Top 10 bowlers who never got their due because of the greatness of their peers 

Team sport of any nature can be cruel since the singular talents of one particular player is often overshadowed due to the prowess of others and in that regard, cricket is no exception.

Over the course of cricket's history, plenty of gifted bowlers have been perhaps a bit unfortunate to have played at the same time and hence, their own achievements were overshadowed by the heroics of their more illustrious peers.

Those bowlers have been in existence in cricket since the game first started and here is a look at 10 of those who never got their due despite their excellence.

#10 Nathan Lyon

Following the retirement of Shane Warne, arguably the greatest spin bowler in history, Australia tried a range of spinners with little success.

The emergence of Nathan Lyon in 2011 finally put an end to that problem and went on to become one of the best spin bowlers in the world.

However, it seems he does not get appreciated as much as he should be and perhaps it is due to Lyon's unspectacular style, both as a bowler and a person.

Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are the alpha males of the bowling line up and whatever Lyon does is perhaps taken for granted.

However, his stock rose a lot following his brilliant showing in India last year and perhaps, by the time he finished his career, Lyon will be appreciated much more by the cricket fans at large.

#9 Matthew Hoggard

The former England medium pacer, who emerged as one of the world's best swing bowlers in the first half of the new millennium and was instrumental in bringing a lot of success to the team during that period.

However, the bowlers who are generally recalled with fondness from that wonderful era in English cricket are Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones.

All those bowlers were fast, furious and made major contributions to England's rise as a cricket team, which ultimately culminated in the 2005 Ashes triumph.

Hoggard was equally instrumental in the success that the team enjoyed and his incisive swing bowling made England's four-pronged attack such an effective one.

No one quite talks about his exploits in South Africa when England won the series there in 2004-05 or his heroic show with the ball in the West Indies in 2004.

Hoggard is actually the 9th highest wicket-taker in England's Test cricket history and took more wickets than all the three in the attack.

#8 Ian Bishop

He is far better known to a certain generation of cricket fans as an outstanding cricket commentator but when he was in his pomp, Ian Bishop was one of world's leading fast bowlers and had it not been for injuries, he would certainly have got into the august club of fast bowlers.

However, during his career, his performances were lauded and his ability to swing and seam the ball either way at pace was also appreciated by cricket fans. That being said, Bishop could never really come out of the looming shadow of West Indies' leading fast bowlers at the time- Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose.

His career lasted around 9 painful years, during which Bishop played 43 Tests and 84 one-dayers, however, his skills as a fast bowler was never in dispute.

During his career, the outstanding abilities of Ambrose and Walsh overshadowed him but now people appreciate the sort of talent that he possessed.

#7 Aaqib Javed

The former Pakistani fast bowler was an integral part of the team in the 1990s and although he was often in and out of the side, Aaqib Javed proved his worth at most times.

He was a key element of the 1992 World Cup winning team and returned superb figures of 2 for 27 in the final off 10 overs, as Pakistan won their first world title.

However, Javed was no Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis and despite his ability to swing the ball both ways, he was almost always regarded as a bowler who was supposed to be the part of the supporting cast.

In any other team, he might have been the spearhead and would have ended up playing more than the 22 Tests that he got to play in his career.

Like other famed Pakistani bowlers, Javed was also superb with the old ball and it was as a one-day international bowler that he really did have some great moments.

The hat-trick against India at Sharjah is still fondly remembered by Pakistan fans but during his career, he hardly ever got his due.

#6 Murali Kartik

When Murali Kartik first made his debut for India back in 2000, it was widely believed that the team had finally got a left-arm spinner who could go on to become one of the greats of the game. He was a spinner who had a superb action, could turn the ball and had changes of pace that could flummox the best of batsmen.

However, he never quite got is due because Anil Kumble was India's number 1 spinner and year after Kartik's debut, Harbhajan Singh became the confirmed second spinner after taking 32 wickets against Australia in that historic series in 2001.

Kartik only got a look in, when India needed to play three spinners or when one or the other of Harbhajan or Kumble were injured. He played only 8 Tests and 37 one-dayers for India in a career spanning 7 years.

#5 Neil Wagner

The South African born left-arm fast bowler debuted for New Zealand back in 2012 against the West Indies and over the years, he has become an integral part of the Kiwi bowling attack.

Neil Wagner's style of bowling must come as a bit of a shock for most batsmen since unlike the typical fast bowler, his stock delivery is not the one that is pitched up, swinging and on off stump but short balls directed at the body.

It has made him a hugely effective bowler and his battering ram act, coupled with his ability to bowl long spells has made him one of world cricket's most curious successes. However, he is still only the first change bowler for New Zealand and the superb Trent Boul is still the most important bowler on the side.

Boult can swing the ball, bowl yorker and do everything that one expects from a premier fast bowler. It is quite certain that Wagner will always be in his shadow despite being just as important for New Zealand's successes over the past 5 seasons or so.

An average of 27.87 and strike rate of 51.7 in 34 Test matches so far indicates that he is up there with some of the best in the world.

#4 Fanie de Villiers

In the early years following South Africa's readmission to international cricket, their fast bowling arsenal proved to be a particularly fearsome prospect for many teams and one of the unsung heroes of that bowling attack for around 5 years was the right arm fast-bowler Fanie de Villiers.

De Villiers was an excellent swing bowler and bowled at a lively pace, which made him a bowler to be feared. He shone for South Africa in both formats of the game, despite gaining the reputation of being a specialist limited overs bowler.

However, try as he might, De Villiers could never quite shake off the large shadow of his bowling partner Allan Donal, who remains one of the greatest fast bowlers to have played the game.

De Villiers averaged 24.27 in 18 Tests and took 85 wickets, while in the 83 one-dayers he took 95 wickets and averaged 27.74.

#3 Stuart Macgill

There is perhaps nothing as unfortunate as having to be the contemporary of the greatest leg-spinner to ever played the game and then finding out that the two would hardly ever be accommodated in the same eleven by Australia.

Stuart MacGill had everything that one could ask of a quality leg-spinner. He could turn the ball a long way, he had all the possible varieties and also possessed the ability to bowl tireless spells.

However, he was not Shane Warne and hence, his presence in the Australian Test team was limited to those times when the great man was injured.

They played together only a few times and when they did it was a success, as the two spinners picked up 13 wickets against Pakistan in the Sydney Test in 2005.

Despite all that, Macgill was never going to get his due as a leg-spinner and a Test career amounting to only 44 Tests, despite picking up 208 wickets is ample proof that he could never quite get out of Warne's looming presence.

#2 Srinivas Venkataraghavan

It is true that the famed Indian spin quartet of the 1970s has gone into cricketing folklore and Srinivas Venkataraghavan is identified as one of those superb spin bowlers.

However, on closer inspection, one would see that it was primarily Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and BS Chandrasekhar, who are identified as the real movers and shakers.

Venkataraghavan made his debut for India in 1965 but he could never really dislodge the far more gifted Prasanna from the side and it was something that kept him out of the side most of the time.

It is a testament to his fitness that he could stretch his career over 18 years, otherwise, he would never have been able to play 57 Test matches.

In those Tests, Venkataraghavan took 156 wickets at an average of 36.11. In any other era, he would certainly have played 100 plus Test matches and become a legend of the game.

#1 Colin Croft

The West Indies possessed the most incredible procession of fast bowling talent in the 1970s through to the 1980s and more often than not, if one fast bowler retired, another promptly took his place.

Colin Croft was another of those fearsome fast bowlers, who came into the West Indian team in the 1970s and quickly forged a reputation of being someone who could really hurt batsmen. The bouncer was his potent weapon and Croft's thunderbolts often saw batsmen running for cover.

Umpires often had to intervene. However, despite his obvious talents, he is never quite counted among all-time great West Indian fast bowlers and that is perhaps because of the presence of people like Michael Holding and Joel Garner in the side.

They were far superior bowlers and Croft only got to play 27 Test matches and 19 one-dayers for the West Indies.

However, the tally of 125 Test wickets at an average of 23.30 shows that Croft could have ended up as one of the greats of West Indian cricket.