 6/55 5/30 5/33 5/34 5.71 83.33
13 VD Philander 6/21 6/42 6/44 6/81 5/7 5/15 5/21 5.57 81.25
14 J Garner 6/56 6/60 6/75 5/51 5/55 5/56 5/63 5.43 79.17
14 PJ Cummins 6/23 6/27 6/79 5/28 5/38 5/42 5/83 5.43 79.17
BBA

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 bowling performances by Average of a bowler. Best Bowling By Average (BBA) is simply the average of the bowler in the 7 Inns. Only 3+ Wkt performaces are counted in this criteria.

BEST BOWLING (AVE)


Criteria: Points For Average In Top 7 Inns

RANK BOWLER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 BBA RAT
TS JM Anderson 3/6 6/17 5/16 5/20 4/20 3/16 3/16 3.83 100.00
1 JM Anderson 3/6 6/17 5/16 5/20 4/20 3/16 3/16 3.83 100.00
2 GD McGrath 4/10 6/17 8/24 5/21 3/13 8/38 5/28 3.87 98.86
3 SCJ Broad 8/15 6/17 6/25 4/19 6/31 4/21 4/25 4.03 95.06
4 VD Philander 5/7 5/15 6/21 4/16 5/21 5/30 4/27 4.03 94.99
5 CEL Ambrose 3/8 7/25 6/24 4/17 4/20 5/25 4/22 4.27 89.58
6 CA Walsh 6/18 4/14 5/22 7/37 3/16 3/16 3/21 4.65 82.40
7 DW Steyn 6/8 5/17 4/18 6/34 5/29 5/33 5/34 4.81 79.65
8 FS Trueman 8/31 6/30 6/31 5/27 4/24 5/31 7/44 5.32 71.99
9 IT Botham 5/11 5/21 8/34 6/34 5/35 4/29 5/39 5.34 71.65
10 RJ Hadlee 7/23 6/26 3/16 5/28 9/52 5/34 5/39 5.45 70.23
11 PJ Cummins 6/23 6/27 3/15 4/21 5/28 4/29 5/38 5.48 69.78
12 MD Marshall 7/22 6/32 5/29 5/34 5/35 5/37 7/53 6.05 63.27
13 DK Lillee 5/15 5/18 3/13 6/26 4/35 6/53 5/46 6.06 63.17
14 K Rabada 4/13 6/32 5/30 5/33 5/34 4/34 6/54 6.57 58.25
15 J Garner 3/15 3/22 4/30 3/24 4/36 4/36 6/56 8.11 47.19
FC Rating

The NA O A (FC) Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000. Unfavourable Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Spinners and In Asia for Pacers. Favourable Conditions (FC) is the opposite.

RATING


RANK BOWLER PRO CON CON TT ATT BBW BBA FC RAT
1 GD McGrath 207.00 143.08 137.29 182.73 100.00 98.86 868.95
2 RJ Hadlee 210.00 129.94 128.89 186.63 97.92 70.23 823.61
3 MD Marshall 176.45 140.17 136.06 205.93 93.75 63.27 815.62
4 JM Anderson 250.00 115.22 101.60 160.90 87.50 100.00 815.22
5 FS Trueman 177.60 132.49 117.51 217.58 93.75 71.99 810.92
6 CEL Ambrose 163.15 141.90 141.04 177.15 93.75 89.58 806.58
7 DK Lillee 201.90 125.44 123.64 197.79 91.67 63.17 803.61
8 K Rabada 184.27 131.25 116.56 226.20 83.33 58.25 799.86
9 SCJ Broad 220.07 110.19 104.81 161.87 95.83 95.06 787.84
10 DW Steyn 146.29 132.92 122.70 208.85 85.42 79.65 775.83
11 VD Philander 155.81 137.48 125.59 179.81 81.25 94.99 774.94
12 CA Walsh 186.34 120.23 114.16 161.88 89.58 82.40 754.58
13 PJ Cummins 139.33 140.92 133.39 190.59 79.17 69.78 753.17
14 J Garner 144.05 136.01 142.70 189.88 79.17 47.19 738.99
15 IT Botham 201.32 102.85 93.10 173.71 95.83 71.65 738.46

TOP TEAMS IN ASIA


DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6
1950s AUS WI PAK IND ENG
1960s WI AUS PAK IND ENG SA
1970s PAK ENG IND WI SA AUS
1980s PAK WI ENG NZ AUS
1990s IND PAK SA AUS WI
2000s AUS SL IND PAK SA ENG
2010s IND PAK SL ENG SA AUS
2020s IND AUS ENG PAK NZ

TOP TEAMS OUTSIDE ASIA


DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6
1950s AUS ENG WI SA PAK
1960s ENG AUS WI SA NZ
1970s SA ENG WI AUS IND
1980s WI NZ AUS ENG PAK
1990s AUS SA WI PAK ENG
2000s AUS SA ENG IND NZ
2010s SA AUS ENG NZ IND
2020s AUS NZ ENG SA IND


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