Top 5 Greatest Cricket Bowlers of All Times

In cricket, bowling is delivering the ball to the batsman from one end of the pitch with the aim of preventing them from scoring runs or getting the batsman out. The common deliveries for bowlers are fast bowling, swing bowling and spin bowling all to deceive a batsman and take wickets. 

The bowler runs up towards the bowler and then bowls under or overarm and towards the batsman who then attempts to hit the ball with the bat. The bowler can use variations in spin, speed and bounce. The main aim is to deceive the batsman to make a mistake. The batsman then defends the ball or scores runs by running between wickets or hitting the ball to the edge of the cricket pitch.

Bowling is very important in cricket. A good bowler can easily change the game by restricting the opposition from getting runs and scoring wickets. Some of the best-rated bowlers have multiple skills and tactics to succeed in different conditions and different batmen.

Cricket is also a favourite sport amongst punters and bookmakers alike. You can have a peek at the best betting apps to find the odds on your favourite bowler. 

The Top 5

We’ve ranked our players from the number 5 player to the number 1 player. Here it goes: 

#5 – Sir Richard Hadlee of New Zealand 

Hadlee was the first bowler to pass the 400 Test wicket mark. He is a former player from New Zealand. He played a total of 86 test matches and 115 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for the New Zealand National team. He was a right-arm fast bowler and aggressive lower-order batsman. In 2009 he was inducted into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame.  

#4 –  Malcolm Marshall of West Indies 

Marshall has a Test bowling average of 20.94 and is the best bowler to have taken more than 200 wickets. He is an aggressive fast bowler who was feared by batsmen. He also had a  bouncer, which on more than one occasion, people attempted to get banned. He recorded a total of 376 Test match wickets.

#3- Shane Warne of Australia

Warne is the greatest leg-spin bowler in the history of cricket. He is popular with some fans for his cricket records and also unpopular with some because of his outspokenness. He is one of the two bowlers to ever achieve a 700 test match wicket and was voted one of the 5 Wisden cricketers. 

#2 – Sydney Barnes of England

Barnes only played 27 Test matches and landed 189 wickets. That’s an average of 16.43. He didn’t take a lot of wickets but his average is what makes him sit at number 2. He has an average of 17 in his first-class career recording 719 wickets in 133 matches. 

#1 -Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka

Murali comes as no surprise to cricket lovers. He is considered the greatest bowler of all time by taking 735 wickets in Test matches with his highest average sitting at 23 in all forms of the game. He has recorded over 1000 wickets with a first-class average of 19.06. This is all thanks to his infamous doosra.