Stuart Broad's three wickets in the first innings of the second test against Pakistan at Leeds took his tally to 414 test wickets, level with Pakistan legend Wasim Akram, making him joint 8th on the list of fast bowlers with most test wickets.

Broad's partner James Anderson is second on that list, behind only Glenn McGrath, and collectively the Anderson-Broad pair have 952 test wickets!

That is the most for any fast bowling pair in the history of test cricket.

In comparison, Wasim-Waqar have 787.

McGrath-Gillespie have 822.

Walsh-Ambrose have 924.

Pollock-Ntini have 811.

In my view, these are the 5 most potent fast bowling pairs that we have witnessed in test cricket in the past 3 decades.

The age old adage "Fast bowlers hunt in pairs" holds true when one looks at each of these pairs have achieved together in test matches.

What one also realizes after looking at these figures is that the Wasim-Waqar pair were miles ahead of the rest!

In tests that these pairs played together, the Anderson-Broad pair lead the wickets tally with a combined haul of 806 wickets, followed by Walsh-Ambrose with 762.

These two pairs have also played the most number of tests together, 106 and 95 respectively.

In comparison, the other three pairs have played only 58-63 tests together.

Wasim-Waqar played only 61 tests together, in which they picked up 559 wickets at an average of 22.1 and a strike rate of 45.7.

The 2 Ws have the best average among these pairs, which is marginally ahead of Walsh-Ambrose and significantly ahead of the rest.

They also have the best strike rate among the 5 pairs and it is miles ahead of the rest. The 2 Ws picked up a wicket every 45 deliveries, whereas none of the other pairs managed to do so in less than 50 deliveries.

Their 5WI and 10WM hauls are also more than each of the other pairs.

The Ws picked up a 5 wicket haul in every other test they played together. In fact their ratio of matches to 5WI hauls is 1.6!

That's how far above the 2 Ws were compared to other fast bowling pairs.

What makes the 2 Ws even more special is that more than half of their tests, 32 to be exact, were played in the subcontinent! Significantly more than the other 4 pairs.

Test cricket never has and probably never will see a pair like the 2 Ws. They truly were special!

Two weeks ago, after Pakistan's test match against Ireland, I wrote about why Mohammad Abbas was Pakistan's new pace spearhead.

In that article, I showed that Abbas has an average, strike rate, and economy among the world's best in the past year since his debut, and that he is also Pakistan's second highest wicket taker in Tests in this period.

At Lord's, Abbas lived up to this new reputation of being Pakistan's pace spearhead, picking up the man of the match award for his 8-64, the best bowling figures by a Pakistani pacer at Lord's.
Abbas' 8 wickets at Lord's took his tally to 40 wickets after just 7 test matches at an exemplary average of 16.6.

No other bowler in the world has a better average than Abbas does in the period starting from 21 April 2017 (min 20 wickets).

He is a clear 1.4 runs per wicket ahead than the next best average. His economy rate and strike rate are also right up there.

Abbas' 40 wicket in just 7 tests is the highest tally of wickets after 7 tests among all Pakistan test bowlers.

He is miles ahead of legends like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis were and also significantly ahead of his peers, including Yasir Shah who holds the Pakistan record of being the fastest to reach 50 wickets.

Abbas' average and economy rate after 7 tests is also significantly better of all other Pakistan test bowlers at the same stage of their respective careers; while his strike rate is slightly behind only Mohammad Asif's.

While there are many bowlers who have taken more wickets in their first 7 tests, almost all of them belonged to another era.

In more recent times, only Vernon Philander with 51 wickets was ahead of where Abbas is after 7 tests.

Besides that, everyone from Glenn McGrath, to Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock Dale Steyn, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall and even the likes of Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Sir Ian Botham, and Dennis Lillee had fewer wickets than Abbas does after 7 wickets.

That is quite a list of name that he has bettered.

The yesteryear bowlers from another era who had many more wickets than 40 after 7 tests include the likes of Sydney Barnes, George Lohmann, Frank Tyson, Rodney Hogg, erry Alderman, Charlie Turner, Alf Valentine, and few others.

Mohammad Abbas has had a sterling start to his test career and he is forging full speed ahead as Pakistan's main pace spearhead. He has a long road ahead but with the start he has had, he is already miles ahead of all the legends that ever bowled for Pakistan.

While Babar Azam has been taking huge strides and making headlines as a batsman, Hasan Ali,also in his early twenties, has been making waves for Pakistan as a bowler.

23-year old Hasan Ali has been exceptional with the white ball in the 15 ODIs he has played for Pakistan. He has been a bit on the expensive side with an economy rate of 5.92, but he has picked up wickets in heaps and he has picked them fast.

Last night against the West Indies, he picked up his second 5 wicket haul in ODIs taking his tally to 28 wickets in only 15 ODIs.

He has bowled a mere 120 odd overs for these wickets, which basically means that he has been picking up a wicket every 4 overs or so.

That is quick!

BEST STRIKE RATE EVER FOR PAKISTAN

In only 15 ODIs, Hasan has achieved the best ever strike rate for a pace bowler for Pakistan in ODIs - 26.4; i.e. a wicket every four and a half overs.

Like Babar, he too has a long way to go to be considered in the same league as Pakistan's best, however his start has been quite amazing.

He has already picked up two 5 wicket hauls, half as many as Shoaib Akhtar did in his entire ODI career, and a third of what Wasim Akram achieved in 20 years.

ONE OF THE BEST STRIKE RATES IN THE WORLD

Among all international pace bowlers (excluding associate nations), Hasan's strike rate of 26.4 is 9th best, and he is the only Pakistani in the top 10 best strike rates in ODIs.

He has surpassed a number of quality bowlers to be make this list and it will take one hell of a sustained high level performance to maintain this strike rate.

He has surprised many with his pace, and now he is surprising us all with his wicket taking skills.

ONE OF THE BEST AVERAGES FOR PAKISTAN

Pakistan has not found the same caliber of pace bowlers as Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

Shoaib Akhtar promised much, but injuries never left him. Mohammad Asif could have reached the same league, but his vices got the best of him. Mohammad Aamer made the world take notice with his scintillating first year in international cricket, but he does not look like the bowler he did in 2010.

It has been 14 years now since Wasim and Waqar last played for Pakistan. In these 14 years, Pakistan has fielded a number of pace bowlers, with only a handful that made a lasting impression.

Hasan Ali is one of them. In his short career he has shown immense wicket taking ability, which has resulted in him having the second best bowing average for Pakistan since the retirement of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

You would have never guessed that Aizaz Cheema would be at the top of this list!


Hasan Ali is not in the same league as the two Ws, nor is he a special talent like Asif or Aamer. But he is capable of producing fiery spells. surprising batsmen, and picking up wickets quicker than most bowlers. He has the ability to constantly provide breakthroughs and is a major asset in limited overs format.

Hasan Ali is also a special one who needs to be handled with care by the Pakistan team management.

I believe a mistake has already been committed by including him in the test squad. I hope it is a one off, I hope he does not play any of the tests, and I hope the selectors can safeguard his future by telling him that they want him to focus on leading Pakistan's limited overs pace attacks.

No one really expected Pakistan to win a test match in South Africa, but no one expected them to be bowled out for 49, their lowest test score ever, either.

It is very easy to point fingers at the Pakistan bastmen and criticize them for a poor technique, bad footwork,  and a lack of application.

However, one must remember that the same pace attack bowled out Australia for 47 and New Zealand for 45. When you are up against the number 1 team in the world that has a pace attack comprising of Steyn (Ranked 1), Philander (Ranked 2), and Morkel (Ranked 9) in their own backyard, batting is really really tough.

Pakistan's wrecker-in-chief was Dale Steyn who had match figures of 11-60, which is his best return ever in a career spanning 63 test matches.

With the new ball, Steyn was unplayable. Particularly in the first innings, where he produced a devastating spell and had astonishing figures of 6-8 !

Steyn's match haul of 11-60 earned him his fifth 10-wicket haul in test matches, which is now the most number of 10-wicket hauls for South Africa. Before this test, he was level with Makhaya Ntini on four.

His 5-wicket hauls in each innings of the match took his tally to 21 5-wicket in an innings hauls, surpassing the South African record of 20, which was held by Allan Donald.

Steyn's 323 test wickets are still behind those of Shaun Pollock (421), Ntini (390), and Donald (330), but he has also played a fewer number of tests than each of them. With age on his side (he is only 29), he looks well set to become the top South African wicket taker of all time.

Someone said that he's got Donald's pace, Ntini's fitness, and Pollock's seam and swing, which arguably makes him the best fast bowler ever to play for South Africa.

Currently, he is also the best fast bowler in the world.

But is Dale Steyn also the best ever fast bowler of all time?


Steyn is currently at number 17 among the top 20 wicket takers of all time in test cricket, but as I mentioned he has played fewer tests than the rest of them and has a long way to go still. Considering his fitness levels, he can play well beyond another 5 years easily.

Steyn's strike rate of 40.8 is the best among the top 20 bowlers. Better than McGrath's, Hadlee's, Waqar's, and Marshall's. In fact his strike rate is the 5th best strike rate of all time in test cricket behind Lohmann, Philander, JJ Ferris, and Shane Bond.

Steyn's five 10-wicket match hauls are level with Wasim and Waqar, and behind only those of Imran Khan, Dennis Lillee, and Richard Hadlee.

The most glaring statistic, however, is Steyn's wickets per match. He averages 5.13 wickets per test match, which is the most that any fast bowler with over 200 test wickets averages in test cricket.

Dennis Lille and Richard Hadlee are the only other two fast bowlers who averaged over 5 wickets per test match in their career.

If you include spinners into the equation, then Steyn's 5.13 wickets per test is the third highest behind Muralitharan's 6.02 and Grimmett's 5.84.

Those truly are some outstanding numbers.

Dale Steyn may well end his career as the best ever fast bowler to have played the game.