Dennis lillee has claims for being the greatest of all fast bowlers as he was awarded more votes for any great pace bowler by the experts panel of cricinfo for the all-time xi.Lillee won 53 votes amongst the selection of 100 cricket legends for the all-time xi which included players like Martin Crowe,Ian Botham,Mudaasar Nazar,Clive Lloyd,Alvin Kalichran,Lawrence Rowe,John Snow,Andy Roberts ,Mushtaq Muhammad and Zaheer Abbas.Thus greats who played with or against Lillee and Marshall like Botham and Andy Roberts gave Lillee a higher ranking.Graham Gooch and Dilip Vengsarkar preferred Marshall.Experts rate Marshall and Lillee the best of all,competing for the top spot.Lillee bowled against stronger opposition like the great West Indian team of the 70's and 80's led by Clive Lloyd .At his best Lillee turned games marginally more.However Marshall had the virtues of a magician and his skidding bounce and inswing and outswing with the same action made him more lethal.

The most debatable point is where Lillee would rank amongst the pantheon of great fast bowlers and whether he would be a part of the all-time xi.To me in terms of pure bowling skill his greatest rivals were Wasim Akram,Ray Lindwall,Wasim Akram and Andy Roberts while statistacally.Richard Hadlee,Glen Mcgrath or even Imran Khan arguably overshadow Lillee.Although clinically having more control both Hadlee and Mcgrath did not posess Lillee's classical variations,particularly in unfavourable conditions or even Curtly Ambrose.Imran although posessing adeadly inswinger did bot have as effective an outswinger or leg-cutter as Lillee.However overall although classically more complete Lillee did not equal the innovative or creative ability of Malcolm Marshall or Wasim Akram or the control and movement of Ray Lindwall.Arguably weighing all factors Marshall may just nose Lillee for the no 1 spot and both Marshall and Akram may nose Lillee for a spot in the all-time xi.

Watching Dennis Lillee bustling in was witnessing sporting determination and hostility at it's highest zenith.No pace bowler blended the skill of a surgeon with the ferocity of a lion and the innovativeness of a musician like Lillee.Statistically he was overshadowed by Glen Mcgrath,Richard Hadlee or even Curtly Ambrose but for pure bowling skill he overshadowed all of them.Lillee took the art of classical fast bowling to it's zenith posessing every repertoire in his armoury from the outswinger to the leg cutter,to the bouncer and the slower ball.Above all he was great match-winner who could completely turn the complexion of a game against the best of opposition like when he took 7-83 v West Indies in 1981-82 .Watching Lillee against Viv Richards was cricketing rivalry at it's ultimate zenith.Adding Packer games figures Lillee may have ranked above Marshall or Wasim Akram but he hardly proved himself on the flat sub-continent tracks.

Dennis Lillee is arguably the most complete of all pace bowlers.He posessed every ingredient in his armoury for the perfect fast bowler be it pace,control,accuracy ,movement or variations.Jeff Thomson or Holding were quicker,Joel Garner more accurate,but none had every quality in a total package like Lillee.From and out and out fast bowler with blistering speed Lillee reduced his speed and developed variations like his leg -cutter.Sadly his figures in Kerry Packer world series were excluded where he had 79 scalps from 15 games and his 24 wickets in 3 tests v Rest of the world in 1972.Adding those figures Lillee would have had 461 scalps 88 tests with 31 ,5 wkt.hauls.No great fast bowler ,including Malcolm Marshall posessed the agression of Lillee who displayed the ferocity of a tiger.In 1977 and 1979-80 at Melbourne and in 1981 at the Oval Lillee showed he had the trajectory to overpower his opponents with his supreme craft and skill.Above all one of the gutsiest of cricketers.