Expensive wicket-takers

There was an odd similarity between the best bowlers in two recently-completed series - the West Indies-South Africa ODIs and the England-Bangladesh Tests. In the Caribbean, Morne Morkel claimed 11 wickets but, while his strike-rate of 17.50 was the best for South Africa, his economy-rate of 5.44 per over was worse than that of several team-mates. In England, Steve Finn dismissed 15 Bangladesh batsmen, evoking premature comparisons to Glenn McGrath. His strike-rate of 26.80 was the best among bowlers who played both Tests, but Finn's economy of 4.00, while nothing to fret about, was the highest for England. So this week we've looked up bowlers with outstanding career strike-rates despite going for more runs an over than they would have liked, and others who might have wanted to trade miserliness for wicket-taking ability.

Extremely few outstanding Test bowlers concede more than 3.50 runs per over. No one with over 200 wickets has gone for that much. Dale Steyn, currently on 196, could be the first. Steyn has an economy-rate of 3.55 per over, the worst after Fidel Edwards for bowlers with at least 100 wickets, but balances that with a strike-rate of 40. Not only is it the best strike-rate for bowlers who've conceded more than 3.50 runs per over, it's the fourth best among all bowlers who've bowled at least 2000 balls in Test cricket.

Another illustration of how expensive, yet incisive, Steyn has been is the comparison between his averages and those of other bowlers in Steyn's 38 Tests. Steyn's economy of 3.55 is the highest, ahead of Morkel and Zaheer Khan, who went for 3.50 each. Steyn's strike-rate though, is 12 balls fewer than that of Morkel's, and is second to only Matthew Hoggard's 36.10 during England's successful tour of South Africa in 2004-05.

Wisden describes England's William Attewell as a bowler with "exceptional accuracy in length", an expert at 'off theory' - bowling medium-pace deliveries wide outside off stump with a packed off-side field. His methods earned him the lowest economy-rate in Tests - 1.31 per over - but only 28 wickets in ten matches, at a strike-rate of 101.7.

The table below contains bowlers who are the anti-Steyn, ones with low economy-rates and high strike-rates. Indian left-arm spinner Bapu Nadkarni is perhaps the best example: he had an economy of 1.67 per over and averaged a wicket every 104 balls, a result of bizarre performances such as 32-24-23-0 and 34-24-24-1 against Pakistan, at Kanpur and Delhi in 1961, and 32-27-5-0 against England in Madras in 1964, a spell which included 21 consecutive maidens.

Which five bowlers have the best strike-rates in one-day internationals? Some names on the list, for bowlers with a minimum of 1000 balls, may surprise you - Ajantha Mendis, Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate, Shaun Tait, West Indian Tony Gray and Shane Bond. Tait's strike-rate of a wicket every 28 balls is the best among bowlers who concede more than five runs per over on average.

Ajit Agarkar, the former India fast bowler, will be remembered as someone who took wickets frequently but conceded an awful lot of runs. His stats - a strike-rate of 33 and economy of 5.07 - say as much. However, scroll down the table below and you'll spot Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan, with worse economies and higher strike-rates. They'd do extremely well to get anywhere near Agarkar's 288 wickets in 191 matches.

The table below contains bowlers with exceptional economy-rates in ODIs but poor strike-rates and it has four Zimbabweans in it - two past and two present. John Traicos conceded 3.88 per over during his 27-ODI career but took a wicket once every 80 balls. Left-arm medium Bryan Strang was a handy at containing too, ending with an economy-rate of 4.13 while striking every nine overs on average. Ray Price and Prosper Utseya, two current spinners, are carrying on that mantle. They are among the most economical bowlers in the world, conceding 3.89 and 4.13 an over respectively, while taking a wicket every nine and 11 overs.

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