The 10 Legendary Pacers in Cricket

Fast bowlers are always a treat to watch as a neutral fan, and their battle in the game of cricket against the batters is wholesome. The sight of bowlers bowling at a high speed and the batters lining up to face them is one to behold.

Pacers are individuals who make the game the way it is, and they are the ones who make things happen. Their aggression with the ball makes cricket livelier than ever.

So, this article is dedicated to pacers who have carved a niche for themselves in the cricketing world, not merely through the numbers but the impact they created. Here are the 10 legendary pacers of all time in cricket.

Malcolm Marshall

Known as one of the complete pace bowlers of all time, Malcolm Marshall is often the greatest West Indies pacer ever. This is even though many other legends came from the land of the Caribbean.

Though he was short compared to many of his fellow pacers in the West Indies, Marshall bowled at a great pace and was known to have a menacing bouncer. He had the best Test bowling average (20.94) for any bowler who has more than 200 wickets, and he finished with 376 wickets in 81 Tests.

Michael Holding

The former West Indies pacer, widely famous for his commentary and views on cricket, formed one of the most fearsome bowling attacks alongside Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, and Joel Garner in the 1970s and 1980s. He, along with others, led the West Indies in their glorious era by terrorising the batting line-up of the opposition.

Known as the “Whispering Death” due to his smooth yet extremely fast bowling, Holding took 391 wickets in international cricket in 162 matches, and 249 of them came in just 60 Tests.

Dennis Lillee

A fast bowler with great control, Dennis Lillee, along with his teammate Jeff Thomson, intimidated batters across the globe in the 1970s.

Starting as an out-and-out quick, back injuries forced him to lower his speed, but anyway, he picked up 458 wickets across ODIs and Tests at an incredible average of 23.23 in 133 games. By the time he bid adieu to cricket in 1984, Lillee was the highest wicket-taker in Tests, with 355 scalps in just 70 Tests.

Allan Donald

After their reintroduction to cricket in the 1990s, South Africa became a formidable force, and one pacer who was responsible for that was Allan Donald. He was commonly called the “White Lightning” and was known for his speed and accuracy with the ball.

Donald was the first South African bowler to scale the 300-wicket landmark in Tests (330) and took a whopping 602 wickets overall at an average of 22.04 in 236 games.

Dale Steyn

A pacer who we can say effectively replaced Allan Donald in the Proteas line-up was Dale Steyn. Known to bowl in the late 140 kmph and early 150 kmph consistently, Steyn made the batters dance to his tunes with remarkable accuracy. He could swing the ball at that pace and rarely was a batter able to dominate him.

With 439 wickets at 22.95 after 93 games, Steyn is South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, and he eventually finished with 699 international wickets with 29 five-wicket hauls.

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Waqar Younis

One of the pioneers of reverse swing in cricket, Waqar Younis was the cornerstone of the Pakistani pace attack in the 1990s, along with Wasim Akram. His strike rate of 23.56 is the second-best among pacers with more than 350 wickets, and he is currently the second wicket-taker for Pakistan with 373 scalps in 87 games.

Waqar found success in the ODI format as well, where he is the third-highest wicket-taker with 416 wickets in 262 games. His 13 five-wicket hauls in the format are the most by anyone in the world.

Brett Lee

One of the fiercest pace bowlers in the history of cricket, Brett Lee wreaked havoc with the ball almost throughout his career. Buoyed with pace and a high level of accuracy, facing Brett Lee proved to be an uphill task for the batters, especially in Australian conditions. Lee bowled one of the fastest-ever balls recorded in cricket history at 161.1 kmph.

He aggregated a total of 718 wickets in all formats combined at an average of 26.67, representing Australia 322 times. Lee is one of the few bowlers to have taken over 300 wickets each in both Tests (310) and ODIs (380). The pacer played a key role in two of Australia’s World Cup triumphs in 2003 and 2007.

Mitchell Johnson

He is one of those pacers who shook the confidence of many batters, thanks to his pace and the intimidating nature of his deliveries, particularly bouncers. Mitchell Johnson bowled a heavy ball in the late 140s and had the ability to run through the batting order on his day.

The left-arm pacer finished just 10 short of the 600 wicket mark in international cricket, and 313 of those came in Tests, making him the sixth-highest wicket-taker for the Aussies in the format.

Mitchell Starc

Another modern-day great fast bowler makes it to the list, and he is none other than Australia’s Mitchell Starc. One of the fastest bowlers of this era, Starc has been a consistent performer for Australia in all formats of the game, with 673 wickets at 25.61 in 275 games till now.

He takes a unique liking to the ODI World Cups, having picked up 65 wickets in just 28 games and taking 4 wickets or more in an innings 21 times in ODIs.

Shoaib Akhtar

He may not be as prolific as the others, but Akhtar’s contribution to world cricket, particularly for Pakistan, can’t be neglected. The pacer was arguably the fastest in the history of cricket, having bowled the fastest delivery ever recorded (161.3 kph) back in the 2003 World Cup.

The Pakistani bowler maintained his speed almost throughout his career and at times proved to be unplayable thanks to his reverse swing at that pace. Akhtar picked up 444 wickets at 25.17 apiece in the 224 times he represented his team at the highest level.

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