New Zealand star pacer Lockie Ferguson recently picked 5 superstar cricketers as his Top 5 Test bowlers of all time, excluding the likes of Dale Steyn, Glenn McGrath, and Mitchell Starc.
He also ignored the modern-day Test great from India, Jasprit Bumrah.
Lockie Ferguson has picked five legendary bowlers as the greatest Test bowlers of all time, while ignoring spinners. Though three among the top 5 highest wicket-takers in the format are spinners from three different countries.
Lockie Ferguson sidelines Jasprit Bumrah as he names the Top 5 Test bowlers
As the Kiwi veteran picked his all-time top 5 Test bowlers, he startled all with the set of names, since it did not include the highest-ever wicket-taker in Test cricket, Muttiah Muralitharan, or Shane Warne.
Considering he has named only pacers in the top 5, even then, he has not included the likes of greats like James Anderson or Glenn McGrath, or even the modern-day genius of red-ball cricket, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Starc, or Kagiso Rabada.
His picks seemed inclined with his own strategy and perception, which did not fit in with the general approach of cricket fans. In an interaction with Crictracker, he picked the likes of Shane Bond, the former Kiwi pacer whose Test career was affected by injuries, and he finished with just 87 wickets in 18 games at a remarkable average of 22.09.
Among the many legendary Australian seamers, he chose undoubtedly one of the finest, Mitchell Johnson. Johnson was one of the most destructive left-arm pacers of his generation. He had a decorated career with 313 wickets in his Test career.
No Tim Southee or Glenn McGrath, but Ferguson names 2 Pakistani quicks in his List
The New Zealand pacer did not even consider Tim Southee one of the greatest ever Kiwi pacers and inarguably one of the finest since Richard Hadley.
He instead opted for two Pakistani pacers; the duo was, however, not the contemporary Wasim-Waqar duo; it was the Akram-Akhtar duo that caught the Kiwis’ attention. Shoaib Akhtar, with 178 wickets in 46 Tests, and Wasim Akram, the legendary pacer with 414 Test wickets, made it to his list.
The last name on this list is a fine pick, as he named Sir Curtly Ambrose from the West Indies, one of the deadliest red-ball bowlers in the history of cricket. Sir Ambrose finished with 405 Test wickets, averaging a historic 20.99 and 22 five-wicket hauls.
Lockie picks Virat Kohli over Rohit Sharma
Firstly, leaving out Jasprit Bumrah from the list of top Test bowlers, Ferguson added to his mysteries, ruling out Rohit Sharma’s pull shot as one of the finest shots on the field.
Indian veteran batter Rohit Sharma is known as a dynamic white-ball cricketer, and one of his rarest abilities is to hit sixes effortlessly. The batter has a remarkable pull shot, which he can pull off from any length, which is slightly on the shorter side.
Virat Kohli, on the other hand, the other veteran, is known for his elegant cover drives, and when asked to pick between the two shots as to which looks better from a bowler’s end, Ferguson claimed (via CricTracker):
“None of them looks good from bowler’s end. But, Kohli’s cover drive.”