A yorker is a fast bowling delivery that has a significant impact on the game of cricket. The yorker is the most deadly weapon available to fast bowlers when used with accuracy and precision. It may be used to take wickets, restrict runs, and turn the momentum of a match in the bowler’s favour. In cricket, the yorker is the trickiest and most difficult delivery for the fast bowler. If it goes wrong, the batsman can easily hit the boundaries; otherwise, it’s exceedingly difficult to control. Yorker bowling is a pure skill that very few great fast bowlers have mastered in cricket history.
Here’s a list of Top 10 Yorker King In The World –
1. Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis is well regarded as the yorker king in cricket history and is also known as the toe crusher. He was a greatest fast bowler and a master of swing who won several matches single handedly for Pakistan. Waqar was a “skiddier” bowler, one who hit the batsmen toes instead of the ribcage. His greatest contribution to the game has been unravelling some of the reverse swing’s secrets. Waqar invented his own delivery in 1990s, the fast swinging yorker, which he patents.
He had a long run-up, accelerating gradually before the legs began to pump, and every time he let the ball go, there was a sensation that something amazing was going to happen. All batsmen knew a yorker was coming from Waqar because of his ability to produce extremely quick swinging toe-crushers, but they were helpless to handle it. He released with a slightly round-arm action, had dismissed so many batsmen either bowled with a superb yorker or lbw with the ball that became his trademark.
2. Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram is famously known as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time the game has ever seen. His accuracy and mastery of yorkers made him the most difficult and fabulous fast bowler to play against in both forms of cricket at the time. He bowled lethal reverse-swinging deliveries throughout of his career, then he bowled fast swinging and unplayable toe crushing yorkers to knock batsmen’s toes off their feet.
He is also popular as the king of swing and seam, he could bowl both new and old balls quickly and skillfully, going over and around the wicket. He was one bowler who didn’t need a pitch or conditions to make himself effective. When he wanted to, he could swing the ball, seam it off the pitch, and bowl superbly at a brilliant speed. He had it all and simply was the complete package. Because he could bowl on every surface, his record is pretty good everywhere.
3. Lasith Malinga
Yorker king Lasith Malinga had ruled the world of Yorkers since his debut 2004 with his unorthodox bowling action. In ODIs, Lasith Malinga was a superstar and a big match-winner for his Sri Lankan team throughout of his career. He was so popular for his ability to bowl devastating and perfect yorkers at will, crushing batsmen’s toes and sending the stumps flying with his slinging unorthodox action.
Malinga had produced several match-winning spells and picked the crucial wickets for his team. At the end of his remarkable career, he had taken 338 wickets, third most for Sri Lanka and ninth most in ODI history. In international cricket, he holds an incredible record of picking 5 hat tricks and this record will be unbroken for a longer time.
4. Joel Garner
Joel Garner is probably the pioneer of the yorker ball and widely regarded as the first yorker king in the world. He was also referred to as a toe breaker or the old sand-shoe crusher. At the height of the West Indies’ dominance, he emerged as the superb fast bowler to grace the game. Six feet eight inches tall, he delivered the ball from a great height and had a magnificent yorker that was always unplayable for every batsmen in the world. He could make the ball bounce on sand, he bowled at the batsman with pinpoint accuracy, and he had real pace.
Garner had bowled got up chest height and another came in at batsmen toe nails it was very difficult to survive. He’d bowl back of length and then he would slip in a yorker. Because of his perfect yorker, he was an excellent death bowler in ODI cricket too. Amazingly, in his 58 Test matches, he played in just five losses (taking 259 wickets at an average of just 20.97). The mere sight of his stats was enough to make one uneasy while facing Joel Garner.
5. Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc is widely regarded as one the best fast bowlers and the yorker king of the modern era. His efficient 150 km/hr swinging yorkers are too quick and quite unplayable for any batsmen in the world to handle. It isn’t really easy to deal with Starc’s quick yorkers as he laces a good deal of swing with his toe-crushers.
Mitchell Starc is simply one of those bowlers in cricket history who can bowl six perfect yorkers in his six deliveries of the over. He is also considered as one of the fearsome fast bowlers with perfect speed and brilliant swing who confounds every batsmen.
6. Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah is widely regarded as the Yorker King and also one of the best fast bowlers of the modern era that India has produced. Bumrah is without a doubt the player who has had the biggest influence on Indian cricket team since debut. He is India’s front-line bowler who has become one of the most feared fast bowlers in modern day cricket over the years.
The main factor behind Bumrah’s career taking off so quickly is his ability to consistently bowl perfect and unplayable yorkers at brilliant pace with an extremely unorthodox action. The perfection by which he delivers Yorkers is just remarkable. With his inch-perfect yorkers, Bumrah provided much-needed relief for the Indian team that had been struggling for some time due to a lack of match winner bowler specially in death overs.
7. Shoaib Akhtar
True fastest bowler like Shoaib Akhtar come along once in a century. With a speed of 161.3 kmph (100.2 mph), he is the fastest bowler in the world. His express pace, mean bouncer and lethal yorkers made him very unplayable. When the batsmen came in, he was devastating because his quick swinging yorker takes them off guard no matter how well they prepare.
Shoaib Akhtar bowled a curving thunderbolt and unplayable yorkers to batsman with reverse swing that was clocked at around 150 kilometres per hour. He is also one of the most dangerous fast bowlers of all time the game of cricket has ever witnessed. He terrorised batsmen across the world throughout of his career, helping Pakistan to win numerous matches through his sheer pace.
8. Brett Lee
Brett Lee, the tearaway speedster, and the fast and furious bowler troubled all batsmen with his deadly pace and pinpoint accuracy, making him one of the fastest bowlers that the world has ever witnessed. He is known for his consistency of pace, going over 150 kmph throughout of his career. Brett lee was more than just a short pitched, express fast bowler who enjoyed rattling the batsmen.
His steaming yorkers was terrific to escape down the willow of batsmen before rattling the stumps. With his fast, slingy action, he had the ability to bowl superfast deliveries especially with his yorkers at speed above 150kph made him one of the most dangerous fast bowlers of all time.Â
9. Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff is one of the best all rounder in the world the game has ever seen, contributing with both ball and bat for his team. He was also a master of the yorker, and one of his  primary strengths was his ability to bowl a perfect yorker as pressure mounted. Flintoff did this beautifully by bowling a few out swingers and then producing an unplayable inswinging yorker.
Flintoff has bowled one the most famous yorker to Kallis in test cricket history. Firstly, umpire Aleem Dar turned down the appeal for the LBW, but five balls later, Flintoff produced a superb yorker, which swung away and sent Kallis’ off stump flying out of the ground.
10. Darren Gough
Darren Gough is well regarded as one of England’s greatest fast bowlers of all time in ODIs. Due to his late swinging ability, many of his wickets was caught, frequently with an inswinging yorker bowled. He was the the first English bowler to learn how to bowl with a reverse swing and use it.
One of Gough’s most sensational Test cricket performances was his hattrick against Australia, which he had taken at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1998-99 Ashes. Gough played 58 test matches and took brilliantly 229 wickets. He made cricket history by becoming the first bowler of England to take over 200 (235) wickets in One Day Internationals.
Read also: Top 10 Best Wicketkeeper in the World