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Lillee vs Root

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
LilleeWinner
85.0

Lillee wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours

Root
83.9

Root wins: Longevity, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Cricket

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Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇦🇺 Dennis Lillee
85.0

Lillee leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. 355 Test wickets and the defining fast bowler of the 1970s.

1. Dennis Lillee
85.0
2. Joe Root
83.9

Category breakdown

Season form · Centuries per year

Career timeline · Centuries per year

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through year 5 · Centuries per year
1. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Joe Root5 years played · career day 1,8265,063 runs
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇦🇺 Dennis Lillee5 years played · career day 2,555105 runs
-97.9% vs Root at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇦🇺 Lillee000059171
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Root001861,1233,5869,511

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 years are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricLilleeRetiredRootActive
Test wickets355
Bowling average23.92
Five-wicket hauls23
Test matches70155
ODI wickets103
Test runs13,000
Test centuries37
ODI runs6,500
Test batting average50.8
Dominance w25%8682
Peak w20%9288
Longevity w20%7884
Honours w20%8076
Statistics w15%9092

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Lillee85.0
Root83.9
The people
Lillee
Root

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