Being Tall or Short in cricket doesn’t create a huge difference in the performance of a cricket. As there are players like Sachin Tendulkar who are sitting at the top of the game even after being small heightened. However, being Tall in cricket gives players some own set of advantages.
Historically, Most of the tallest players cricket has witnessed have been bowlers being a tall bowler gives an advantage of delivering good bouncers as the release point is comparatively higher than normal. The tallest batsmen to play international cricket are Kiwi Peter Fulton (199 cm) and England’s Tony Greig England (198 cm).
Here is the list of the top-10 tallest cricketers of all time:
10. Chris Tremlett | 6’7″ (201 cm)
Chris Tremlett was an immensely talented fast bowler. He was from a cricket family background as his father was a country cricketer and his Grandfather represented England in Test cricket. His height gave him an advantage of delivering nice bouncers and he almost picked a hattrick in the first encounter but in the hattrick ball, bails refused to fall.
Even after being full of talent, he wasn’t able to become a successful bowler the main reason behind this was, Injuries. He was an injury-prone bowler and kept getting knee and back injuries again and again.
He got retired at a comparatively younger age after playing only 28 international games and picking as many as 70 international wickets to his name and he took up a weightlifting career after the retirement from cricket.
9. Jason Holder | 6’7″ (201 cm)
The West Indies Test and One-day international captain is among the tallest cricketers in the world. Jason Holder is one of the most important players for West Indies across any format he has developed an image of a dependable all-rounder in the team, featuring in 48 Tests,118 ODIs, and 20 T20I for his tea,m and has picked up 127,139, and 16 wickets respectively.
Holder is not among the very fast bowlers but his line and length are close to perfect, with the bat he has provided many matches winning performances and the holder is a very dependable lower-order batsman for West Indies.
8. Sulieman Benn | 6’7″ (201 cm)
The super tall West Indian was not a pacer ever after he looked like one because of his aggressiveness. He was a good left-arm spinner but not a very disciplined one.
Benn faced many controversies throughout his career, Once he was sent off the field by Universe Boss Chris Gayle after not listening to his orders. His controversy with Speedster Dale Steyn is among the most unforgettable ones in his career.
The tall left-arm spinner would have been a very big name in cricket but due to his indiscipline behavior, he was left out of the 2011 World Cup however he was included in the 2015 season of the World Cup. Sulieman has picked 145 wickets with awkward action in international cricket.
7. Kyle Jamieson | 6’8″ (203 cm)
The fierce rising All rounder of team New Zealand had provided the team many match-winning performances with the bat and ball after playing a handful of matches. Currently, he is the tallest cricketer in the World.
He made his debut against India in 2020 and won the Player of the Match award for his amazing all-round performance in the ODI debut which helped Kiwis win that game.
Kyle Jamieson is a brilliant find for New Zealand he looks bulky and strong but is a very disciplined cricketer. In test cricket, his performance has been extraordinary.
The 26-year-old became the first player to pick a 5 wicket haul in the historic World Test Championship final against India in the first innings.
6. Bruce Reid | 6’8″ (203 cm)
The first bowler to pick a hat-trick in ODIs for Australia. Reid was basically a bowler who used to swing the ball consistently. And being very tall he used to get extra bounce with a swing which made him a very deadly bowler.
Bruce announced his retirement at the age of just 29 as his body completely gave up after facing several injuries in a 7-year long career. Due to facing a lot of injuries, he played on 27 Tests and 61 ODI which was very disappointing. Later he became a bowling coach for the teams like India and Zimbabwe.
5. Peter George | 6’8″ (203 cm)
Peter George is another tall Kangaroo on the list, he was compared with the likes of G McGrath because of his height and bowling action. However, he was nowhere successful in his career playing his first test against India which turned out to be his last one. He picked 2 wickets in that match and never got the opportunity to play again for Australia.
Peter George is a 34-year-old bowler who plays for South Australia. He played his last cricket match in 2019 and there is no chance we might see him playing for the national side.
4. Joel Garner | 6’8″ (203 cm)
The Big Bird was the most feared bowler of his era. His bowling skills were sensational he was one of the bowlers to master Yorker deliveries in those days. Batsmen were left clueless while facing his Yorkers as the ball went straight towards the stumps before the bat reaching the ground.
He was a nightmare for batsmen and was literally unplayable in death. He picked 259 wickets in 58 Tests and picked 146 scalps in 98 ODI matches.
3. Cameron Cuffy | 6’8″ (203 cm)
Cameron Cuffy had a promising start to his career but was unable to compete against the legends like Ambrose and Walsh. His dream of becoming the greatest remained unfulfilled.
He was never a regular member of the playing XI in the West Indies because of hell lot of competition in the pace department. Cuffy, once part of ICC Top 10 ODI Bowlers ranking, finished his career with 41 ODI wickets and 43 Test wickets. In the later part of his career he just like other tall bowler became injury prone and announced his retirement.
2. Boyd Rankin | 6’8″ (204 cm)
The Rugby player who left the sport for playing cricket. He had such a beautiful journey, due to his strong built he was an achieving height in Rugby but he left it just because his first love was cricket.
The Irish cricketer idealized players like Glenn McGrath and Curtly Ambrose and was more of the Hit the deck bowler. Boyd Rankin even played for England in the longest format and is the only 3rd player to play for two countries.
1. Mohammad Irfan | 7’1″ (216 cm)
The ‘Burj Khalifa’ of the Pakistan cricket team was the tallest player to play cricket he was also the only 7ft heightened player to represent an international team.
Irfan due to his giant body was not among the fittest cricketer, the sad part is just like other tall cricketers he was an injury, prone bowler. Irfan played only 4 matches for Pakistan in the longest format picking 10 wickets and 82 matches in limited over picking 99 wickets.