"Fast bowlers you'd pay to watch," Michael Holding names four all-time great quicks

Michael Holding is himself regarded as one of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket.

Former West Indies pacer bowler Michael Holding was part of a world-class fast bowling attack that terrorized the greatest batsmen of their times. Holding who is a renowned commentator now picked the best four fast bowlers across generations.

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While talking in a Sky Sports podcast, Holding picked his teammates Malcolm Marshall and Andy Roberts along with Australia’s Dennis Lillee and modern-day great Dale Steyn as his top 4 fast bowlers of all time.

While talking about Dennis Lillee, the Jamaican pacer said, “Lillee had it all: rhythm, aggression control. He was extremely fast when he started, but he had to completely reshape his action after a back injury and find different ways to get hitters out after losing a lot of rhythms.”

Holding then said that his teammate Malcolm Marshal started with good rhythm but learnt a lot about fast bowling with time.

“Malcolm started with a good rhythm, but as time went on he learned a lot about fast bowling. He could evaluate opposition hitters so quickly and so easily. In those days you didn’t have many tapes or computers, it was all in his head He understood how to deal with hitters,” he said.

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The 66-year-old then talked about Andy Roberts who has 202 wickets in 47 Tests, 87 wickets in 56 ODIs by saying, “Andy was someone I learned a lot from. He hardly ever spoke, he used to walk around the field with a sullen face and people thought he looked aggressive and must be a miserable guy. But that wasn’t Andy.”

The right-arm pacer then picked his fourth pacer Dale Steyn and felt that he was impressed just by watching Steyn.

“I have experience with those three guys, but just watching, you can’t go Dale Steyn outside of photography. He has been one of the great fast bowlers in an era. You’d pay to see it,” he said.

(With Hindustan Times inputs)