Welcome to a new, deeply thoughtful, potentially erotic and effervescently (I just learnt that word, fuck you) exciting new take on player performances, brought to you by your favourite armchair critic and occasional shitposter, me.
After each of the England versus India games I'll be posting a quick breakdown of each England player's performance, and rating them out of ten. You may think "hold on Maffy, this sounds suspiciously similar to basically every other player rating thread ever... Like, the exact same. In fact who even are you? Didn't you do my nan's guttering last week?". Well that's where you are wrong ladies and genitalmen, because those other threads don't have my boyish charm and self deprecating humour. Though, I potentially did your nan's guttering last week, dependent on where she lives.
So if you've made it this far you probably DO want to hear my ratings. Or in fact you've decided you want to read to the end to make sure it wasn't just a meme. Well, it isn't. It's pure as Arctic snow and it's right here, right now. Get ready for the majesty of Maffy's Man Marks, episode 1.

A note before we begin:

A lot of the comments have been centered around me giving Joe a 9, and not a 9.5 or 10. The reason is thus:
1) Every rating defines, based on a universe of outcomes, how close to the greatest innings of all time (10) that player's performance was. Not "how good they did based on what they could achieve", how close to perfect they were.
2) It is a transitive rating system. Transitivity is a fundamental axiom of numbers, which means if A>B, and B>C, then A>C. It follows for equality too, A=B, B=C, then A=C.
3) To assert that Joe got a 10 would mean I had to concede that his performance was as good as any in history, which in my opinion is false. His performance was not as good as Laxman's 281, arguably the greatest test innings ever along with a few others... And even then, someone could beat those.
4) So, how can I maintain transitivity and give him a 10? A 10 is not "really really good", a 9 is "really really good", which is what Joe got.
So if you think he "deserved a 10" then fair enough, sure... But you aren't using transitivity in that case, and if you're gonna argue with me about it then you're arguing using different rules... Which is just a waste of everyone's time.
...
Rory Burns aka Captain Jack Sparrow - 5.5
Despite his arguably disastrous hair he came out in fine form on day 1, playing some lovely deft touches that we all now associate with this pleasing moustachio'd man from Epsom. Though, on about 30 he decided against all sanity and reason, with the team on 70 and cruising towards an excellent opening stand to play a reverse swoosh. Stupid shot to end a great return to the team. He took a couple catches, and then got a good ball in the second innings, but we got a fun new statistic out of his wicket so who cares.
Dom Fridgely - 8
The man who people were calling to be dropped only 3 innings into a 6 test winter season has bounced back healthily in his last two games, reminding us all of the tremendous white good he is and that he can absorb pressure better than a competition-standard trampoline under the invitees of a fat kid's 8th birthday party. He played some great shots, and built the platform England subsequently stormed away on. Second innings again, like Rory he fell to a good ball but luckily bought himself plenty of goodwill with his first innings showing.
Dan Lawrence - 4
Unfortunately for Dan, who subbed in at the last minute after Zak Crawley apparently sat down too fast into his armchair, the momentum shattering his wrist on impact (bear in mind he was around 7 and a half feet in the air given he was stood up), he had a very quiet showing. Not a single catch and only 18 runs, with both dismissals alarmingly similar to each other - falling over the inswinger. Hopefully if he doesn't go well next game (assuming Crawley comes back in at 3 for the 3rd test) it won't damage his confidence too much, though if it does he won't be any different to the other 300 batsman we've tried there.
Root 66 - 9
Another double tonne, a quickfire 40 and two catches. This guy is in form that most can only dream of, and when I say that I mean literally because the majority of England fans will have slept through the bulk of his runscoring. They will genuinely have been asleep, cuddling up to teddy dreaming of Joe Root's wonderful form and his glimmering blue eyes... So shiny.
Stokesy - 8
Resident ginger Ben Stokes played a superb hand in this game - a brutal first innings which ended about 50 shy of what I would have liked, backed up by England's most economical figures in the first innings, as well as three catches and the all important wicket of Virat in the second innings, who looked justifiably annoyed at getting out to a bloke who probably argues with Taxi drivers if, after saying "anywhere here will do mate", the price of the fare goes up 20p as they pull in.
Ollie Pope (OP) - 6.5
A so-so return to the team for Ollie Pollie, who looked very scratchy in his first innings. He found fluency in the second, though like Rory decided getting out was definitely the best way of securing runs for his team, and decided to execute said strategy post-haste. Maybe 6.5 is a bit harsh given how generous I've been with the other players, but he just seemed a bit underwhelming given how talented we know he actually is. No problem, I'm sure he'll have a good showing at some point in this series. I really want him to average well over 40 in his test career, so let's get hustling on those numbers, OP (hey that's me too!).
JosButtler TM - 7
A good ship-steadying role in both innings played by one of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket. He kept nicely, and overall can leave this winter sequence of tours with his head held high. He will be, we hope, replaced by Lord Foakes who is inevitably going to suck given all the hype we keep pumping him with, but overall Buttler can be pleased with his performance I'd say. His wicket in the second innings looked a little reckless but he was clearly getting frustrated, and in reality was just soaking up deliveries so did the right thing trying to send Nadeem into the stands.
Dom "the Bess of all time" Bess - 8
How long before Bessy is referred to as a bowling all-rounder by the way? He looks very comfortable bat-in hand, and scored some gutsy runs in both innings, backed up by 4 wickets in the first half of the game and the wicket of the irritatingly good Washington Sundar in the second. He also now plays for Yorkshire, which naturally gives him a +0.5 to his rating, and anyone that doesn't like that can just fuck off.
Jof - 7
Decent game for Jof, picking up Sharma and Gill early in the first innings with some economical bowling throughout. He didn't look massively threatening in the second innings, though in his defence this is not his kind of wicket at all and he worked hard with what he had. His batting continues to entertain though, a guy with a first class average of 24 and 6 fifties who in test matches literally looks like the bat weighs 14 stone and his feet have been glued to the track using industrial-strength grouting adhesive.
"The Nut" Jack Leach - 7.5
Leachy with a soul-crushing pounding from Pant in the first innings bounced back to dismiss Sharma, Pujara, Ashwin and Nadeem, giving everyone a reminder of his capabilities both physically with ball-in-hand and mentally. A lovely little cameo in the first innings also gave Bess the support to add on some healthy runs. He seems to improve every innings, and I hope he gets a good run in the squad.
OOOOOOOH JIMMY JIMMY Anderson - 8
The guy is 38 and just bowled one of the best overs I've ever seen, splattering the dangerously in-form Shubman Gill, and scuppering Rahane who can be annoyingly resilient given the chance (though, not currently if you ask Indian fans). Going at 1.5 an over with 3 wickets in the second innings, and 17 overs backed by 2 wickets and 5 maidens in the first innings, Jimmy is just an icon of the modern game and I will get his face tattooed on my balls when he retires. If you don't believe me, fight me.
That's all folks. I would also do India's but I truly, truly don't care about them. No, I joke - but it is a lot of effort and I feel like by the time people reach the end of this alone they will be bored already and tired of my essentially recycling-quality witticisms. For the next edition, if there is demand, I'll do India too.
Well, thank you for stopping by and have a good day all you pomms, bhenchods, betichods, cunts, kiwis, braifolk, members of the Caribbean collective, Bangbros and anyone I've missed. Love and peace, and as always...

^{Epstein didn't kill himself}

Welcome to the final part of this series! Don't forget to read Parts One and Two first!

No-Balls

Remember how Virat Kohli took a wicket with his zeroth ball in T20Is? Has there ever been a situation in which a bowler has finished an innings with figures of 0-0-1-1? Unfortunately, no. It's possible, however, with the most likely circumstance being that a bowler dismisses the No. 11 with a legside stumping. Theoretically, a bowler could finish with career figures of 0-0-1-1, which would give them a strike rate of 0; now that would be truly unusual!
Nonetheless, the question remains: What is more unusual than bowling one ball in an innings? Why, bowling zero balls in an innings while still conceding runs, of course! Now it is time to consider those bowlers who have bowled in an innings while still maintaining a '0' on the first column of their figures.
In Tests, this has occurred thrice. Firstly, we have Allan Lamb. During a 1986 Test against the West Indies, England were absolutely dominated, and the Windies required just five runs to win in their second innings. Desmond Haynes hit a four off of Greg Thomas' bowling in the first over, meaning that the West Indies required just one more run for victory. Utterly defeated, England sent in Allan Lamb to roll his arm, but his first delivery was a no-ball, which gave the West Indies the victory. Lamb finished with figures of 0-0-1-0. FWIW, this is often regarded as one of England's worst tours, and you can read all about it here.
Later that same year, David Gower achieved this same feat. In the final innings of a 1986 Test between England and New Zealand, he finished with figures of 0-0-4-0. How? I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. Based on the scorecard, he bowled one delivery (which was a no-ball) for four runs, so I presume it must have been a no-ball which was struck for three. That was apparently enough for New Zealand to win as Gower didn't bowl again after that.
More recently, we have Sri Lanka's Dhammika Prasad. The Lions toured South Africa in 2011-12, but they didn't do too well in the third Test. Prasad took 2/154 in SA's first innings at an economy rate of 5.13, and he wasn't even the worst of the Sri Lankan bowlers. The Sri Lankans batted the next two innings as they were forced to follow-on, and the Saffers were left with a target of two runs. The first delivery of the first over by Prasad was a no-ball which was hit for a single by Alviro Petersen, resulting in figures of 0-0-2-0 for Prasad.
This feat has supposedly been achieved four times in ODIs, though I have by doubts. I mean, it's being claimed by Cricinfo that Pakistan's Mansoor Akhtar ended up with innings figures of 0-0-1-0 in a 1984 ODI against the West Indies, but it's also claiming that he didn't bowl a no-ball or a wide, so where did that run come from? HowStat is instead claiming that Akhtar finished with figures of 0.1-0-1-0, which would make more sense. I think this is just a scorecard error on Cricinfo's part, like the 1*(0) I mentioned in my last post.
The first actual case of this feat occurring in ODIs came in 2000, with the West Indies facing Zimbabwe. The Windies had managed a score of 232/7, but Zimbabwe found itself at 232/4 after 45 overs. For some bizarre reason, the West Indian captain, Jimmy Adams, chose not to bowl himself until 45 overs had passed, although considering his sole delivery was a wide which granted Zimbabwe the victory, the decision becomes a little more understandable.
The next case occurred in a 2006 ODI between Bangladesh and Kenya. Although Kenya fell for 184 in their innings, they had Bangladesh at 180/8 after 46 overs with two tailenders at the crease, so the match certainly hung in the balance. They entrusted all-rounder Collins Obuya with securing the win, but unfortunately, his first delivery of the match was a no-ball which was smacked for four, leaving him with figures of 0-0-5-0.
Now, this last one is very unusual indeed. Notice how in the previous section, the most I ever talked about was 0.1-0-6-0? Some of you may be wondering if it's theoretically possible to concede more than six runs from one ball, and the answer is yes, thanks to no-balls and wides resulting in runs being conceded despite not counting as 'balls'. However, the reason I never mentioned this was because it has never occurred in international cricket, ever. 0.1-0-7-0, 0.1-0-8-0, 0.1-0-9-0 etc. have never happened in any international innings, at least not yet. Heck, thanks to Kohli's zeroth-ball wicket, we know that even figures of 0-0-8-1 are possible (a no-ball which is hit for six, followed by a wide which dismisses the last batsman; note that this can only occur in Tests due to the 'free hit' rule in white-ball cricket). That has unfortunately never happened, but man, it'd be hilarious to see a bowler concede runs and take a wicket while still not technically bowling any balls!
Anyway, you know what the truly strange thing is? 0.1-0-8-0 has never happened, yet 0-0-8-0 has. Yes, there has been precisely one bowler in the history of international cricket who has conceded more than six runs in an innings despite not bowling a legal delivery. His name? Abdur Rehman.
It was the 2014 Asia Cup, and Pakistan were facing Bangladesh. To provide a rest to seamer Junaid Khan, Pakistan drafted in left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman to take his place. As you can tell from his bowling figures, it didn't go well. However, unless you already know about this match, Rehman's innings was even more bizarre than you may think.
Pakistan's captain Misbah-ul-Haq brought Rehman on in the eleventh over, and he began by bowling a beamer (a waist-high full toss) to Imrul Kayes (yes, a beamer from a spinner!). This resulted in a warning, of course, and nothing was thought of it. The very next delivery...another beamer. Imrul Kayes decided for whatever reason that it was worth playing at this delivery, and he ended up hitting the ball straight to deep midwicket. However, since it was a no-ball, he got away with it, and even scored a single in the process. Under ICC rules at the time, two beamers was enough for a bowler to be sent off, even a spin bowler. However, umpire Johan Cloete showed some leniency and allowed Rehman to continue.
Now, you'd think that Rehman would be more careful from here on out. After all, he had somehow managed to bowl two consecutive beamers despite being a spin bowler, and by the letter of the law, he should have been off. The fact that he was still bowling was due purely to an act of generosity from the umpire, who really should have told Misbah to replace him with another bowler. Rehman got more chances than he ought to have had, so surely, he'd thank his lucky stars and go on to bowl a fantastic spell?
Nope. His next delivery was yet another beamer, which was hit for four by Anamul Haque. The umpire clearly had enough and finally told Misbah to take Rehman out of the attack and bring someone else on; Fawad Alam bowled the rest of the over. This would be Rehman's final ODI, and it was probably the worst ever way to end his career. All-in-all, Rehman conceded one run from his first delivery, two from his second and five from his third; he had failed to bowl a single legal delivery. No other bowler in international cricket has been able to match this feat. In all honesty, I feel sorry for him; you do not want to be known as the guy who once finished with figures of 0-0-8-0. Of course it's difficult to deny that there is something funny about the whole situation, but I can only hope that this incident hasn't affected him too badly.
Incidentally, Bangladesh scored 326/3 in their innings; Pakistan had never chased down such a large total in ODIs before and had only reached such a total in their second innings once. At one point during the chase, they were on 225/5 and required 102 runs from 52 balls to win. However, talented 15-year-old Shahid 'Boom Boom' Afridi arrived and smashed what was at the time the second-fastest fifty in ODIs (18 balls), finishing on 59(25). He probably would have made more had he not been injured during his innings, which eventually resulted in his run-out (he apparently asked the umpires for a runner before being reminded that they had since been abolished in international cricket!). Afridi is a bit of a meme nowadays, but when he was on it, he was an absolute delight to watch.
Despite Afridi's ridiculous knock, Pakistan were still left needing 33 runs from 19 balls to win, with just four wickets remaining. Fawad Alam and Umar Akmal did a fantastic job accelerating the innings, and by the final over, Pakistan required just three runs to win with Alam and Akmal still at the crease; they had put together a partnership of 30 runs from just 13 balls faced. Al-Amin Hossain was to bowl the final over with Akmal on strike, and it seemed as if Bangladesh had blown it. However, there was more drama yet to come.
First ball: A dot. 3 from 5 required. Pakistan still on top.
Second ball: Another dot. 3 from 4 now. Akmal went for a six but failed to connect. Alam reminded him that with just three required, he didn't need to take such risks.
Third ball: A single. 2 from 3, Fawad Alam on strike. Surely, Pakistan can't lose it from here, can they?
Fourth ball: WICKET! Alam run out, Umar Akmal on strike, 2 from 2 required. Alam went for the ramp shot but failed to connect properly. Pakistan were lucky that Umar Gul (the next batsman in) wasn't on strike, else Bangladesh would have been at a clear advantage going into the final two deliveries. As it stood, the match was evenly poised with Pakistan close to choking after all the hard work put in by Afridi, Alam and Akmal.
Fifth ball: FOUR! Akmal kept his nerve and slogged the penultimate delivery to the midwicket boundary, thus giving Pakistan the victory by the barest of margins. Absolute ecstasy for Pakistan; agony, agony for Bangladesh! Shahid Afridi of course received the man-of-the-match award, but damn, now I regret not watching this live! What a match!
Anyway, I don't know how surprising this fact will seem to you, but never in the history of T20I cricket has a bowler conceded runs without bowling a legal delivery, or at least they've never maintained that throughout an innings. I was sure there'd be at least one example, but apparently not. Looks like this record is still up for grabs, so be sure to keep an eye out for it!
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Keeping All-Rounders

Traditionally, an all-rounder is a player who is adept with both the bat and the ball. I happen to subscribe to this narrow definition. However, in recent years, I've seen people refer to players who are good at both batting and keeping as 'all-rounders' (e.g. Adam Gilchrist), though I prefer to call them 'wicket-keeper-batsmen'. A few have even considered fielding in addition to batting or bowling, which is just pushing it too far in my opinion. With all this in mind, why are people ignoring players who are adept at both keeping and bowling?
Yes, I'm serious. There have been thirty-seven instances in Tests where the designated wicket-keeper has bowled. MS Dhoni has done it the most at seven times (good batsman, good wicket-keeper, good fielder, good captain and now good bowler; Dhoni is truly the all-round cricketer). Of course, in such cases, someone else has to take charge behind the stumps temporarily (for example, against New Zealand in 2014, Dhoni bowled himself for one over, with Kohli taking the gloves). Shockingly, in ten instances, the wicket-keeper has actually taken a wicket! If you look at wicket-keepers who have bowled in Tests, however, one name stands out above the rest.
Go back to 1884 and England are leading Australia 1-0 in the Ashes, requiring only a draw in the third Test to win the series. Back then, Tests in England were only three days long and declarations weren't allowed, so teams who wanted enough time to bowl the opposition out had to slog at everything and hope to be dismissed (obviously, this occasionally led to the bowling team not even trying to take wickets). Australia, who were on 532/6 on the second day, had no choice but to use this strategy to stand a chance at tying the series. What happened next was almost farcical.
Before that, however, I must introduce the Honourable Alfred Lyttelton. One of England's best amateur sportsmen of the Victorian era, he was adept not just at cricket but also at football, rackets (a British variant of squash), real tennis and the hammer throw; in fact, he was the first man to play both football and cricket for England. Despite his obvious talent, he considered himself more of a politician than an athlete, and retired from all sports at the age of 28 to pursue a political career (later becoming an MP and even the Colonial Secretary). At the time, most wicket-keepers didn't stand up to the stumps without a long stop in place, but Lyttelton was so talented that he went without.
Anyway, on the first day, with Australia cruising, the England captain brought on Lyttelton (who had never taken a first-class wicket at the time) to bowl military mediums which, by all accounts, were pretty terrible deliveries. On the second day, with Australia trying to get out, the captain once again brought on Lyttelton, who learned from the previous day and decided instead to bowl some underarm lobs. Amusingly, he gave his gloves to W. G. Grace (yes, the W. G. Grace) while keeping his pads on, which must have been quite the image.
To the surprise of everyone, Lyttelton took a wicket with his first underarm delivery when the ball lodged in the wicket-keeper's gloves, though questions were asked (including by Grace) regarding whether the batsman had actually made contact. He went on to take 4/19 in the innings, easily the best bowling performance by a designated wicket-keeper in Tests (as well the best bowling performance of all the England bowlers used in that innings). He was one wicket away from being the only wicket-keeper to take a 5fer in a Test match! Those four wickets would be the only first-class wickets that Lyttelton ever took! Despite Australia enforcing the follow-on, the match ended up being a draw, with England's second innings lasting a little over an hour.
Designated wicket-keepers have bowled in ODIs eight times (taking wickets on three occasions) and in T20Is three times (Thailand's Md Shafiqul Haque being the only one of those to take a wicket, doing so in a 2019 T20I against the Maldives). That said, none of them have reached the prowess of Alfred Lyttelton, unfortunately. We still have to wait for a designated wicket-keeper to take a 5fer in international cricket.
Finally, there have been four instances in international cricket in which all eleven players have bowled in an innings, with all of these cases happening in Tests. Never before has it happened in ODIs or T20Is, so we're still waiting for that one.
The first such instance happened in 1884, in the same Test where Lyttelton took a 4fer as wicket-keeper. That's two unusual bowling feats for the price of one!
The second instance occurred in 1980, when Australia toured Pakistan. Having scored 617 in their first innings, Australia went on to bowl all eleven of their players against Pakistan. Despite this, only one Australian bowler (Geoff Dymock) took a wicket. The match ended as a draw.
The third occasion was in a 2002 Test between India and the West Indies. On a flat deck (1,142 runs were scored for the loss of just eighteen wickets), India used eleven bowlers in the West Indies' first innings to no avail. This match was most notable, however, for Anil Kumble bowling fourteen consecutive overs (and dismissing Brian Lara in the process) with a broken jaw after being struck by Merv Dillon while batting; as Cricinfo slyly notes, Kumble 'became the first bowler to dismiss Brian Lara while bowling with a broken jaw', which I suppose counts as an unusual bowling feat in itself.
The most recent instance of all eleven bowlers being used came in 2005, during the South African tour of the West Indies. As you might have guessed, this was yet another instance where the pitch was flatter than a motorway; Cricinfo writes that '[Graeme] Smith gave everyone a bowl, perhaps in an effort to stop someone wandering off to the local rum shop in search of a more interesting way of spending the final afternoon of the series'. Mark Boucher, who had never bowled in Tests before, gave the gloves to AB de Villiers and managed to dismiss Dwayne Bravo. This time, 1,462 runs were scored in the match for the loss of just seventeen wickets, and as you can imagine, numerous individual and partnership batting records were broken (not that the spectators would have been paying enough attention to notice).
You know what's sad about this whole thing? Wicket-keepers have bowled forty-eight times in international cricket, yet on only four occasions have all eleven players bowled. That means that on forty-four occasions, the wicket-keeper bowled ahead of some of the batsmen. Just how awful do you have to be at bowling that the captain would rather trust the bloody wicket-keeper with the ball over you? Granted, on some of these occasions, the captain was the wicket-keeper, but it must be pretty embarrassing nonetheless.
​

Bonus

I've generally restricted myself to international cricket, but this is too hilarious not to include. What is the highest number of runs conceded in one over? 36, of course; just ask Stuart Broad. 36 is not the maximum possible, however; no-balls and wides can ensure that more than 36 runs are scored off one one over. This has never ever happened in international cricket, but domestic cricket is a different matter.
In List A cricket, the highest total off one over is 43. This occurred in a 2018 Ford Trophy match between Northern Districts and Central Districts (the former won by 25 runs, so they must have been dancing in the streets of Northern Districts that night). The Central Districts' Willem Ludick was the unlucky bowler on this occasion: His first delivery went for four; the next two were no-balls which were both hit for six; the second ball (fourth delivery) also went for six; the third ball went for a single; and the last three all went for six. Solid effort there.
However, that's not what I wanted to talk about. The most runs conceded off one over in first-class cricket is...well, let me explain. Firstly, no, this isn't the match where two batsmen supposedly ran between the wickets 286 times after the ball got stuck in a tree (the veracity of this urban myth is questionable, and in any case, the supposed match in which this happened didn't even have FC status; see this article for more details). Now on to the actual record.
This incident happened in a 1990 Shell Trophy match between Wellington and Canterbury. Wellington needed a win to secure the title (though a draw would have been enough if other results went their way), but there was a problem: Although Canterbury required 291 runs from 59 overs (a more-than-doable chase), they found themselves at 108/8 and so decided to shut up shop and hold out for the draw. This was inconvenient for Wellington as they wanted the win, and so once Canterbury were on 196/8, Wellington's captain Erv McSweeney hatched a truly unusual plan.
The strategy was thus: Send in batsman Bert Vance to lob numerous no-ball full tosses, which Canterbury would of course put away with ease. Once they approached the target, Canterbury would begin to go for the win, and then at that point, Wellington would begin to bowl normally and go for the win themselves. It was a high-risk, high-reward strategy, and when one thinks about it, it was a genius plan. It was unironically 4D chess, and it was brilliant.
Of Vance's first seventeen deliveries, only one was legitimate. He ended up conceding 77 runs off the over, which is now the record by quite a margin. Amusingly, the scorers were so confused by the chaos that they resorted to asking the spectators to keep track of the score, and the scoreboard was left in a frenzy. Even more amusingly, Vance only actually bowled five legitimate deliveries in the over, 'owing to the umpire's understandable miscalculation' as Cricinfo puts it.
The mathematical among you will have noticed that since Canterbury started the over at 196/8, since they scored 77 runs off it and since the target was 291, they required just 18 runs off the final over for victory. However, in a truly farcical turn of events, the scoreboard operators had given up trying to keep score at that point, so neither team knew of this fact! The Canterbury batsmen scored 17 runs from the first five balls of the final over (since Wellington did not realise that their opponents were so close to the target, they left an incredibly leaky field), but unaware that they thus needed to score just one more run for victory, they blocked the last delivery of the match!
This series began with an instance where the bowler blatantly violated the spirit of the game, and so it has ended with another such instance. Needless to say, once the situation had finally been understood, Canterbury were furious at this stunt and demanded that points be docked from Wellington. Not only did that not end up happening, but results elsewhere meant that Wellington ended up winning the championship regardless. Fortune favouring the bold, or cheats getting away with it? I'll leave that up to you, but I have to say, there's no need for urban myths such as '286 runs off one ball' when real life already provides plenty of unusual stories, as this post has hopefully shown.
​
That's it from me! Man, that was much longer than I expected; I really wanted all this to be one post, but there was too much here to cut down (the initial draft was over twice the length of the character count!), so I had little choice but to cut it into three parts. I hope you enjoyed reading all that; if you guys want, I'd be happy to do one for fielding as well, though understand that it's going to be shorter than the first two as it's much harder to dig up statistics for fielding.

I woke up and started my day with a brisk cold shower. My feet traversed the oak staircase, down to the kitchen, where I only had time to scrounge together some eggs. I then headed to work.
I got off my shift at 5, and then I made my way to get something to eat from Chik-Fil-A. I got a chicken sandwich and a milkshake, and then I made my way home after that.
I got home, and let my dog out. I got out some leftovers from the other night to make dinner, and loaded up my PC.
I play a lot of video games to relax. I basically play in my free time, like before I go to bed.
The next day I only got called into work for a couple hours, which was nice, because I was super tired. After I got home I went up to my room to play some guitar, and just jam out for a little bit. I got pretty bored of that soon. So, I just turned my Xbox on in the living room, and put my feet up to play my favorite game for a little while.
It was getting pretty late by this point, so I threw a Netflix show on to fall asleep watching. It was around midnight at this point, and I was pretty sleepy. I think I dozed off pretty soon after that, but I was woken up a little while later by some type of sound.
I couldn't make out exactly what it was, because I was half asleep, but it definitely woke me up. It was pretty loud, and I thought it came from out front of my house. It was pretty damn close anyway.
It was like a light, high pitched sound, almost like someone was playing a violin with a piece of rusty scrap metal outside of my window. I didn't really think much of it at the time. I was half asleep, and I really didn't care at the time, so I just went back to sleep.
I woke up around 11 in the morning, and I felt like absolute shit. It felt like I was hungover, which was odd because I had nothing to drink the night before. I had a horrible headache, and a slight ringing in my ear.
I went to the medicine cabinet, grabbed two Tylenol out of the bottle, and took them. A little while after that my headache started to calm down, and the ringing eventually stopped.
I had to have had 2 cups of coffee at this point, not only because I felt awful, but because I am definitely a coffee addict. There's no doubt about it. I'm a total caffeine fiend, because it really helps my focus.
Thankfully, I wasn't scheduled to work until later that day, but I was going to see how I felt about working later. I was mostly waiting to see if I was even up to it.
Something about that day felt....off. As if some presence was watching my routines as a play upon a stage. I was alone, except for Gracie, but it felt like I was being watched. I was restless, and I just didn't want to be in the house anymore. I thought that maybe it was because I wasn't feeling good earlier, so I thought maybe some fresh air would do me some good.
I got the dog's leash, loaded us up in the car, and took my Gracie for a walk to the park. I thought once I got back I would feel better from just getting some fresh air. We walked in the park for almost an hour, and while I was there I discovered something strange.
I was walking Gracie on a path in the woods which I hadn't tread recently, but could remember taking in the near-distant past. All of sudden, my dog started freaking out, and growling to the left of me. I looked over to see what she was barking at, but I couldn't see anything.
It was totally out of character for her, as I had never seen her act so defensively before. I was sure that she had definitely either seen or could sense something out there that I couldn't.
This piqued my curiosity, so I decided to investigate. I walked off the path letting her lead me. Gracie was pulling the leash so hard I tripped a couple times. She was choking herself just trying to get there.
I was walking for what seemed to be forever, until we finally got to where she was leading me. It was in the middle of the woods, but above me was a huge, circular clearing in the trees, which was super random, because there were trees all around except in this one circle.
On the ground there was nothing but grass, but it was growing in a very weird way, in this almost hexagonal shaped area. It didn't look very natural at all, and my dog was now ripping up the grass, digging for...something.
There was something under there, and she was going to find it.
Everything that came next happened so fast. Gracie had dug up what looked like a bone. It was this dirty, yellowish-white stick, and I grabbed it out of Gracie's mouth. I then examined it further, and then realized maggots were festering inside, surely making a meal of whatever marrow was left. One even crawled onto my hand, and at that point I did my best Derek Jeter impression and threw the bone halfway across the field. I yelled at Gracie not to go after it. I then started jogging back to the path, where Gracie and I ran straight back to my car, and drove home.
I was just disgusted at what I saw, but I was also very curious about why there was a relatively large bone buried in the woods.
I didn't know it then, but this was only the beginning. I didn't get much sleep that night, because I was trying to understand it all.
The odd circle in the middle of the woods with no trees in that one area. The bone that belonged to a large animal that was buried.
I wanted to go back, and maybe do a little investigating so I could really see what was happening. It was around 1 in the morning at the time, and I heard a large whoosh come over my house, almost like an airplane flying over. You know how if you stand on the ground, and a jet flies by flying low? Well, that was the sound that came over my house.
I was startled from brainstorming ideas of what could be out in the woods when the loud sound went over my house. I got right up without blinking an eye, and headed downstairs. I hopped in my car, and flew down my street towards the park. I was 2 streets away from the park at a stop sign when I saw something in the air above the woods.
It looked large and black, and I couldn't make out many details, but there was a light underneath, and it was shining down on something I couldn't quite see.
I quickly made my way towards it, trying to keep my eye on it while driving at the same time. Nobody was out this late at night, and the street was mostly dark with a few flickering street lights. I parked my car in the park's parking lot, and got out. I didn't have much on me except for my phone, which I had in hand, and I turned the flashlight app on to see by.
I was on the same path I was on earlier, and all of sudden I started to hear this chanting. It almost sounded like some kind of ritual chant, like the kind those Gregorian Monks do, but it sounded oddly pleasant. The chant almost sounded like a choir filled with beautiful voices.
I didn't want to disturb whoever was making the sound, and I didn't know what else to do, so forgetting why I was there in the first place, I started to head back. I had gotten back to my car when I saw that thing in the sky again. It was almost hovering over me for a second, and the next when I looked back up at it, it just disappeared.
It was there one second, and gone the next. It was like something out of a movie, but this was real and right in front of my face.
I hopped in my car, and quickly sped off. I got to my house, and went right to my bed. I made sure all my doors were locked first though, because I was pretty frightened. I had no idea what I had seen, so I tried forgetting about it, and just falling asleep.
I don't know how much sleep I got that night, but I woke up around 1. Knowing I wouldn't be getting any more sleep anyway, I went online.
I was researching the flying thing I saw in the sky to see if anyone saw the same thing. I quickly realized that what I saw that night was a UFO. The way it acted, and how it defied physics, added up. It hovered without moving, and then flew away within microseconds. No man made thing can do what that thing did. My brain then sparked to the second thing I witnessed: the chanting.
I messaged a couple of my online buddies about what I saw, and they suggested that it was some type of cult. I told them about how I saw the circle in the middle of the woods, and the hexagon shaped grassy area, and they sent me this article on a nearby cult ritual that took place back in the 80's where they sacrificed a little boy.
It was all over the paper back then, and whispered about around town. If you lived here you would know about this story. There was speculation about if this cult was still functioning, or if it was even still around today. Most people thought that all the members had either died out or moved on.
So, I was sitting there thinking to myself about how I just found this strange cult that nobody knows about. Now, I really wondered if the UFO was connected to this "strange cult".
I tried to go about my day like usual. I went grocery shopping, and ran a couple other errands. While I was out I saw this really cool laser, which was green like the kind of tactical laser they use in the military. I got it for around $50, because I'm into that type of weird stuff. I wanted to use it next time I went out to explore the woods, and maybe to mess around with a couple of my neighbors.
Nothing odd happened that week until Saturday. This is when I saw something I never should have seen.
It was Saturday night, around 3 in the morning. The moon was full, and the wackos were out. You know what they say about the full moon and the crazies? Well, tonight that was the truth. I couldn't help myself but to explore the dark and spooky woods.
I really wanted to know where that beautiful chant was coming from. The way I would describe it would almost be like a siren's calling. A siren is a mythical creature that would lure in unknowing sailors to their death by thier enchanting song. It was like this, but a choir all in unison, together chanting this song. I still can't describe it in words, but I needed to find the source of it, and I was going to. So, I was walking around on and off the path until I came across where I witnessed it last.
I saw a dimly lit flame far ahead of me in the woods. I couldn't make much out around it though, because of the trees and brush around me. I started to make my way over to it, watching my steps so I wouldn't alert anyone to my prescence.
If I was going to see what was happening I would need to do it secretly and silently. I thought knew what I was getting myself into when reading those articles online. This was a cult where they did rituals to someone, or something, for God knows what reason. I could feel my adrenaline start kicking in just thinking about what I might see. For me, the danger just added to my excitement. It was like a key to my own personal door of blissfulness.
I believe that once you aren't afraid of death and the unknown then you can unlock the real joy of life.
Some might say I am a thrill seeker, but I like to call it my addiction. When I am in a situation I shouldn't be in, I feel as if I am whole. I break through a threshold of right and wrong, and the reward is stimulation to my mind. It might sound a bit crazy to you, but aren't we all a bit crazy in some ways?
Anyways, as I was creeping up on this fire I saw multiple people around it. I ducked down in the brush, trying to camouflage myself as best as I can. I was glad that I had thought to wear dark clothes that night. It really helped me to camouflage myself better in the dark woods.
I started to listen to what these people were saying. I was probably 30 yards away at this point. They began to chant that song, and it filled the air with this almost joyous feeling. I felt good just listening to it. It wasn't scary, and it didn't make me feel like I was in danger. I was just oddly at peace. I continued to watch to see what they were going to do next.
They started to switch from the chant to a constant repetition of this one word which seemed to be in some type of (possibly) ancient language I didn't recognize. They repeated this one word over and over again. I had no clue what would happen next, but then they doused the fire in gasoline, shooting embers up into the moonlit sky.
All of sudden I remember seeing someone bring some type of squealing animal out. The creature had to be in pain, because of the cries that this animal was making. They laid it on the ground, and sprinkled it with some sort of dust while continuing the chanting. I saw one of the members take a large knife that was glowing red from the fire. He took the knife and sank it right into the animal's neck, spewing blood everywhere, as the poor thing cried out one last time.
They then took the lifeless corpse of the animal, and threw it into the raging fire in the middle of the circle. It caught pretty quickly, and suddenly a putrid smell rushed my nose. It was the smell of rotten flesh being boiling. They had all began to chant louder and louder, all rising up, stretching their arms and lifting their hands to the sky like they were all reaching for something.
I was in shock of what I just saw, but I wasn't scared. My adrenaline now was pumping so fast through my veins I could feel it. I knew I had to get out of there before the sunrise, which would be soon. It was almost 5 am at this point. The sun would be coming up, and revealing my position, within the hour.
Out of nowhere they all stopped, and that made me nervous. It was dead quite to the point where you could hear a pin drop. I heard distant birds chirping, and a couple crickets here and there. I then felt something slither across my leg. This made me jump a little, because I wasn't too fond of snakes, but I knew I still needed to remain calm. As I moved my leg a branch cracked under me. At this point it was still dead quiet, and I knew someone had to have heard that. I looked up towards where the ritual was taking place. I peeked my head over the brush, and saw someone looking directly at me.
Then, as if the rest of the world quit existing, it was me and this cult member, eye to eye, about 30 yards apart. There were so many thoughts going through my mind at the time, but the one that stood out the most was: RUN.
I stood up, and with my adrenaline pumped legs, ran as fast as I could back to the path. I was pretty muddy from laying down in the dirt for the last hour, and I looked like shit. I wanted to look back to see if anyone was chasing after me, but I was too focused on getting to my car and getting the hell out of this park.
I got back to my car. Clicking the unlock button on my keys multiple times before it opened, and finally I got in the driver's seat. I locked my doors, and turned the engine on. It was still fairly dark out at this time, and my car lights were on. The lights were pointed right towards where I just ran from. It was foggy, but I could make out an abnormally tall man with some type of mask on in the distance.
The man was standing on the path holding something in his hands. I tried making out what it was, and it looked like it could be a baseball bat with nails in it. I put my car in reverse, and sped out of there trying to make sense of what just happened.
The rest of the day I just sat in my bed, thinking. I sat there for hours just trying to understand what I saw. I knew that I saw a cult doing a ritual. I wondered what that man would have done to me if he ever caught up to me. Knowing me, despite the events that had happened that night, it wouldn't stop me from exploring even more. That was yesterday.
I went to Walmart today, and bought some motion activated cameras, and some other kinds of trail cameras (like the kind that hunters use) that take pictures every few minutes. They also have night vision, too. All the videos and pictures that are taken on these cameras will be sent directly to my phone via an app.
I plan on setting these cameras up where the ritual happened. There is a chance I will get nothing back, because the cultists might go somewhere else. Otherwise, I plan to record them doing….whatever it was they were doing. Either way, I am planning on setting these up later today while it is light out, and will report back with what I get.
Update: I just got back from setting everything up, and everything is good to go. I can access the live feed from my cell phone, which is definitely going to come in handy. I also went back to where Gracie found that bone to see if I could find anything else. The last time I was there with my dog I ran off in a hurry.
While I was looking around I found a piece of paper that was pretty ripped up laying on the ground. It was pinned down under this rock, so it wouldn't blow away from the wind. I started to try and make out what was written on it.
I could only make out a few sentences. Here is what it said:
"The blood of the little one is forever sacred. We bless our sacrifice with the ashes of our past. Unison is all and all is forever. ηγέτης χαλάζι"
There was this ancient language, and I tried looking up what it meant. After a few Google searches I discovered that it was in Greek, and it meant "Hail Leader", as in the one who they sacrificed to.
I found it amusing that the language they were using was Greek. I reasoned that this cult must stem back all the way to ancient Greece.
It was around 9pm now, and I was preparing myself for the night.
Before I had left the woods I made sure that when I walked in front of where I placed the cameras that they would all take my picture. The cameras worked just like they should, with very high quality pictures. The only thing I was worried about was if I would be able to make out any pictures that were taken in the dark.
There was a night vision mode on the cameras, so I hope that it doesn't make the quality unbearable. I bought this one specific camera that had this really high tech thermal lens. It takes a picture if it detects body heat. So nobody and nothing that is warm-blooded could pass by it without getting their picture taken.
For what this whole situation is, I think I am prepared pretty well. I don't really have a plan B if something goes wrong, so I guess I'll keep this post saved on my computer. This way if something bad happens to me, or I go missing, then whoever finds this will know what was happening at the time.
I made myself some dinner, and put some Netflix on to make time go by faster until it was time to leave. I planned on leaving around 2 AM, and to be near the park just watching the cameras on my phone. I was a decently patient person, so I could sit there for hours and wait until something happens.
After watching a couple episodes of my favorite show I got up to go to the bathroom. My bathroom has a window that you can see my backyard from. I was just doing my business when I thought I heard something rustling around out back.
I peeked through the blinds from my bathroom, and didn't see anyone. I washed my hands, and headed downstairs to turn the outside lights on.
I had a way better angle now to view the whole backyard. I turned the lights on, but I didn't see anything then either. I started to chalk it up to my mind just playing dumb tricks on me, because of what I would be doing that night. I turned the lights back off, and all of sudden I could see this shadowy figure that was far back at the edge of my fence.
It was just standing there, apparently doing nothing. I closed my eyes, holding them shut for a long moment before I opened them again, because maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me. When I opened my eyes again it was still there.
The figure was solid black, and unusually tall. I would say it had to be at least 7 feet tall. I turned my lights back on, and it instantly disappeared. It was almost 1 AM at this point, but I felt compelled to leave early. I made sure all my doors were locked, and I headed to my car. Tonight was just getting started.
I got into my car, put my keys in the ignition, started the engine, and I pulled out of my driveway. I headed to the parking lot of a closed coffee shop that was nearby to the woods. I turned my car off, and plugged my phone in to charge it. I loaded up the camera app to see what was currently going on, and there was nothing. What a surprise I thought.
I'm not too sure how long I waited, but it had to have been a few hours, before something caught my interest.
A notification popped up saying Camera 01 has activity. Click here for details. I clicked the notification, and I pulled the feed up. I couldn't make anything out, so I turned the night vision mode on. As I turned this mode on I could see to the far left of the screen two tiny, glowing eyes.
I tried zooming in, but it wouldn't let me. I swiped over to my other cameras, to try to make sense of what I was seeing. Camera 02 was the same, but now there was double the eyes. You know how a cat's eyes glow in the dark? Well, it was the same thing, but had to have been 7 feet in the air.
I went to my third camera, and I could finally make out a person. They had to be wearing some kind of dark colored robe, because I couldn't make out any features on it. It also had that weird mask on. It appeared to be some type of animal skull with sticks coming out of it.
This thing was wearing an animal's skull on its head.
Then, I remembered I had my thermal camera. I quickly pulled up the video feed, and clicked the Scan Area option.
This was the oddest thing, because it should have lit up like a Christmas tree in shades of red. It was actually quite the opposite. These things were cold as ice. No high temperatures were recorded. I only knew where they were, because their bodies were outlined in the cool blue color for temperatures 40 degrees and below. As I was focusing on this something else caught my eye.
The temperature meter lit up in the middle of the circle. It was the fire, and the temperature meter was the highest it could get. The ritual was beginning.
This didn't make any sense at all. If they were human it would be reading above 98 degrees, but these things in dark robes were colder than ice. The meter doesn't read below 40 degrees, so I can only assume they had ice water for blood.
I looked at the clock, and saw that it was 4 am, and shit was now getting real. My curiosity was beyond peaked at this point.
Then, out of nowhere, something lit up the camera with a bright light. I couldn't see anything but this large, super bright light. I switched over to my thermal camera to see what it was reading: Above 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
This was some crazy shit! The huge light (which I still have no clue as to where it came from) was hotter than that fire. I had only been looking at this light for a minute when I started to get error warnings from the apps. The errors read Camera nonfunctional ... Please reset.
I was really curious now that all of my cameras weren't working because of the heat.
This huge ass light from the sky melted my cameras, and somehow these "people" are still alive?
This was impossible! It had to be a mistake of some kind. An equipment malfunction of some kind maybe, because if this light was hotter than the fire, then shouldn't it kill those things?
I was on my way over to the park, and that's when it hit me. The light was from that UFO I saw earlier in the week. That was the only explanation I could come up with.
I just gotten to the park, and parked my car in the lot. I felt the adrenaline starting to slowly course its way through my body. I was moments away from seeing what was going on in the middle of the woods.
I was walking on the path, and I slowly began to see this very bright, exposing light. It looked like a spotlight, but was shining directly in my face. I was so fascinated, and curious as hell, to see what it was. It was still hovering over where the ritual was taking place.
I crept my way down into the brush, and that's when I saw Him. He was wearing this dark raggy looking robe, that large animal skull mask on his head, and had bright blue piercing eyes. When I tell you those eyes stared through your soul, I mean it.
It was obvious to me that these cult members weren't human. The way they did everything so in unison without missing a beat. The way they walked with their long legs. Most of the members were at least 7 feet tall or so. The tallest one was probably 8 feet, with these long inhuman arms. The way they stretched and morphed was unnerving.
I saw Him bend down, and it almost looked like He broke His arm, and then snapped it back into place without flinching. I found all of this absolutely fascinating.
Every bit of it pumped more adrenaline through my veins and into my brain. I was feeling amazing, but also killer focused.
I was now on a task to get a picture of this UFO. I took my phone out, and brought the camera app up. I didn't blink once, and zoomed in on the light. The damn light was so bright it wouldn't focus for one second. I held the focus to sustain it, and it started to clear at this point when I saw Him. He looked over towards me, and didn't move. He just stood there without breathing, staring at me.
This thing, this monstrosity, in not even 20 feet away from me, was staring through me with those piercing, blue, unnatural eyes. I had no clue what to do at this point, so I took the picture and bolted.
When I thought I couldn't have ran faster, I was overcome by my fight or flight instinct of "I know I am going to die", and I ran faster than ever. I began to hear multiple voices of THEM yelling in this deep ancient dialect. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before.
I was running on the path at this point, when I felt this horrible stomach cramp. The cramp was accompanied by that familiar piercing headache, and a dull ringing in my ears. My survival instincts kicked in to overdrive, screaming at me to get to my car. A few blurry moment s later, and I got back to the parking lot. I already had my car unlocked, so I jumped in, and turned my engine on faster than I ever had before.
I got out of there, leaving skid marks behind me, and then while I was driving down the road I felt an instant sense of relief and safety. I was safe, for now at least...
But that is it, isn't it. I have no clue whether or not I'll be alive in the next few days. I've decided to put my house up for sale, and legally change my name. I've already quit my job, and I'm ready to leave this shitty town behind. I'll be posting this document of my experience with this cult. I just hope they don't find me...
... Or maybe they already have. The reason I say that is because I've had some weird shit happen to me recently. While I was going to my local grocery store the other day I saw something strange. I was coming out of the store while looking at my phone, and all of sudden it was a notification from the camera app.
You see, I obviously never went back there. I thought that the notification had to be a glitch, since I knew the damn cameras were all apparently destroyed.
It said "Camera 01 has activity. Click here for details." I clicked on it, and what I saw shocked me.
It was a child, all alone with only a hat on his head. Then, one of those things wearing a dark robe came over, blocking the camera's view. I couldn't see what was happening, because he was standing in front of it at this point. My stomach sank just thinking about what I was about to witness, but then it just went black. The screen cut out and that damn message popped up. "Camera nonfunctional. Please reset."
What happened next is why I am leaving town and never coming back.
I had began to feel this weight fall over my chest, like an elephant was sitting on me. Then, that ringing in my ear started, just like the night I ran away from that thing. I then saw my phone start to glitch out, and it started to get extremely hot. I mean like when you leave it in the sun all day hot. It began giving a message saying "High temperature alert. Please let phone cool before using again."
I almost couldn't hold it, because it was so hot. I just put it in my pocket thinking (hoping) it was just a stupid glitch.
Then, my phone began playing a song at full volume.
It was the beautiful song that the cult member's were chanting in the woods. I neither had made a recording of their chant, nor did I find it anywhere on the web. My phone had accessed this audio from some external source, but only God knows where it came from.
This is what made me tip. This was the last straw for me, and I was no longer curious about this fucked up ancient extraterrestrial cult.
I shut my phone off, and threw it in the grocery store trash can. I'm writing all this on my new phone while sitting on a plane awaiting take off. I got a solid cash offer on my house, and we settled on a very lush price, so Gracie and I are gone!
I'll probably wind up somewhere in Europe. Maybe, I'll own a business, like a vineyard off the Bay of Naples. Maybe, I'll find something in the Maldives Islands right off the coast of India.
I will tell you this much, whoever may be reading this. I'm about to fly somewhere where I can hopefully begin a new life without this constant fear of these inhuman things that are lurking in your town.
I saw something I shouldn't have seen, and maybe went too far exploring it. I've experienced a lot in life, and I don't care what people say. I know I'm not in control of what happens next, and I've already accepted it. I'll either eventually live out my life somewhere nice and warm, or these supernatural things will find me and end my life one day.
I wish I still had that picture I had taken as proof, but the light had melted the camera lens on my now discarded previous phone, and the picture had ended up as a distorted mess anyway.
I don't want to know how they might end me, or what they might do to me. I just hope this message- this warning- gets out to the public. There are otherworldly things out there, whether or not you believe it. It's real, and I have seen it with my own eyes.
Goodbye now, and wish me luck on wherever I wind up going. Remember to be safe out there, and live life to its fullest, because you never know what could be out there, just waiting for you.
T

There's no cricket on, so I thought I might as well add some guidance to the hordes of polls and ranking discussions. Here's a fairly detailed look at some of the game's greatest seam bowlers. There's too much information here for me to annotate everything, so I invite you to use the figures and draw some of your own conclusions.
My initial cutoff is at least 200 wickets, and an average beneath 30.
I find the overall strike rates and averages of fast bowlers during the span of each player's career, and for greater accuracy I exclude the player in question's contribution to those figures. Eg: During Andy Caddick's career, pace bowlers bowled 520764 balls, conceded 252109 runs, took 8282 wickets. Andy Caddick bowled 13558 balls, conceded 6999 runs, took 234 wickets. So all other pace bowlers combined for 507206 balls, 245110 runs conceded, 8048 wickets. The era figures are calculated from these numbers.
I then show a strike rate/average 'gap', the era figure subtracted from the player's figure to show where they stand. Think of it economically - you have a finite number of runs and want to buy a wicket, Michael Holding offers a price about 6 runs cheaper than his competitors.

Player	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
James Anderson	584	56.12842466	26.83219178	60.6722061	32.42460087	4.543781438	5.59240909
Glenn McGrath	563	51.95026643	21.64476021	63.12195982	32.0041417	11.17169339	10.35938149
Courtney Walsh	519	57.84007707	24.44701349	63.48548342	30.03786526	5.645406345	5.590851776
Stuart Broad	485	57.89484536	28.50927835	59.97355474	31.61900369	2.078709375	3.10972534
Dale Steyn	439	42.38724374	22.95444191	60.9078846	32.48557487	18.52064086	9.531132952
Kapil Dev	434	63.91705069	29.64746544	63.55484417	29.80780382	-0.362206526	0.16033838
Richard Hadlee	431	50.85382831	22.29930394	64.56143324	30.17600775	13.70760493	7.876703803
Shaun Pollock	421	57.8456057	23.11876485	62.85831426	32.35936308	5.012708563	9.240598236
Wasim Akram	414	54.65458937	23.62077295	63.78736655	30.36983986	9.132777176	6.749066911
Curtly Ambrose	405	54.57530864	20.99012346	63.21567209	29.99553948	8.64036345	9.005416025
Makhaya Ntini	390	53.42051282	28.82564103	63.06232267	32.93053517	9.641809849	4.104894147
Ian Botham	383	56.95822454	28.40208877	63.31815199	29.4646279	6.359927445	1.062539131
Malcolm Marshall	376	46.76595745	20.94680851	63.76241029	30.09135766	16.99645284	9.144549145
Waqar Younis	373	43.54959786	23.56032172	63.83353198	30.55294001	20.28393413	6.992618292
Imran Khan	362	53.75138122	22.8121547	64.17171294	29.93074908	10.42033172	7.118594387
Dennis Lillee	355	52.01971831	23.92394366	65.3047958	29.66635444	13.28507749	5.742410778
Chaminda Vaas	355	66.02253521	29.58028169	62.32701274	31.98430214	-3.695522466	2.404020455
Allan Donald	330	47.02727273	22.25454545	64.16867155	30.49751569	17.14139882	8.242970236
Bob Willis	325	53.40615385	25.2	65.06281451	29.56949505	11.65666066	4.369495055
Mitchell Johnson	313	51.12140575	28.4057508	62.77825739	33.52501998	11.65685164	5.119269185
Morne Morkel	309	53.39158576	27.66990291	61.47594424	32.66400629	8.084358484	4.994103382
Fred Trueman	307	49.43973941	21.57980456	73.15055922	28.793232	23.71081981	7.213427444
Craig McDermott	291	56.99656357	28.63230241	63.87675946	30.12840163	6.880195888	1.496099221
Tim Southee	284	57.72183099	29.00352113	60.07495618	31.56944015	2.353125195	2.565919022
Trent Boult	267	55.70786517	27.65543071	58.85852373	30.33626245	3.150658557	2.680831737
Joel Garner	259	50.84555985	20.97683398	63.17761693	29.53600594	12.33205708	8.559171962
Jason Gillespie	259	54.95752896	26.13899614	62.94969565	31.97921213	7.99216669	5.840215989
Brian Statham	252	63.71428571	24.8452381	72.10827028	28.4983042	8.39398457	3.653066105
Michael Holding	249	50.92369478	23.68674699	63.04164551	29.57491112	12.11795073	5.888164134
Graham McKenzie	246	71.87398374	29.78861789	71.62830114	30.15411904	-0.245682597	0.365501152
Mitchell Starc	244	48.16803279	26.9795082	59.0945422	30.41574709	10.92650941	3.436238895
Alec Bedser	236	67.44915254	24.89830508	74.77192982	29.5214761	7.322777282	4.623171019
Andy Caddick	234	57.94017094	29.91025641	63.02261431	30.45601392	5.082443374	0.545757506
Darren Gough	229	51.62008734	28.39737991	62.75003287	30.48454964	11.12994554	2.087169726
Ray Lindwall	228	59.86842105	23.03070175	74.89086385	28.58123	15.02244279	5.550528249
Vernon Philander	224	50.85267857	22.32142857	58.90713559	30.56227293	8.054457019	8.240844354
Chris Cairns	218	53.66055046	29.40366972	63.74806438	30.92057416	10.08751392	1.516904438
Heath Streak	216	62.77314815	28.14351852	62.69429009	31.29565051	-0.078858054	3.152131989
Merv Hughes	212	57.94811321	28.38207547	64.86341576	30.40767275	6.915302554	2.025597281
Neil Wagner	206	52.15048544	26.60194175	58.78626677	30.2320442	6.635781335	3.630102451
Andy Roberts	202	55.12376238	25.61386139	62.95222655	28.88305231	7.828464169	3.269190927
John Snow	202	59.50990099	26.66831683	70.83429542	30.78471986	11.32439443	4.116403032
Jeff Thomson	200	52.675	28.005	64.03617443	29.5819293	11.36117443	1.576929303

Interesting make up of this group: Australia 10, England 10, South Africa 6, West Indies 6, New Zealand 5, Pakistan 3, India 1, Sri Lanka 1, Zimbabwe 1. The sole representatives from India and Sri Lanka - Kapil Dev and Chaminda Vaas - stand out as the least impressive compared to their peers, reinforcing my opinion that these 2 countries have been woefully behind everyone else in the fast bowling department, the only of the big 8 nations not to produce a truly great fast bowler. India have Shami who's comfortably on course to join this company, and Bumrah with even more talent but with a weird truncated test career so far and doubts over how much longevity his action will allow. Bangladesh is the only long time test nation with no one here, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
Now from this data + my own judgement, I've selected 15 bowlers to look more closely at:

Player	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
James Anderson	584	56.1284	26.8322	60.6722	32.4246	4.5438	5.5924
Glenn McGrath	563	51.9503	21.6448	63.122	32.0041	11.1717	10.3594
Courtney Walsh	519	57.8401	24.447	63.4855	30.0379	5.6454	5.5909
Dale Steyn	439	42.3872	22.9544	60.9079	32.4856	18.5206	9.5311
Richard Hadlee	431	50.8538	22.2993	64.5614	30.176	13.7076	7.8767
Shaun Pollock	421	57.8456	23.1188	62.8583	32.3594	5.0127	9.2406
Wasim Akram	414	54.6546	23.6208	63.7874	30.3698	9.1328	6.7491
Curtly Ambrose	405	54.5753	20.9901	63.2157	29.9955	8.6404	9.0054
Malcolm Marshall	376	46.766	20.9468	63.7624	30.0914	16.9965	9.1445
Waqar Younis	373	43.5496	23.5603	63.8335	30.5529	20.2839	6.9926
Imran Khan	362	53.7514	22.8122	64.1717	29.9307	10.4203	7.1186
Dennis Lillee	355	52.0197	23.9239	65.3048	29.6664	13.2851	5.7424
Allan Donald	330	47.0273	22.2545	64.1687	30.4975	17.1414	8.243
Fred Trueman	307	49.4397	21.5798	73.1506	28.7932	23.7108	7.2134
Joel Garner	259	50.8456	20.9768	63.1776	29.536	12.3321	8.5592

Please toggle the ordering of these tables by clicking on a column heading in order to see how these players stand against each other in each aspect. But in short:
Best Strike Rate - 1) Steyn 2) Waqar 3) Marshall 4) Donald 5) Trueman
Best Average - 1) Marshall 2) Garner 3) Ambrose 4) Trueman 5) McGrath
Biggest Strike Rate Gap - 1) Trueman 2) Waqar 3) Steyn 4) Donald 5) Marshall
Biggest Average Gap - 1) McGrath 2) Steyn 3) Pollock 4) Marshall 5) Ambrose
Now let's look at each player's performances against each opposition, and in each country. Again we compare these numbers to the over performance of seamers against/in each nation during the span of the player's career, excluding the subject of the analysis.
Anderson Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	104	67.7981	34.5673	65.2731	37.7018	-2.525	3.1345
Bangladesh	9	56	24.7778	46.6204	24.1126	-9.38	-0.6652
India	110	54.8818	25.9818	66.7363	35.6383	11.8545	9.6565
New Zealand	60	49.2167	26.8333	58.5091	31.8933	9.2924	5.06
Pakistan	63	48.6349	18.5873	63.5772	31.8846	14.9423	13.2973
South Africa	93	64.086	31.5269	68.0326	36.6637	3.9466	5.1368
Sri Lanka	52	51.8269	23.8654	58.7866	31.2834	6.9596	7.418
West Indies	82	50.378	22.1585	55.3864	28.495	5.0083	6.3365
Zimbabwe	11	34.9091	20.2727	51.8916	24.1084	16.9825	3.8356

Anderson In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	60	72.05	35.4333	61.3288	33.2319	-10.7212	-2.2014
England	368	49.7853	23.7663	57.4824	31.9926	7.697	8.2263
India	26	71.5	33.4615	70	37.0759	-1.5	3.6144
New Zealand	26	58.8462	32.8077	60.4811	32.4559	1.6349	-0.35182
South Africa	34	67.9706	34.6176	53.2031	28.5507	-14.7675	-6.067
Sri Lanka	12	88.3333	46.0833	64.1703	35.1094	-24.1631	-10.9739
UAE	22	58.9091	20.5455	75.2574	35.8168	16.3483	15.2714
West Indies	36	57.75	24.8056	59.4715	29.6342	1.7215	4.8287

McGrath Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Bangladesh	5	66.2	24.8	43.39	20.527	-22.81	-4.273
England	157	46.3694	20.9299	63.2765	31.9333	16.9071	11.0034
India	51	50.1569	18.6471	67.9531	33.6256	17.7962	14.9785
New Zealand	57	60.1228	25.3333	62.8217	30.0915	2.6989	4.7582
Pakistan	80	47.9375	21.7	63.6444	33.1457	15.7069	11.4457
South Africa	57	71.614	27.3333	70.6572	36.1346	-0.9568	8.8013
Sri Lanka	37	49.4054	22.2432	61.7617	31.7822	12.3563	9.539
West Indies	110	49.7727	19.3818	57.5181	28.6395	7.7454	9.2577
Zimbabwe	6	54	15	56.4474	25.3329	2.4474	10.3329

McGrath in

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	289	54.7716	22.4325	67.5614	36.2477	12.7898	13.8151
England	87	39.8736	19.3448	60.5088	32.3007	20.6352	12.9559
India	33	56.9697	21.303	71.9914	35.1363	15.0212	13.8332
New Zealand	30	48.3333	18.4	62.469	30.8581	14.1357	12.4581
Pakistan	19	63.4737	31	61.724	32.2049	-1.7497	1.2049
South Africa	29	63.1724	23.6207	58.874	29.4379	-4.2984	5.8172
Sri Lanka	10	64.9	29.2	65.1181	34.3584	0.2181	5.1584
UAE	10	21.6	7.4	55.597	28.2836	33.997	20.8834
West Indies	50	47.86	20.7	63.7876	30.4011	15.9276	9.7011
Zimbabwe	6	54	15	65.1058	30.3901	11.1058	15.3901

Walsh Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	135	63.4074	28.6815	69.3947	34.1124	5.9873	5.4309
England	145	60.8138	25.4	60.0163	28.4238	-0.7975	3.0238
India	65	48.0615	20.2462	67.7857	32.4248	19.7242	12.1786
New Zealand	43	52.3721	21.9302	67.46	29.692	15.0879	7.7618
Pakistan	63	53.4921	23.0476	62.1856	29.8448	8.6935	6.7972
South Africa	51	55.4706	19.8039	71.7131	33.7475	16.2425	13.9436
Sri Lanka	8	72.875	34.75	59.2221	27.6961	-13.6529	-7.0539
Zimbabwe	9	53.6667	14.8889	59.603	24.8488	5.9364	9.9599

Walsh In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	72	74.2083	34.3333	63.3184	29.9778	-10.89	-4.3555
England	87	58.9425	24.4483	62.7392	31.198	3.7967	6.7497
India	43	38.7907	18.5581	70.394	34.9522	31.6033	16.3941
New Zealand	32	50.3125	20.75	69.6058	31.8301	19.2933	11.0801
Pakistan	33	49.5758	21.9091	59.2275	28.0844	9.6517	6.1753
South Africa	22	43.3182	18.9091	62.346	27.8944	19.0279	8.9853
Sri Lanka	1	181	60	65.7267	31.3859	-115.2733	-28.6141
West Indies	229	58.952	23.7031	56.7297	27.1536	-2.2222	3.4506

Steyn Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	70	46.2857	27.4714	64.8245	37.15	18.5388	9.6785
Bangladesh	28	32.7857	17.3571	48.8542	25.5599	16.0685	8.2028
England	50	55.28	31.62	61.8408	33.4903	6.5608	1.8703
India	65	41.8615	21.5385	65.1833	34.7861	23.3218	13.2477
New Zealand	68	33.0294	16.0441	57.3731	31.8799	24.3437	15.8357
Pakistan	59	44.8814	23.2881	63.7431	31.5636	18.8618	8.2754
Sri Lanka	43	48.7209	27.814	57.6372	30.6818	8.9162	2.8679
West Indies	48	35.6667	19.625	56.6762	28.4123	21.0096	8.7873
Zimbabwe	8	33	10.5	51.5404	23.5053	18.5404	13.0053

Steyn In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	31	49.0645	28.7742	60.8918	32.9321	11.8273	4.1579
Bangladesh	20	30.3	14.2	68.7728	37.3408	38.4728	23.1408
England	23	55.4348	31.6522	56.7759	31.0539	1.3411	-0.5983
India	26	37.1154	21.3846	72.4828	38.9571	35.3675	17.5725
New Zealand	9	66.8889	26.5556	58.9612	32.0022	-7.9277	5.4466
Pakistan	9	37	24.6667	69.8386	40.3094	32.8386	15.6428
South Africa	261	40.2146	21.6207	54.5769	29.187	14.3623	7.5663
Sri Lanka	23	49.4348	30.3478	64.6679	35.8558	15.2331	5.5079
UAE	14	65.2857	32.7857	74.7233	35.1044	9.4376	2.3187
West Indies	15	33	18.1333	60.1571	29.653	27.1571	11.5197
Zimbabwe	8	33	10.5	62.4328	30.4925	29.4328	19.9925

Hadlee Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	130	46.9154	20.5692	68.0352	31.8782	21.1198	11.3089
England	97	60.3402	24.732	63.2423	27.6092	2.9021	2.8773
India	65	47.7846	22.9692	62.2702	29.7138	14.4856	6.7445
Pakistan	51	57.8235	28.3922	66.4156	32.3738	8.592	3.9817
Sri Lanka	37	37.973	12.7838	60.0407	27.5704	22.0678	14.7866
West Indies	51	49.1373	22.0392	61.1609	32.5986	12.0236	10.5594

Hadlee In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	77	43.8052	17.8312	63.4857	29.1189	19.6805	11.2877
England	70	58.7857	24.9429	62.54623	29.136	3.7605	4.1931
India	31	44.0968	22.2258	63.1053	31.6489	19.0085	9.4231
New Zealand	201	53.0498	22.9602	77.237	32.523	24.1876	9.5628
Pakistan	10	60.2	44.7	71.3338	33.9684	11.1338	-10.7316
Sri Lanka	27	34.8148	12.2963	60.4744	28.1535	25.6596	15.8572
West Indies	15	57.2	27.26667	58.5507	28.8378	1.3507	1.5711

Pollock Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	40	80.8	36.85	70.602	40.9524	-10.198	4.1024
Bangladesh	9	41.3333	15.4444	43.1747	20.7958	1.8414	5.3514
England	91	62.8462	23.7363	62.2898	32.1772	-0.5563	8.441
India	52	52.1154	19.6346	68.2345	34.0539	16.1191	14.4193
New Zealand	43	56.7907	21.9302	63.2797	31.0628	6.489	9.1326
Pakistan	45	52.6	21.3556	62.948	33.10678	10.348	11.7512
Sri Lanka	48	51.6875	22.3333	62.8386	33.5139	11.1511	11.1805
West Indies	70	57.3286	22.9571	55.9602	27.4114	-1.3684	4.4543
Zimbabwe	23	44.2174	15.4783	57.7069	26.1597	13.49	10.6815

Pollock In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	32	76.6875	34.3125	64.3092	34.0187	-12.3783	-0.2938
Bangladesh	7	34.2857	10.8571	58.7458	30.1229	24.4601	19.2658
England	35	68.0286	25.2571	59.5663	32.1904	-8.4623	6.9332
India	13	75.3077	27.3846	73.5982	35.8761	-1.7095	8.4915
New Zealand	26	57	23	62.4495	31.1737	5.4495	8.1737
Pakistan	18	54.4444	22.5556	63.4888	33.9227	9.0443	11.3671
South Africa	235	52.566	21.0851	57.5821	30.315	5.0162	9.2299
Sri Lanka	22	55.0909	25.1364	67.0383	35.5275	11.9474	10.3911
West Indies	20	78.65	28.75	64.2508	30.5613	-14.3992	1.8113
Zimbabwe	13	53.7692	17.8462	66.3578	31.9057	12.5886	14.0595

Akram Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	50	59.8	25.76	70.5064	35.2061	10.7064	9.4461
Bangladesh	0	-	-	46.2411	20.0804	-	-
England	57	69.8596	30.6667	59.51795	28.1914	-10.3417	-2.4752
India	45	65.0667	28.8667	66.5724	31.669	1.5058	2.8023
New Zealand	60	42.1	17.0167	68.2288	30.3564	26.1288	13.3397
South Africa	13	65.0769	29.7692	71.147	33.4106	6.0701	3.6414
Sri Lanka	63	51.9683	21.2698	61.4524	29.6385	9.4842	8.3686
West Indies	79	44.9367	20.8228	57.2293	28.3868	12.2926	7.564
Zimbabwe	47	51.0851	21.2128	48.6706	26.7167	-2.4145	5.504

Akram In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	36	58.0833	24.0556	65.2464	31.0938	7.163	7.0383
Bangladesh	5	28.4	16.6	72.5862	34.5172	44.1862	17.9172
England	53	63.9057	28.7358	61.9519	31.0778	-1.9538	2.342
India	27	62.963	27.7037	68.7217	34.0446	5.7588	6.3409
New Zealand	50	41.06	17.18	68.9652	31.753	27.9052	14.573
Pakistan	154	51.1169	22.2273	60.1581	29.03403	9.0412	6.8068
South Africa	7	86.5714	39	61.7038	27.8648	-24.8677	-11.1352
Sri Lanka	30	53.6667	20.4333	67.2853	33.1097	13.6187	12.6764
West Indies	35	58.5429	26.8857	57.0081	26.6656	-1.5347	-0.2201
Zimbabwe	17	65.7059	26.4706	71.275	30.9172	5.5691	4.4466

Ambrose Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	128	52.3125	21.2344	58.761	27.6066	6.4485	6.3722
England	164	50.5122	18.7927	67.3251	34.6518	16.8129	15.8591
India	15	99.4	38.2667	70.4929	34.2196	-28.9071	-4.047
New Zealand	13	61.4615	21.3077	71.3207	34.6966	9.8592	13.3889
Pakistan	42	68.3571	27.8571	53.6426	26.4355	-14.7145	-1.4216
South Africa	21	53	18.5714	59.8524	25.6216	6.8524	7.0502
Sri Lanka	14	27.6429	13.5714	80.2672	38.9061	52.6244	25.3346
Zimbabwe	8	57.75	12.5	72.0593	32.3062	14.3093	19.8062

Ambrose In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	78	48.141	19.7949	64.287	30.786	16.146	10.9912
England	88	55.8068	20.7727	62.177	30.953	6.3702	10.1803
New Zealand	5	69.8	22.6	68.4894	31.9025	-1.3106	9.3025
Pakistan	15	60.2667	25.2	58.3549	27.9491	-1.9118	2.7491
South Africa	13	57.6154	23.7692	62.0881	27.6912	4.4727	3.922
Sri Lanka	3	36.6667	9	70.4541	34.0141	33.7875	25.0141
West Indies	203	55.7882	21.1921	57.7091	27.8906	1.9209	6.6984

Marshall Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	87	49.8276	22.5172	67.6169	30.8955	17.7893	8.3782
England	127	45.5906	19.1811	60.1536	27.7048	14.563	8.5237
India	76	46.1447	21.9868	65.6501	32.1447	19.5054	10.1579
New Zealand	36	48.1944	21.5278	68.7855	29.5571	20.5911	8.0293
Pakistan	50	44.34	20.7	65.2345	31.3013	20.8945	10.6013

Marshall In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	45	54.3111	23.1556	63.2705	28.6669	8.9594	5.5113
England	94	45.6702	18.7021	64.0853	31.1115	18.4151	12.4093
India	36	49.83333333	24.6111	64.2935	32.6387	14.4601	8.0276
New Zealand	9	79.3333	32.1111	71.4793	30.6483	-7.854	-1.4628
Pakistan	35	47.6286	21.4571	63.2822	30.0338	15.6536	8.5767
West Indies	157	42.4968	20.0637	58.2185	29.0387	15.7217	8.975

Waqar Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	30	62.7667	33.8	69.352	35.5877	6.5854	1.7877
Bangladesh	18	18.1111	10.0556	43.6378	19.8418	25.5266	9.7863
England	50	48.5	27.04	61.3325	29.2173	12.8325	2.1773
India	8	80.25	48.75	67.1091	31.4753	-13.1409	-17.2747
New Zealand	70	42.9857	19.6	66.0405	29.8587	23.0548	10.2587
South Africa	24	50.625	28.75	72.0142	34.3416	21.3892	5.5916
Sri Lanka	56	38.625	22.7321	62.9186	30.5105	24.2936	7.7783
West Indies	55	39.6364	23.3273	57.3493	27.7169	17.713	4.3896
Zimbabwe	62	38.4032	19.8871	63.7759	27.1697	25.3727	7.2826

Waqar In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	14	81.4286	40.5	64.0237	31.0675	-17.4049	-9.4325
Bangladesh	12	20.5833	11.4167	57.6942	28.0496	37.1109	16.6329
England	45	48.2889	27.4889	62.4196	31.5996	14.1307	4.1107
India	2	147	76.5	70.6245	33.7305	-76.3755	-42.7695
New Zealand	34	54.3235	27.1765	63.795	30.3893	9.4715	3.2128
Pakistan	162	38.7654	20.2963	62.9353	30.4148	24.1698	10.1185
South Africa	20	47.55	28.3	61.0344	28.491	13.4844	0.191
Sri Lanka	27	34.2593	21.6296	69.8989	34.8152	35.6396	13.1855
UAE	12	39.5	23	53.3385	26.0462	13.8385	3.0462
West Indies	24	41.7083	24.8333	60.7442	27.6652	19.0358	2.8319
Zimbabwe	21	42.4762	21.9048	70.6794	31.0498	28.2032	9.145

Imran Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	64	62.4063	24.9688	66.6388	31.1342	4.2326	6.1655
England	47	62.1064	24.6383	63.1598	27.6897	1.0534	3.0514
India	94	54.0213	24.0426	62.102	29.6205	8.0807	5.578
New Zealand	31	70.6774	28.1935	67.788	28.4424	-2.8894	0.2489
Sri Lanka	46	38.8696	14.6304	59.5426	27.6136	20.673	12.9832
West Indies	80	43.6	21.1875	61.4773	32.4464	17.8773	11.2589

Imran In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	45	67.5111	28.5111	62.7219	28.7429	-4.7892	0.2318
England	47	62.1064	24.6383	63.1055	29.3446	0.9991	4.7063
India	27	61.2222	28.037	62.3881	31.0736	1.1659	3.0366
New Zealand	17	75.4706	26.6471	72.5271	31.0966	-2.9435	4.4495
Pakistan	163	47.0736	19.2086	70.3094	33.847	23.2358	14.6385
Sri Lanka	15	46.4	18	58.3524	26.9383	11.9524	8.9383
West Indies	48	45.75	25.125	60.3559	29.2956	14.6059	4.1706

Lillee Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
England	167	50.994	21	67.9238	27.8191	16.9298	6.8191
India	21	42.4286	21.5238	61.1438	28.4687	18.7152	6.9449
New Zealand	38	46.5789	19.4737	68.3755	27.4694	21.7966	7.9957
Pakistan	71	62.4366	30.4366	67.7692	33.4334	5.3326	2.9968
Sri Lanka	3	60	35.6667	49.8205	22.8974	-10.1795	-12.7692
West Indies	55	48.6727	27.7455	62.6965	32.3255	14.0238	4.5801

Lillee In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	231	49.9307	23.7316	63.56472	28.7298	13.634	4.9981
England	96	50.1563	20.5625	62.7729	27.482	12.6166	6.9195
New Zealand	22	51.5455	22.5	72.2794	29.7598	20.734	7.2598
Pakistan	3	204	101	73.6305	35.9353	-130.3695	-65.0647
Sri Lanka	3	60	35.6667	74.4	41.6667	14.4	6
West Indies	0	-	-	67.4296	31.8842	-	-

Donald Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	53	61.6226	31.0755	69.9184	36.2771	8.2958	5.2016
England	86	45.4884	23.0465	61.3104	28.2072	15.822	5.1607
India	57	43.7544	17.3158	72.121	33.1529	28.3666	15.8371
New Zealand	21	50.5714	21.0952	65.551	29.8298	14.9796	8.7346
Pakistan	27	40	22.3704	62.047	30.6667	22.047	8.2963
Sri Lanka	29	42.6207	19.1724	62.5021	30.5021	19.8814	11.3297
West Indies	43	43.1628	20.7907	55.8092	26.7437	12.6464	5.953
Zimbabwe	14	43.7857	16.5	62.2907	26.6725	18.505	10.1725

Donald In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	29	57.7241	28.4483	64.1264	31.6433	6.4023	3.195
England	45	44.3778	23.6222	60.1335	30.0438	15.7557	6.4215
India	17	42.8235	16.1176	71.6976	34.5486	28.8741	18.4309
New Zealand	10	56.7	24.6	65.2093	30.4884	8.5093	5.8884
Pakistan	7	58	32.2857	59.6466	29.5989	1.6466	-2.6868
South Africa	177	45.0169	21.6441	64.8549	29.2732	19.8379	7.6291
Sri Lanka	12	51	19.3333	69.6361	34.5042	18.6361	15.1708
West Indies	20	57.6	24.95	59.1794	26.6134	1.5794	1.6634
Zimbabwe	13	31.9231	11.3846	71.9224	31.1941	39.9993	19.8095

Trueman Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	79	55.2025	25.3038	75.6772	32.8776	20.4746	7.5738
India	53	33.6604	14.8491	71.7049	26.8388	38.0445	11.9898
New Zealand	40	54.175	19.05	63.5481	20.8717	9.3731	1.8217
Pakistan	22	44.9545	19.9545	64.3808	25.6466	19.4263	5.692
South Africa	27	47.8889	22.963	77.6517	29.5846	29.7629	6.6216
West Indies	86	53.3023	23.4651	74.0665	33.9182	20.7642	10.453

Trueman In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	29	67.6897	27.4828	73.4645	30.2914	5.7748	2.8087
England	229	44.9563	20.0437	68.8404	26.7404	23.8841	6.6967
New Zealand	19	41.9474	14.1579	67.4845	23.6495	25.5372	9.4916
West Indies	30	70.7667	32.3	74.9055	34.5968	4.1389	2.2968

Garner Against

Team	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	89	47.0787	20.8989	63.9288	28.9025	16.8501	8.0037
England	92	48.1304	17.9348	63.0991	27.9819	14.9687	10.0471
India	7	96.85714286	43	65.5964	31.443	-31.2608	-11.557
New Zealand	36	55.9167	20.6111	64.4363	27.5045	8.5196	6.8934
Pakistan	35	53.1429	25.1429	62.7559	30.9145	9.613	5.7716

Garner In

Country	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Era Strike Rate	Era Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap
Australia	45	56.9778	25.3778	61.91871	27.7454	4.9409	2.3676
England	55	46.9636	16.5636	61.9685	28.825	15.0049	12.2614
New Zealand	26	45.9615	16.9231	70.2593	29.1067	24.2977	12.1836
Pakistan	10	54.3	19.2	67.7166	32.4675	13.4166	13.2675
West Indies	123	51.0894	22.3415	56.2085	29.382	5.1191	7.0406

Mountains to unpack here and I'm unable to grapple with anything. But things that stood out to me: Allan Donald isn't "underrated", he's just straight up one of the most impressive fast bowlers of all time, and his record comfortably surpasses a lot of players who generate far more hype. On the other hand Akram and Ambrose disappointed me a bit. Akram certainly belongs in this company, but when you compare him to this group he stops looking supernatural and some of his holes show up. In fact the gap between him and Waqar certainly isn't as big as people act, if that gap exists at all. Similar with Ambrose - at his best completely untouchable, but a meek/incomplete record in Asia takes him down a bit for me. Fred Trueman is the only player here with zero "blind spots" - ie a positive average/strike rate gap against everyone and everywhere. However it must be said he played in a completely different test cricket climate and only competed against a small, skewed sample of sides in a small, skewed sample of places. McGrath is essentially an upgraded Pollock - they both have similar abilities to hold and keep things tight, but McGrath's wicket taking ability is just on another level. England fans often ask about Anderson getting disrespect, but I think this clearly shows why he's not thought of as highly as some other greats - his record is just so lopsided, and even in his favoured conditions (England), his numbers fall behind quite a few of these guys overall figures.
Now let's look at the support these bowlers had from their teammates. We compare each players' performances to those of the other bowlers on their team, spinners included. We also look at the proportion of wickets each player takes out of all the wickets taken by their team in matches they've played.

Player	Wickets	Strike Rate	Average	Team Strike Rate	Team Average	Strike Rate Gap	Average Gap	Proportion of Wickets Taken
James Anderson	584	56.1284	26.8322	63.6835	33.6545	7.5551	6.8223	0.2389
Glenn McGrath	563	51.9503	21.6448	56.3644	27.09497	4.4141	5.4502	0.259
Courney Walsh	519	57.8401	24.447	64.5864	29.4403	6.7463	4.9932	0.2521
Dale Steyn	439	42.3872	22.9544	60.7924	31.7053	18.4051	8.7509	0.2847
Richard Hadlee	431	50.8538	22.2993	85.3595	37.0451	34.5057	14.7458	0.3571
Shaun Pollock	421	57.8456	23.1188	63.7882	31.3219	5.9425	8.2032	0.2422
Wasim Akram	414	54.6546	23.6208	62.0999	29.8755	7.4453	6.2548	0.2596
Curtly Ambrose	405	54.5753	20.9901	64.2314	29.4137	9.6561	8.4235	0.262
Malcolm Marshall	376	46.766	20.9468	61.9012	27.5185	15.1353	6.5717	0.2789
Waqar Younis	373	43.5496	23.5603	61.3488	28.9626	17.7992	5.4023	0.2739
Imran Khan	362	53.7514	22.8122	74.3059	33.2578	20.5545	10.4456	0.2791
Dennis Lillee	355	52.0197	23.9239	66.9756	29.7057	14.9559	5.7818	0.3024
Allan Donald	330	47.0273	22.2545	69.8816	29.4451	22.8544	7.1906	0.2892
Fred Trueman	307	49.4397	21.5798	73	26.61	23.5603	5.0302	0.2832
Joel Garner	259	50.8456	20.9768	58.6599	26.249	7.8143	5.2721	0.2606

Immediate standout here should be Hadlee... Absolutely mind boggling stuff, the sheer It weight he endured with such aplomb will never be matched. On the opposite end of the spectrum (but not as extreme) is McGrath. It would be idiotic to say he was carried, he's a huge part of what made this Australia team so formidable (imo only Warne is "greater"), but I do think his achievements are ever so minutely diminished by how good his teammates were.
It's often said bowling is much easier with a big total on the board, even the time to rest in the dressing room while your team bats. So let's look at how much support each bowler got from their teams's batsmen (including themselves - if Pollock the batsman scores a century that helps Pollock the bowler). I'll show the average runs scored per wicket lost by each player's team in matches they've played, and compare it to the overall average per wicket during the player's career.

Player	Team Average	Era Average	Average Gap
James Anderson	34.75	33.65	1.1
Glenn McGrath	39.65	32.67	6.98
Courney Walsh	29.64	31.81	-2.17
Dale Steyn	36.93	33.49	3.44
Richard Hadlee	28.86	32.63	-3.77
Shaun Pollock	36.87	33.01	3.86
Wasim Akram	31.73	32	-0.27
Curtly Ambrose	30.62	31.53	-0.91
Malcolm Marshall	34.15	32.54	1.61
Waqar Younis	31.58	31.91	-0.33
Imran Khan	35.65	32.62	3.03
Dennis Lillee	35.83	32.41	3.42
Allan Donald	33.15	32.23	0.92
Fred Trueman	34.4	30.66	3.74
Joel Garner	36.29	32.09	4.2

Similar to the bowling support - Hadlee had to bowl defending shit totals, McGrath had to bowl defending great totals.
Finally, we check to see how often each bowler dismissed top order, middle order, and lower order batsmen.

Player	Percentage 1-3 Dismissed	Percentage 4-7 Dismissed	Percentage 8-11 Dismissed
James Anderson	37.5	36.5	26
Glenn McGrath	40	34.8	25.2
Courtney Walsh	34.1	34.5	31.4
Dale Steyn	33.5	34.9	31.7
Richard Hadlee	36.7	33.4	29.9
Shaun Pollock	35.6	34.9	29.5
Wasim Akram	31.9	33.1	35
Curtly Ambrose	36.3	36	27.7
Malcolm Marshall	33.2	40.4	26.3
Waqar Younis	35.4	35.4	29.2
Imran Khan	35.4	35.9	28.7
Dennis Lillee	36.1	36.6	27.3
Allan Donald	39.1	34.8	26.1
Fred Trueman	33.9	34.5	31.6
Joel Garner	32.8	33.6	33.6

Even with as much raw data I've thrown at you, there's still so much left untouched. We'll never be able to reach a unanimous conclusion on who ranks where, but I do think there's a lot of merit at looking at these kinds of figures. Stats may not tell the whole story, but they sure as hell tell more of it than unguided intuition does. For what it's worth here's who I'd regard as the 5 greatest fast bowlers to play cricket, unordered: Dale Steyn, Richard Hadlee, Allan Donald, Malcolm Marshall, Glenn McGrath.

There are lots of posts and statistical analyses on this subreddit that compare fast bowling greats but spinners do not get the same attention for some reason. Yes, we all know that Murali and Warne are the two greatest spinners in test history but what about the others besides them? In this post, I would like to focus on the most successful test spinners in each country with the exception of Ireland and Afghanistan.
For this, I will be presenting two tables for each country, one for home spinners and the other for overseas spinners. This will allow us to discern how well overseas spinners have done in each country compared to their local counterparts. The figures listed for each player will be the number of wickets, bowling average and wickets per innings ratio (WPI) and I will be limiting each table to 10 players to ensure that the data isn’t cluttered too much. I have set up a minimum requirement of 40 wickets for a home spinner and 20 wickets for an overseas spinner to filter out part-timers. Only the period after WW2 will be considered.
(Initially, I was going to consider both Pakistan and UAE as home for Pakistan and combine the stats for both countries together but I’ve decided to present their figures separately due to the difference in pitches and conditions.)
Australia (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
IWG Johnson	57	25.7	1.58
SK Warne	319	26.4	2.47
SCG MacGill	135	27.7	2.50
R Benaud	104	30.7	1.93
NM Lyon	191	31.9	2.08
B Yardley	79	32.2	2.19
AA Mallett	63	32.8	1.62
JW Gleeson	49	34.8	1.62

So, first of all, there are no surprises as to who dominates this list. Warne has taken the most wickets with the second-best bowling average. MacGill is pretty close behind in terms of average and WPI ratio while Lyon is currently just shy of 200 wickets at home.
Australia (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
G Miller (ENG)	36	22.5	1.71
BS Bedi (INDIA)	35	27.5	2.50
HJ Tayfield (SA)	30	28.1	3.33
NS Yadav (INDIA)	23	28.1	2.56
Iqbal Qasim (PAK)	21	29.0	2.10
BS Chandrasekhar (INDIA)	29	30.3	2.23
EAS Prasanna (INDIA)	31	31.1	2.07
DL Underwood (ENG)	50	31.5	1.85
JE Emburey (ENG)	35	32.1	1.75
AL Valentine (WI)	38	32.2	2.24

While reviewing this list, I made an interesting observation. Most of the players are from the 70s and 80s era, some of which (e.g. Geoff Miller) had played a few games against a Packer-weakened Australian team which contributed to better bowling averages when compared to spinners from other eras.
Bangladesh (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
Mehidy Hasan Miraz	61	21.4	3.05
Taijul Islam	93	27.1	2.66
Shakib Al Hasan	142	31.1	2.25
Mohammad Rafique	66	35.2	2.36
Enamul Haque jnr	35	36.2	1.84

Due to the lack of players fulfilling the minimum cut-off criteria, I had to reduce the wickets cut-off for the local bowlers to 30 and overseas bowlers to 15.
There’s not much to glean from the figures besides the fact that Shakib is Bangladesh’s best bowler. However, there are some encouraging signs of potential from the current batch of spinners.
Bangladesh (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
DL Vettori (NZ)	34	12.4	4.86
NM Lyon (AUS)	22	14.3	5.50
A Kumble (INDIA)	15	16.5	2.50
SCG MacGill (AUS)	16	18.8	4.00
M Muralitharan (SL)	29	19.4	3.63
D Bishoo (WI)	18	23.8	3.00
GP Swann (ENG)	16	25.3	4.00
MDK Perera (SL)	15	38.5	1.88

​ England (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
JC Laker	135	18.1	2.45
GAR Lock	104	19.5	2.08
JH Wardle	57	20.7	2.04
DL Underwood	145	24.2	1.99
R Illingworth	102	27.1	1.44
MS Panesar	81	28.8	2.13
GP Swann	120	28.9	2.11
PCR Tufnell	48	29.0	2.40
FJ Titmus	54	29.7	1.42
MM Ali	98	32.5	1.72

Here, the list is topped by one of England’s greatest spin pairs in Jim Laker and Tony Lock while Derek Underwood has taken the most wickets. Monty and Swann have very similar stats at home which actually surprised me since I consider Swann to be the better spinner.
England (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
M Muralitharan (SL)	48	19.2	4.80
SK Warne (AUS)	129	21.9	2.93
AL Valentine (WI)	33	23.1	3.30
LR Gibbs (WI)	62	26.1	2.07
HJ Tayfield (SA)	38	26.9	2.71
TBA May (AUS)	21	28.2	2.10
S Ramadhin (WI)	40	28.8	2.86
Mushtaq Ahmed (PAK)	32	28.8	2.46
DL Vettori (NZ)	26	29.9	2.00
NM Lyon (AUS)	45	31.6	1.80

Interestingly enough, England is the only country where both Murali and Warne occupy the first two spots which I find to be extremely fitting given how cricket originated in England and English media’s propensity to hype up performances in England.
India (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
ND Hirwani	45	16.6	3.46
RA Jadeja	157	21.1	2.42
R Ashwin	254	22.8	3.06
BS Bedi	137	24.0	2.54
SLV Raju	71	24.0	2.37
A Kumble	350	24.9	3.04
DR Doshi	77	25.4	2.08
MH Mankad	103	26.5	2.71
EAS Prasanna	95	26.9	2.32
PP Ojha	101	27.5	2.53

I found the results here to be slightly surprising with both Ashwin and Jadeja boasting phenomenal averages compared to their past contemporaries. Bishen Bedi of the fabled Indian spin quartet has the next best bowling figures while Kumble has taken the most wickets.
India (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
R Benaud (AUS)	52	18.4	3.25
AA Mallett (AUS)	28	19.1	2.80
Saqlain Mushtaq (PAK)	24	20.9	4.00
LR Gibbs (WI)	39	23.4	2.17
DL Underwood (ENG)	54	26.5	1.86
FJ Titmus (ENG)	27	27.7	2.70
DA Allen (ENG)	21	27.8	2.63
R Tattersall (ENG)	21	28	2.63
GAR Lock (ENG)	22	28.5	2.75
GP Swann (ENG)	28	29	2.55

Richie Benaud leads the overseas list which contains an unusually high number of Englishmen. What’s interesting is that only two modern spinners, Saqlain and Swann, appear in this list and it shows why their teams were so successful in their tours to India.
New Zealand (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
JG Bracewell	38	29.4	1.90
SL Boock	35	35.6	1.52
DL Vettori	159	37.1	1.62
DN Patel	49	40.2	1.48

Once again, due to the lack of players fulfilling the minimum cut-off criteria, I had to reduce the wickets cut-off for the local bowlers to 30.
Vettori is the most successful spinner by far in terms of wickets with no other spinner having taken more than 50 wickets.
New Zealand (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
DL Underwood (ENG)	24	13.5	3.43
S Ramadhin (WI)	32	15.1	2.91
AL Valentine (WI)	23	18.9	2.09
EAS Prasanna (INDIA)	35	19.3	2.92
M Muralitharan (SL)	30	20.0	3.33
SK Warne (AUS)	49	21.3	2.72
Harbhajan Singh (INDIA)	21	24.2	1.91
BS Bedi (INDIA)	20	24.7	2.00
Intikhab Alam (PAK)	20	25.6	1.82
PCR Tufnell (ENG)	23	26.5	2.09

Overseas spinners have found way more success in NZ than the local spinners, with players from various countries and different eras having excellent figures. This confirms the huge gulf in quality between the NZ spinners and rest of the world.
Pakistan (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
Pervez Sajjad	40	20.3	2.11
Iqbal Qasim	111	25.2	2.22
Abdul Qadir	168	26.8	2.47
Saqlain Mushtaq	77	29.2	2.26
Tauseef Ahmed	57	29.5	1.50
Intikhab Alam	71	31.0	1.92
Danish Kaneria	109	32.8	2.48
Mushtaq Ahmed	67	34.7	1.81

Pervez Sajjad leads the list here in terms of average while Qadir leads the list in terms of wickets. I’ve always felt Iqbal Qasim to be extremely underrated who got overshadowed by Qadir despite having better stats.
It is interesting to note that Mushtaq Ahmed has the worst figures among the Pakistani spinners. He’s one of those rare Asian spinners who has been more successful away on unhelpful wickets than at home.
Pakistan (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
SP Gupte (INDIA)	21	22.7	2.33
M Muralitharan (SL)	50	25.0	3.33
NGB Cook (ENG)	21	30.4	2.10
TBA May (AUS)	20	32.2	2.22
AF Giles (ENG)	20	32.9	2.22
A Kumble (INDIA)	24	42.4	2.40

A relative lack of wickets for overseas spinners compared to other countries really surprised me. Only one spinner, Murali, has more than 25 wickets in Pakistan. However, it is important to note that the likes of Warne, MacGill and Herath did not play much in Pakistan despite having been very successful against the team.
South Africa (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
HJ Tayfield	92	25.8	2.71
PR Adams	57	33.5	1.78
KA Maharaj	52	34.0	1.63
PL Harris	48	34.1	1.55

Just like NZ, there is a serious dearth of good quality South African spinners. The only one who could be considered world class is the off-spinner, Hugh Tayfield from the 50s. He has impressive stats in both Australia and England along with a good record at home.
South Africa (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
JH Wardle (ENG)	26	13.8	3.25
R Benaud (AUS)	30	21.9	3.33
SK Warne (AUS)	61	24.3	2.77
M Muralitharan (SL)	35	26.0	3.50
JC Alabaster (NZ)	22	28.0	2.75
GP Swann (ENG)	21	31.4	3.00
A Kumble (INDIA)	45	32.0	1.88
NM Lyon (AUS)	28	39.8	1.65

It's interesting to see the list dominated by non-Asian spinners which sort of indicates that spinners from SENA countries have a better idea on how to bowl on bouncier, non-spinning pitches compared to Asian spinners. But it also needs to be pointed out the SA were banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1991 which meant that Asian spinners from that period never got to play in SA.
Sri Lanka (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
M Muralitharan	493	19.6	3.68
HMRKB Herath	278	23.7	3.02
MDK Perera	103	28.8	2.64
ST Jayasuriya	66	31.8	0.80
BAW Mendis	53	32.8	2.30
S Randiv	41	37.0	2.16
HDPK Dharmasena	43	39.9	1.39

Murali tops the list here with a whopping 490+ wickets followed by Herath with 270+ wickets. Sri Lanka have been blessed with two great spinners whose careers have encompassed the majority of their short test history. However, I can’t help but feel that SL have relied too much on them to carry the whole bowling attack. With Dilruwan Perera also nearing retirement, it will be interesting to see where SL go from here.
Sri Lanka (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
Yasir Shah (PAK)	24	19.3	4.00
SK Warne (AUS)	37	21.5	2.64
R Ashwin (INDIA)	38	21.6	3.17
DL Vettori (NZ)	30	26.4	2.73
Saeed Ajmal (PAK)	38	32.4	2.38
NM Lyon (AUS)	24	33.6	2.00
AF Giles (ENG)	25	33.9	2.50
N Boje (SA)	25	43.8	2.08
A Kumble (INDIA)	30	44.6	2.31
Harbhajan Singh (INDIA)	26	48.6	1.63

Various overseas spinners have found success in Sri Lanka, especially in the past decade with Yasir topping the list with a phenomenal WPI ratio.
UAE (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
Yasir Shah	116	24.6	3.52
Saeed Ajmal	67	26.5	2.91
Abdur Rehman	38	30.5	2.38
Zulfiqar Babar	45	37.5	2.05

Once again, due to the lack of players fulfilling the minimum cut-off criteria, I had to reduce the wickets cut-off for the local bowlers to 30 and the overseas bowlers to 15.
As can be seen from the figures, there has been an over-reliance on the premier spinner by Pakistan in the past decade.
UAE (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
SK Warne (AUS)	16	9.6	4.00
D Bishoo (WI)	18	27.0	3.00
HMRKB Herath (SL)	40	28.7	2.50
NM Lyon (AUS)	15	53.8	1.88

​ West Indies (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
LR Gibbs	126	29.7	2.14
S Shillingford	47	29.9	2.76
S Ramadhin	58	32.8	1.81
SJ Benn	64	34.5	2.37
AL Valentine	45	39.8	1.80
CL Hooper	62	39.9	0.93
D Bishoo	49	40.7	1.69

The list is topped by Lance Gibbs who’s known as the first spinner to have taken 300 test wickets. It is interesting to note that the West Indian spin pair of Alf Valentine and Sonny Ramadhin were more successful away than at home, especially in England. The rest of the West Indian spinners, with the exception of Shillingford, have been pretty underwhelming.
West Indies (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
Shakib Al Hasan (BDESH)	21	19.4	3.00
Yasir Shah (PAK)	25	22.0	4.17
M Muralitharan (SL)	37	23.0	3.36
NM Lyon (AUS)	21	23.4	2.33
Harbhajan Singh (INDIA)	36	25.9	2.25
MM Ali (ENG)	20	27.1	2.22
SP Gupte (INDIA)	27	29.2	3.00
BS Chandrasekhar (INDIA)	21	31.2	3.50
A Kumble (INDIA)	45	31.3	2.65
JC Laker (ENG)	32	31.8	2.29

The overseas list is dominated by modern day spinners which I believe is due to pitches having become more conductive to spin over the past couple of decades. A weak West Indian batting lineup must have played a role in this, too.
Zimbabwe (Home Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
RW Price	61	32.9	2.35
PA Strang	37	34.8	1.76
AG Cremer	30	52.5	1.88

Again, due to the lack of players fulfilling the minimum cut-off criteria, I had to reduce the wickets cut-off for the local bowlers to 30 and the overseas bowlers to 15.
There is not a lot for me to say here besides the fact that Zimbabwe haven’t had many good spinners besides Ray Price and Paul Strang.
Zimbabwe (Away Spinners)

Player	Wickets	Average	WPI
HMRKB Herath (SL)	19	15.1	4.75
DN Patel (NZ)	15	20.3	3.75
Saeed Ajmal (PAK)	20	23.1	3.33
DL Vettori (NZ)	26	25.3	2.36
M Muralitharan (SL)	26	27.5	2.17
Harbhajan Singh (INDIA)	19	27.6	1.90
Saqlain Mushtaq (PAK)	15	29.7	2.50

​ So, there you have it. I've tried to make a detailed list, comparing the success of spinners (both home and away) in each country and I hope you found it informative.
edit: fixed table formatting. Ugh, reddit's table formatting is a pain in the ass.