Ranking the Top 10 Bowlers in World Cricket in 2014
International cricket came to a close for 2014 on Tuesday as the last remaining games in the calendar year concluded in Melbourne and Port Elizabeth, respectively.
At the colossal MCG, Australia and India fought out a tense draw in the third Test, while over in South Africa, rain ruined another day on the southern coast to force the hosts into a stalemate with the West Indies.
And that, folks, is international cricket done for the year. It will resume in 2015 when South Africa and the West Indies meet in Cape Town to kick off action in the new year.
As such, it's a good opportunity to reflect on the year that was 2014 and recall the best the game had to offer.
Across the following slides, we rank the top 10 bowlers in world cricket over the last 12 months.
Note: Performances on the international stage took precedence over domestic Twenty20 competitions such as the Indian Premier League and Big Bash League.
10. Zulfiqar Babar
1 of 10
Test Record in 2014: 5 matches; 27 wickets @ 32.00
ODI Record in 2014: 4 matches; 4 wickets @ 47.50
T20I Record in 2014: 3 matches; 4 wickets @ 19.25
Overall Record 2014: 12 matches; 35 wickets @ 32.31
For the first player on our list, statistical records are secondary; the challenges that were overcome is what count.
For Zulfiqar Babar, with all of two Tests of experience, was thrust without warning into the No. 1 spinning position in the Pakistan side following the suspension of Saeed Ajmal.
Ajmal's absence was expected to be a major blow for Pakistan, who were preparing to face Australia and then New Zealand across all formats in the UAE.
And ahead of the Australia series, the general consensus was that Ajmal's suspension would be the deciding factor in the contest.
But Babar didn't want to succumb to that view. Instead, the first-class journeyman with only two Test caps turned the series on its head with a wonderful display of left-arm orthodox bowling to rip the spine out of the Australian batting lineup and play a leading role in delivering a historic series triumph to the hosts.
9. Lasith Malinga
2 of 10
ODI Record in 2014: 17 matches; 29 wickets @ 26.48
T20I Record in 2014: 9 matches; 12 wickets @ 16.00
Overall Record 2014: 26 matches; 41 wickets @ 23.41
Yes, he's still the king of "death" bowling in limited-overs cricket. That much we can be sure of.
In 2014, Lasith Malinga was a key figure in Sri Lanka's charge to triumph after triumph, maintaining his excellence with the white ball despite his continued absence on the Test stage.
In the final of the Asia Cup, the slingy right-armer claimed five wickets to guide his team to their first title of the year, backing up that effort with stifling displays in the semi-final and final of the ICC World Twenty20 against the West Indies and India, respectively.
After propelling Sri Lanka to their second title, he then excelled against England and South Africa before an ankle injury ended his calendar year.
8. Sunil Narine
3 of 10
ODI Record in 2014: 9 matches; 10 wickets @ 31.40
T20I Record in 2014: 14 matches; 14 wickets @ 18.85
Overall Record 2014: 23 matches; 24 wickets @ 24.08
Another who dominated the limited-overs formats without playing Test cricket was the West Indies' Sunil Narine.
Now widely acknowledged as the most difficult white-ball spinner to face in the game, Narine continued his deception of the world's best batsmen in 2014 that began back in his breakout campaign in the 2012 season of the IPL.
In the ICC World Twenty20, the West Indian was phenomenal for the Caribbean outfit, conceding his runs at just 4.60 per over when the tournament average was almost double that.
Narine also tormented England earlier in the year and dismantled Bangladesh, but the 26-year-old had his bowling action reported during the Champions League Twenty20 and hasn't played since.
Though he's not banned from bowling on the international stage (the suspension is relevant only to BCCI-sanctioned events), Narine has undertaken remedial work to avoid further complications.
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7. Ryan Harris
4 of 10
Test Record in 2014: 6 matches; 26 wickets @ 22.42
Overall Record 2014: 6 matches; 26 wickets @ 22.42
There may be many who wonder how a player who made just six international appearances in 2014 can rise into the list of the top 10 bowlers for the calendar year.
But the answer is simple: Despite his small number of matches, Ryan Harris was consistently outstanding and was so against the strongest teams in the world.
To begin the year, he dismantled England in Sydney to ensure a 5-0 thrashing for the hosts, before playing a leading role in Australia's emphatic defeat of South Africa in February and March.
Sidelined with a knee injury for months afterwards, Harris has recently returned against India and was the pick of the bowlers when claiming match figures of 6-for-100 on a flat Melbourne wicket.
To understand just how good the burly right-armer is, you only need to watch how Australia struggle mightily without him.
6. Trent Boult
5 of 10
Test Record in 2014: 9 matches; 34 wickets @ 28.58
ODI Record in 2014: 2 matches; 4 wickets @ 27.50
T20I Record in 2014: 4 matches; 8 wickets @ 11.87
Overall Record 2014: 15 matches; 46 wickets @ 25.58
Perhaps more than any other team in world cricket at present, the New Zealand Test team is an outfit on the rise after completing the best 12 months of Test cricket in the nation's history.
Integral to that success has been Trent Boult, the left-arm quick who has spearheaded the Kiwi attack with his consistent excellence.
With an uncanny knack for producing both conventional and reverse swing throughout an innings, even as the ball wears, Boult was too much for India and the West Indies in the first half of the year, before destroying Sri Lanka to conclude 2014.
His only lean spell came in the early stages of New Zealand's trip to the UAE to face Pakistan. But even then, he bounced back quickly and led the team to a strong, series-tying victory in the third Test in Sharjah by running through the Pakistani top order with figures of 4-for-38 in the second innings.
5. James Anderson
6 of 10
Test Record in 2014: 8 matches; 40 wickets @ 22.15
ODI Record in 2014: 10 matches; 12 wickets @ 29.00
Overall Record 2014: 18 matches; 52 wickets @ 23.73
It wouldn't be unfair to say that James Anderson endured a below-par year in 2013.
After his heroics against Australia at Trent Bridge, the normally outstanding Englishman endured a rather barren period in the eight Tests that followed against Australia in the remainder of the year.
But a long layoff at the start of 2014 appeared to work wonders for Anderson, who returned to action for England's summer encounters with Sri Lanka and India to recapture his previous excellence.
As we've become accustomed to, it was in the Test arena where the right-armer did his best work. Despite a surprise defeat to Sri Lanka, Anderson was England's standout player of the series, going on to rip India apart in the final three Tests of their five-match contest at Southampton, Old Trafford and the Oval to deliver a resounding 3-1 triumph.
4. Morne Morkel
7 of 10
Test Record in 2014: 8 matches; 30 wickets @ 26.46
ODI Record in 2014: 14 matches; 24 wickets @ 28.00
T20I Record in 2014: 2 matches; 2 wickets @ 40.50
Overall Record 2014: 24 matches; 56 wickets @ 27.62
Sometimes when you examine Morne Morkel's statistical record, you wonder what all the fuss is about.
So often we hear about the immense threat posed by the South African, but his figures often tend to be less impressive than other leading stars in world cricket, many of whom are on this list.
But the thing with Morkel is that he inflicts so much damage that isn't numerical; by battering opposing batsmen and intimidating many with his physical threat, he unsettles the world's finest and often allows the likes of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander to capitalise on players who feel under siege.
He did it against Australia earlier this year, even on a Port Elizabeth featherbed against an in-form batting lineup. But the towering right-armer also displayed an ability to adapt to slower conditions, thriving in Sri Lanka when he was expected to struggle.
To finish 2014, Morkel was an awesome sight in a one-day game against Australia in Perth before returning home to rip through the West Indies.
3. Mitchell Johnson
8 of 10
Test Record in 2014: 9 matches; 47 wickets @ 23.27
ODI Record in 2014: 10 matches; 14 wickets @ 30.85
Overall Record 2014: 19 matches; 61 wickets @ 25.01
Mitchell Johnson's year in 2014 might not have been as spectacular as the one before, but it was still mightily impressive.
After embarrassing England in the 2013-14 Ashes series, Australia's ferocious left-armer travelled to South Africa for a three-Test series against the Proteas as the hottest commodity in the sport.
Upon arrival, he didn't disappoint.
During the first Test at Centurion, Johnson put on one of the finest fast-bowling displays in cricket history when he reduced a powerful South African batting lineup to rubble with emphatic figures of 7-68.
In fact, so good was the Australian's spell in that Test that he could rank among the top 10 bowlers for the year even if that was his only performance, for it was as devastating as anything that has ever been served up by names such Lillee, Thomson, Marshall, Holding, Ambrose, Garner and Donald among others.
2. Rangana Herath
9 of 10
Test Record in 2014: 9 matches; 56 wickets @ 27.17
ODI Record in 2014: 9 matches; 13 wickets @ 26.53
T20I Record in 2014: 3 matches; 6 wickets @ 8.83
Overall Record 2014: 21 matches; 75 wickets @ 25.60
Ahhh, the wily veteran Rangana Herath, the 36-year-old Sri Lankan who claimed the best Test figures for 12 years when he took 9-127 against Pakistan in August.
For so long forced to live in the shadow of Muttiah Muralitharan, Herath is enjoying his veteran years like few others ever have, leading Sri Lanka to Test series victories over England and Pakistan in 2014 while also starring during the ICC World Twenty20.
In fact, before his stunning 5-3 against New Zealand, Sri Lanka looked to be heading toward a certain exit from the global T20 tournament.
But as he's done all year, Herath used his supreme guile to overwork batsmen who were unable to read his unparallelled variations in spin, flight and speed.
And with 75 wickets in total, the left-armer was the most prolific bowler on the international stage in 2014.
1. Dale Steyn
10 of 10
Test Record in 2014: 8 matches; 39 wickets @ 19.56
ODI Record in 2014: 14 matches; 22 wickets @ 26.54
T20I Record in 2014: 5 matches; 9 wickets @ 17.00
Overall Record 2014: 27 matches; 70 wickets @ 21.42
It was never in any doubt, was it?
Dale Steyn just had to be No. 1.
After being outgunned by Mitchell Johnson at Centurion, the South African returned with some of his own fire in the second Test at Port Elizabeth to lead the hosts to a commanding victory.
The lethal right-armer, like Morne Morkel, then excelled on the lifeless pitches on offer in Sri Lanka, finishing the two-Test series with 13 wickets—second only to Dilruwan Perera, who bowled 158 overs to Steyn's 75.
Further emphatic Test performances have followed against Zimbabwe and the West Indies, which are only more impressive when you consider how outstanding he's been in the limited-overs formats, too.
Indeed, few will forget his spell against New Zealand in the ICC World Twenty20 or his showing against Australia in the final of the triangular series in Zimbabwe.
Simply, his record says it all.
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