87: Alec Bedser

51 matches. 236 wickets @ 24.9. Strike rate: 67.45. 15x 5wi.

10 years. 2x good. 3x excellent. 2x outstanding.

The discussion

Alec Bedser, like Denis Compton (see entry 90) was a player whose career was disrupted by the Second World War. Unlike Compton, it was the start of Bedser’s career that was missed. But, once again like Compton, he made up for lost time. From his Test debut in 1946 at age 28 until his retirement in 1955, Bedser took 236 wickets in just 51 matches, with five 10-wicket hauls.

As with most players in the post-war era, the career total (236 wickets) does not tell the whole story, mainly because the number of Tests (51) is less than a half that of the modern greats like McGrath (124 matches), Wasim Akram (104) and less than a third of James Anderson’s now world record of 162 (and counting!) among fast bowlers. The examination of Bedser’s career is in the peaks, and how often he dominated the opposition, rather than the total number of wickets.

Bedser’s strike rate is higher than most on this list. And while the wicket tally is modest by modern standards, it is worth remembering that Bedser held the world record for most Test wickets, overtaking Clarrie Grimmett’s 216 wickets in 1953, and holding the record for a full nine years. To put that in perspective, only Fred Trueman (12 years, 323 days) held the world record for longer between 1946 and 2000.

The stat that tracks 10 wickets in a match (10wm) is an interesting one for bowlers in that there is no equivalent measure for batters. We do not track total runs per Test, or 200+ runs in a Test as a metric. Part of me wants to discount 10wm as a measure for bowling success, but it does give some insight into a bowler’s ability to dominate both innings of a match. Perhaps the closest equivalent for batters would be a hundred in each innings, or maybe a total of 200+ runs in a Test. One day I will add 200+ runs in a match to the metrics we measure for batters in the Hall of Fame and see if it changes how we view this current crop of players.

Back to Bedser, and his record of five 10wm in only a 51-match career. Those figures put Bedser on track for 9.8 ten-wicket hauls per hundred tests. That figure (9.8) may seem small, but it ranks equal 9th all-time among all bowlers eligible for the Hall of Fame. By comparison, James Anderson has three 10wm in 162 Tests. Bedser took big bags of wickets on a regular basis; his mark puts his name among some of the greatest fast bowlers of any era in that category.

Looking at Bedser’s peak seasons over a seven-year span, each peak season features at least one 10wm, and two in 1946 against India in just three Tests. Bedser had two series averaging almost eight wickets per Test – almost double what would be considered a great average of wickets per match over the course of a career.

The verdict

At his peak, Alec Bedser was the best bowler in the world, and held the record for the most wickets of all-time for almost a full decade. His ability to dominate a match and reach the elusive 10wm mark a full five times in his nine-year career is a big reason why his 236 Test wickets stood as the mark to beat for so long.

Those bags of wickets are what inspired me to find out more about Alec Bedser. When I combined them with the rate at which he took those 10wm hauls (9th), I was left with the impression of a man who was a premier bowler of his era. When you look at the exciting periods of cricket history, they almost certainly feature great fast bowlers competing against each other. The Australians had Miller and Lindwall, and England had Bedser. Is it any wonder batting averages dipped in the 1950s?

In one word

Dominant

Notes

Bio

Record

Source: ESPN CricInfo

career peak

Sources: ESPN CricInfo