Tallest Cricketer in the World: Definitive List & Heights

Mohammad Irfan stands as the tallest cricketer to play international cricket — 7 ft 1 in (216 cm) — as listed by ESPNcricinfo and the Pakistan Cricket Board. If you’re looking for a one-line answer to who holds the mark for the world’s tallest cricketer, stop there. Everything else is context, nuance, and the very human story of how height shapes cricket.

Quick reference — tallest names at a glance (heights verified via ESPNcricinfo, Wisden, and national boards):

• Mohammad Irfan (Pakistan) — 7 ft 1 in / 216 cm — left-arm fast
• Marco Jansen (South Africa) — 6 ft 9 in / 206 cm — left-arm fast
• Billy Stanlake (Australia) — 6 ft 8.5 in / 204 cm — fast
• Kyle Jamieson (New Zealand) — 6 ft 8 in / 203 cm — fast
• Blessing Muzarabani (Zimbabwe) — 6 ft 8 in / 203 cm — fast

This piece goes far beyond the obvious. It separates active from all-time, international from domestic, men’s from women’s, bowlers from batters, and national standouts by country and league. It also explains how height actually translates into bounce, release angle, and tactical choices — the mechanics that matter on grass, not just on a leaderboard.

What “tallest cricketer” really means in practice

The tallest cricketer in the world can be framed in a few ways:

• Tallest to play international cricket: Mohammad Irfan at 216 cm.
• Tallest currently active on the international scene: Marco Jansen at 206 cm, with Kyle Jamieson and Blessing Muzarabani close behind.
• Tallest to play top-level domestic only: Will Jefferson at 6 ft 10 in (208 cm), a colossus of an English county opener.

Heights in cricket sources often differ by a centimeter or two. Players are sometimes measured without shoes by boards or clubs, then listed with shoes elsewhere. ESPNcricinfo is the starting point for most editorial teams, with Wisden archives and national boards used to iron out the inevitable wrinkles. This article aligns to those sources and flags edge cases where consensus is shaky.

The definitive top 20 tallest cricketers (all-time)

Note: “Active?” refers to current professional or international activity. Heights in feet/inches are paired with centimeters for quick comparison.

Name	Country	Role	Height (ft/in)	Height (cm)	Active?
Mohammad Irfan	Pakistan	Left-arm fast	7 ft 1 in	216	No (international)
Will Jefferson	England (domestic)	Batter	6 ft 10 in	208	No
Marco Jansen	South Africa	Left-arm fast	6 ft 9 in	206	Yes
Billy Stanlake	Australia	Fast	6 ft 8.5 in	204	Yes (pro)
Kyle Jamieson	New Zealand	Fast	6 ft 8 in	203	Yes
Blessing Muzarabani	Zimbabwe	Fast	6 ft 8 in	203	Yes
Joel Garner	West Indies	Fast	6 ft 8 in	203	No
Bruce Reid	Australia	Left-arm fast-medium	6 ft 8 in	203	No
Boyd Rankin	Ireland/England	Fast-medium	6 ft 8 in	203	No
Peter George	Australia	Fast	6 ft 8 in	203	No
Jason Holder	West Indies	Allrounder	6 ft 7 in	201	Yes
Curtly Ambrose	West Indies	Fast	6 ft 7 in	201	No
Chris Tremlett	England	Fast-medium	6 ft 7 in	201	No
Steven Finn	England	Fast	6 ft 7 in	201	No
	Reece Topley	England	Left-arm fast-medium	6 ft 7 in	201	Yes
Sulieman Benn	West Indies	Left-arm spin	6 ft 7 in	201	No
Shaheen Shah Afridi	Pakistan	Left-arm fast	6 ft 6 in	198	Yes
Tom Moody	Australia	Allrounder	6 ft 6 in	198	No
Cameron Green	Australia	Allrounder	6 ft 6 in	198	Yes
Jacob Oram	New Zealand	Allrounder	6 ft 6 in	198	No

A few notes on the table:

• Mohammad Irfan is the only confirmed international cricketer over 7 feet. That’s as rare in cricket as it is routine in basketball.
• Will Jefferson never played international cricket, but at 6 ft 10 in he was an unmistakable presence in county cricket, and likely the tallest professional batter on record.
• Marco Jansen’s listing fluctuates between 2.06 m and 2.07 m depending on the outlet; South Africa’s own materials and ESPNcricinfo commonly present him at 2.06 m.

Tallest active international cricketer right now

Marco Jansen holds that tag as a left-arm fast bowler standing at 6 ft 9 in (206 cm). In modern tours he’s often the tallest player on either side, using a springy, chest-high release to extract steep bounce even from docile surfaces. Kyle Jamieson and Blessing Muzarabani sit within a whisker in the height race at 203 cm. Billy Stanlake nudges close at 204 cm but has played sporadically at international level; in franchise cricket he remains an outlier in height.

The tallest fast bowlers in the world: what the numbers hide

• Mohammad Irfan — 216 cm — a left-armer whose good length played like a heavy hammer blow. The ball would lift at the splice even on subcontinental pitches where most seamers flatten out.
• Joel Garner — 203 cm — the archetype for tall bowling at the death; he threw spearing yorkers from a steepled height and made tailenders feel like the pitch was vertical.
• Curtly Ambrose — 201 cm — the bowler captains mention in dressing rooms when they talk about hitting the top of off with menace. He sent length deliveries through the chest; batters learned to get on the front foot but never fully forward.
• Bruce Reid — 203 cm — left-arm angles with late swing, creating diagonal problems for right-handers no bowling machine can reproduce.
• Kyle Jamieson — 203 cm — a modern template: releases from a high, upright base, plants consistently at a good length and lets the surface do the insult.
• Blessing Muzarabani — 203 cm — more cross-seam and variation now than when he first broke through; his hand position gives him lively lift when the lacquer is new.
• Reece Topley — 201 cm — tall, left-arm, and slippery through white-ball powerplays. Not pure pace, but bounce plus angle teases the top edge above point and third.
• Jason Holder — 201 cm — not all tall fast bowlers must break 150 kph. Holder’s value comes from persistent bounce, seam nibble, and unerring accuracy that stacks dot-ball pressure.

Tallest spin bowler in cricket history

Sulieman Benn at 201 cm stands out as the tallest specialist spinner to have a long international career. Left-arm orthodox, Benn used his wingspan to generate unsettling over-spin; the ball would dip late and then climb off a length. You’ll find taller part-timers scattered through domestic scorecards, but Benn is the definitive top-level case. Will Somerville, a tall off-spinner at roughly 193 cm, and a handful of domestic beanpoles have dabbled, yet nobody matched Benn’s combination of height, volume of games, and impact.

Tallest batters — and why their game looks different

• Will Jefferson — 208 cm — tall enough that he had to consciously lower his center to defend the new ball. He reached for full balls more than most, but short balls rarely hurried him.
• Tom Moody — 198 cm — a driving, towering presence who was surprisingly nimble off his pads. Tall batters often show long levers outside off; Moody cultivated a compact backlift to shorten the downswing.
• Jacob Oram — 198 cm — brutal straight hitter; the ball either died into the deck or took off from his bat face because of the leveraged arc.
• Cameron Green — 198 cm — high-release puller and driver; his height grants a commanding view of length early, a subtle but real advantage.
• Jason Holder — 201 cm — as an allrounder, he demonstrates the balance tall batters must perfect: sinking into the knees at point of contact to avoid slicing over mid-off.

Tallest wicketkeeper in cricket

Specialist wicketkeepers of extreme height are rare. The role demands deep squats, lateral bursts, and repeated up-down motions over long spells. Ridley Jacobs of the West Indies — around 188 cm (6 ft 2 in) per ESPNcricinfo — stands out as one of the tallest regular international keepers in the modern era. Many modern keepers sit between 175 and 185 cm; it’s a sweet spot where flexibility, reaction time, and knee longevity meet. Occasional keepers from the top order have been taller than average, but the everyday specialists above 190 cm are uncommon.

By country — tallest standouts

India

• Abey Kuruvilla — roughly 196 cm — a towering right-arm seamer from the nineties domestic grind who had a brief international passage.
• Ishant Sharma — roughly 193 cm — long strides, high wrist, and a willingness to bowl spells into the wind at venues where others wilt. His height helped him keep the ball unpleasantly on that rib-high channel to right-handers.
• Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, and others are not in the tallest cohort; India’s fast-bowling revolution has been driven more by wrist position, seam control, and aggressive fitness than by sheer height.

Pakistan

• Mohammad Irfan — 216 cm — tallest international cricketer.
• Shaheen Shah Afridi — 198 cm — left-arm fast who marries height with an inswinger that started at boyhood and matured into a new-ball terror.
• Mohammad Hasnain and Haris Rauf are leaner, more skiddy, but the tall spear remains Afridi.

Australia

• Billy Stanlake — 204 cm — long-limbed, high chest release.
• Bruce Reid — 203 cm — smooth left-arm action with dramatic swing when conditions allowed.
• Peter George — 203 cm — classical high release; more of a red-ball merchant.
• Tom Moody — 198 cm — allrounder with reach, both with bat and at mid-off.
• Cameron Green — 198 cm — the prototype modern tall allrounder.

England and Ireland

• Will Jefferson — 208 cm — county monolith.
• Boyd Rankin — 203 cm — bounced out domestic lineups on green surfaces and took it to the top.
• Chris Tremlett — 201 cm — unsettling bounce on English lengths; made short of a length feel longer.
• Steven Finn — 201 cm — thrived on straight lines that exploited bounce into the splice.
• Reece Topley — 201 cm — left-arm white-ball specialist; bounce plus angle is a powerplay cocktail.

New Zealand

• Kyle Jamieson — 203 cm — good length, steep bounce; batters hate his overspin seam that kicks off a fresh Kookaburra.
• Jacob Oram — 198 cm — tall presence in the lower-middle order; bowling heavy back-of-a-length deliveries, batting with a long arc.
• Will Somerville — 193 cm — tall off-spinner whose trajectory comes down from a steeper height than most finger spinners.

West Indies

• Joel Garner — 203 cm — known as “Big Bird,” a nickname that tells the story as well as any stat.
• Curtly Ambrose — 201 cm — archer-still at the crease, violence at the seam.
• Sulieman Benn — 201 cm — a skyscraper among spinners.
• Jason Holder — 201 cm — measured, economical pace; bounce does the scolding.
• Cameron Cuffy — approximately 196 cm — harnessed heavy lengths that forced play-and-miss on seaming mornings.

South Africa

• Marco Jansen — 206 cm — left-arm, whippy release, lofty bounce.
• Morne Morkel — around 196 cm — classic tall South African quick: long levers, hard lengths, sharp bounce that made batters hop at Centurion and the Gabba alike.
• Lungi Ngidi — in the low 190s — not the tallest of the lot, but big enough to extract bounce when the ball is newer.

Sri Lanka

• Dushmantha Chameera — around 191 cm — crisp through the crease and tall for Sri Lankan pace stocks.
• Suranga Lakmal — high 180s — not towering, but used subtle seam movement more than bounce.

Bangladesh

• Ebadot Hossain — around 191 cm — one of their taller seamers; height helps him brush the splice.
• Taskin Ahmed — high 180s — athletic bounce on his day.

Afghanistan

• Yamin Ahmadzai and Fareed Ahmad — high 180s — Afghanistan’s pace stocks are athletic rather than towering.
• Naveen-ul-Haq — mid 180s — uses angles and change-ups to compensate; bounce is less the weapon than deception.

Zimbabwe

• Blessing Muzarabani — 203 cm — the poster boy for tall Zimbabwean quicks; bounce and cross-seam.

Tallest players by league

IPL

• Tallest player to feature: Marco Jansen at 206 cm.
• Other giants: Billy Stanlake (204 cm), Kyle Jamieson (203 cm), Jason Holder (201 cm), Reece Topley (201 cm), Ishant Sharma (193 cm).
• Tactical note: tall quicks in the IPL often bowl hard lengths into the thigh pad early, then roll cutters into the pitch as it grips. At Mumbai and Pune you see more conventional back-of-a-length pace bounce; in Chennai the deck gums up and even tall quicks go to pace-off.

PSL

• Mohammad Irfan (216 cm) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (198 cm) headline the PSL’s history of skyscraping left-armers.
• Tactical note: on long square boundaries in the PSL, tall bowlers’ heavy back-of-a-length balls pull top edges into the deep, particularly in night games when dew controls the skid.

BBL

• Billy Stanlake (204 cm) and Peter George (203 cm) have been the tallest face of the BBL.
• Tactical note: Australian drop-in pitches plus tall release equals splice-high bounce, a nightmare in powerplays when batters chase width.

CPL

• Jason Holder (201 cm) and Sulieman Benn (201 cm).
• Tactical note: Taller spinners in the Caribbean often float the ball from a higher point, getting extra dip that snares miscues to the ring, even on placid surfaces.

The Hundred and English domestic

• Reece Topley (201 cm), Chris Tremlett (201 cm in his era), Steven Finn (201 cm).
• Tactical note: English white-ball wickets promote back-of-a-length cutters; tall bowlers get “two bounces” in the eye-line — the ball rises after pitching and then kicks again as it hits bat with extra lift.

Height advantage in fast bowling — the mechanics unpacked

A tall bowler’s magic isn’t just centimeters. It’s geometry and biomechanics working together.

• Release height and angle: A bowler at 2.03 m with long arms might release the ball around 2.35 to 2.45 m above ground, while a 1.80 m bowler releases nearer 2.25 m. That extra 10–20 cm steepens the trajectory, meaning a length ball arrives on a slightly more downward path. The result is bounce that targets the splice rather than the middle.
• Seam exposure time: Because the ball approaches on a steeper slope, it can meet the pitch with a more upright seam, increasing the chance of sideways deviation on a lively surface.
• Margin for error: Tall bowlers can miss fuller by a few inches and still extract awkward bounce. Conversely, anything even slightly short becomes truly uncomfortable for batters — helmets feel closer to the hands.
• Angles for left-armers: Tall left-armers like Irfan, Jansen, Shaheen create an in-to-out trajectory for right-handers that never comfortably fits the conventional channel. If they go wider on the crease, the ball starts outside off and climbs at the shoulder. If they go closer, it threatens the pads and then straightens up.
• Does height automatically equal speed? No. Speed comes from run-up rhythm, hip-shoulder separation, front-leg bracing, and wrist snap. Height adds bounce and awkward angles. Joel Garner and Curtly Ambrose were disconcerting more for their length control and bounce than sheer gun-barrel speed.
• Workload and levers: Longer levers can mean higher joint loads. Tall bowlers must take their landing mechanics seriously — braced front leg, stable trunk, and careful gym work to protect knees, ankles, and lower back. The smartest tall quicks train deceleration as much as acceleration.

How height changes batting — the tall batter’s challenge

Tall batters see length sooner; their eye-line sits above the ball trajectory and they often pick length a fraction earlier. Yet there’s a catch: getting down to undercut nip-backers on a low deck is harder. Many tall batters consciously lower their center at impact, sink into the knees when driving, and shorten the backlift against wobble seam. If they succeed, the trade-off is brutal leverage through the arc — lofted drives travel — and a pull shot that turns top edges into carry, not miscues.

Spin bowling at height — more than just wingspan

Tall finger spinners like Sulieman Benn and Will Somerville generate:

• Higher release point: steeper drop onto a length, forcing batters to play from the crease.
• Extra top-spin: the ball dips late and kicks, making the same length more threatening to catch bat-pad.
• Natural variation: even without perfect revolutions, height can produce a ball that “sits up” then straightens, creating enigmatic half-chances.

Women’s cricket — the tallest players and how they use it

Tall fast bowlers and allrounders in women’s cricket are quietly shaping games the same way their male counterparts do.

• Jhulan Goswami — around 183 cm (6 ft) per ESPNcricinfo — long celebrated as a towering seam presence for India. She built a career on hitting the deck hard and extracting bounce that other bowlers couldn’t access on the same surfaces.
• Kate Cross — approximately 183 cm — generates consistent lift with a repeatable action; her height aids that “kissing” seam that brushes the splice in early overs.
• Sophie Ecclestone — around 180 cm — tall for a spinner, which aids her high release and over-spin; her arm path and body height conspire to make the ball dip and then climb off a length toward bat-pad.
• Hannah Rowe — near 180 cm — uses that height in her run-up and release to bowl a heavy ball at the top level.
• Shamilia Connell — in the high 170s — long-limbed West Indian quick whose bounce becomes a weapon on firmer decks.

Tall wicketkeepers in women’s cricket are as rare as in the men’s game for the same biomechanical reason: long levers can be an efficiency tax on repeated squats and explosive lateral movement. The tallest regular keepers tend to sit near the upper end of the average range rather than breaking past 180 cm.

Mohammad Irfan versus the modern skyscrapers

Heights compared

• Mohammad Irfan — 216 cm
• Marco Jansen — 206 cm
• Kyle Jamieson — 203 cm
• Blessing Muzarabani — 203 cm

The gap from Irfan to the next tier is huge — about 10 cm. On a cricket pitch, that’s the difference between a good length hitting mid-splice and the same ball leaping at the glove. Irfan’s left-arm angle from that height was a once-in-a-generation problem. Jansen inherits that template, adding a bit more pace through the air and more modern power-hitting if needed at eight. Jamieson is the most textbook tall quick in the red ball format — heavy, full of overspin, and consistent at the spot just short of driving length. Muzarabani boxes clever in white-ball cricket with cross-seam and dead-straight bouncers that ride the splice.

Kyle Jamieson versus Jason Holder

• Jamieson — 203 cm — red-ball menace with relentless in-between length; the ball climbs onto the shoulder of the bat.
• Holder — 201 cm — less express pace, more devouring of a channel; seam wobble plus bounce meets patience and intelligence.

In white-ball formats, Holder’s height lets him float cutters into the pitch without losing deception; Jamieson, when fit, uses bounce to stretch scoring channels, pushing batters into horizontal bat shots earlier than they planned.

The tallest left-arm fast bowlers

• Mohammad Irfan — 216 cm — the summit.
• Marco Jansen — 206 cm — the modern leader.
• Shaheen Shah Afridi — 198 cm — not in the rarest height bracket, but tall enough for bounce to multiply the threat of his inswinger.
• Bruce Reid — 203 cm — a classic of his kind, using tall release plus late movement.

Tallest cricketer in the IPL and other leagues

• IPL: Marco Jansen at 206 cm is the tallest to appear. Billy Stanlake (204 cm), Kyle Jamieson (203 cm), Jason Holder (201 cm), and Reece Topley (201 cm) bulk out the list of skyscrapers who make captains itch to bowl with the new ball.
• PSL: Mohammad Irfan (216 cm) owns the label historically; Shaheen Afridi (198 cm) carries the modern torch.
• BBL: Billy Stanlake (204 cm) and Peter George (203 cm).
• CPL: Sulieman Benn (201 cm), Jason Holder (201 cm).
• The Hundred and English domestic: Reece Topley (201 cm), Steven Finn (201 cm), Chris Tremlett (201 cm in his era).

Why you don’t see many seven-foot cricketers

Cricket rewards tall fast bowlers but demands repeatability, stamina, and soft landings on joints. Extremely tall athletes must negotiate longer lever arms and higher joint forces during the delivery stride. That’s manageable with elite conditioning but still exacts a toll across multi-format calendars. Additionally, cricketing cultures historically shepherded very tall teenagers toward basketball or volleyball. The rare athlete who both reaches seven feet and chooses, then sticks with, fast bowling is uncommon. Irfan is the outlier who fused that height with the skill, rhythm, and durability to play internationally.

Measurement notes and sourcing

• Heights are primarily drawn from ESPNcricinfo player profiles. Where ESPNcricinfo does not list height or lists a range that conflicts with long-standing records, corroboration is taken from national cricket boards and Wisden.
• Expect discrepancies of one to two centimeters across sources. Some list heights with shoes, others without; a few rely on early-career listings that never updated.
• This article uses the most conservative, widely accepted measurement when conflicts arise.

Tactical snapshots from the field

• The Ambrose blueprint: hitting the deck just short of a drive, on fourth stump, until batters make the first mistake. The bounce from 201 cm turned “leave” into “glove” with a small change in seam angle.
• The Garner lesson at the death: yorkers released from a greater height enter the blockhole with a sharper descent, even when the pace isn’t the absolute fastest. That angle narrows the batter’s margin to get under the ball.
• The Jansen wave: a tall left-armer bowling over the wicket to right-handers invites the drive early. Once the batter commits, the same hand position floats a ball that starts on middle-and-off and straightens to kiss the outside edge.
• The Jamieson questions in red-ball cricket: go forward and risk high splice; stay back and risk the LBW because the ball keeps coming down at you. That’s height working on decision trees, not just bat angles.

Tallest cricketers by role — quick tiers

Fast bowlers (men)

Irfan (216), Jansen (206), Stanlake (204), Jamieson (203), Muzarabani (203), Garner (203), Reid (203), Rankin (203), George (203), Ambrose (201), Tremlett (201), Finn (201), Topley (201), Holder (201), Shaheen (198), Morne Morkel (~196) and more.

Spin bowlers (men)

• Sulieman Benn (201) at the summit among specialists.
• Will Somerville (~193) and a handful of tall domestic spinners sit in the next tier.

Batters (men)

• Will Jefferson (208) as the tallest well-documented top-level batter domestically.
• Tom Moody (198), Jacob Oram (198), Cameron Green (198), Jason Holder (201) as batter-allrounders.

Wicketkeepers (men)

• Ridley Jacobs (~188) among the tallest regular internationals; very tall full-time keepers remain unusual.

Women’s cricket

• Jhulan Goswami (~183), Kate Cross (~183), Sophie Ecclestone (~180), Hannah Rowe (~180) lead the tower list. Data coverage for women’s heights is improving but remains less exhaustive than in the men’s game; ESPNcricinfo and boards provide the most reliable snapshots.

Cricket’s height myths, debunked

• “Tall automatically means fast.” False. Some of the tallest bowlers have operated in the mid-130s kph, using bounce and seam, not raw speed. Speed is a product of sequencing and core mechanics; height adds bounce and angle, not pace by itself.
• “Short bowlers can’t bounce batters.” False. Skiddy bowlers create deceptive bouncers by using pace and surprise. But tall bowlers make the same ball play from higher on the bat face more often.
• “Tall batters can’t play spin.” Outdated. Tall batters who stay low at impact and use long reach smartly can smother spin and punish anything short. The vulnerability to low shooters remains, but adaptability has closed that gap.

Heights and the science of bounce — a pocket explainer

Think of the pitch as a trampoline with different zones of spring. A taller bowler throws the ball down on a slightly steeper path, so when it lands on that spring, it kicks up at a sharper angle. The difference is only degrees, not dozens, but cricket is a game of thin margins. Add a well-presented seam and that steeper impact makes sideways deviation both later and nastier. That’s why the same length from Ambrose or Jamieson feels meaner than from a skiddy 1.78 m seamer at the same speed.

Convert feet and inches to centimeters — quick guide

• Multiply feet by 30.48 and inches by 2.54, then add.
• Example: 6 ft 8 in = (6 × 30.48) + (8 × 2.54) = 182.88 + 20.32 = 203.2 cm.

Comparisons across sports — why cricket is different

Basketball and volleyball normalize seven-footers; the surfaces and movement patterns fit those lever lengths. Cricket imposes a loping run, a hard decelerating block at front-foot landing, and asymmetrical trunk rotation, ball after ball, spell after spell. There’s room for giants, but the sweet spot for long careers typically lives around 1.90 to 2.03 m for fast bowlers and lower still for wicketkeepers and agile fielders. Mohammad Irfan is a rare bridge between worlds: a body that size, tuned and trained to withstand the delivery stride.

Country and league spotlights — informed by conditions

• Subcontinent: Tall left-armers are gold. On lower decks, that angle and height make a good length feel like a bouncer, coercing batters into angled bats. That’s why Irfan and Shaheen always end up in new-ball conversations.
• England: Tall bowlers who can wobble the seam thrive. Even at medium-fast, the extra bounce plus lateral nibble is a half-chance waiting to happen at slip and gully.
• Australia: Firm decks democratize bounce; tall bowlers still cash in, but shorter skiddy types can match them with haste. Tall spinners get the rare treat of meaningful overspin bounce.
• South Africa: Historically the happiest hunting ground for tall quicks; the height-plus-hard-length method is almost a rite of passage on those pitches.
• Caribbean: Taller spinners remain underrated there; the combination of dip and lift can be awkward even on straw-colored decks. Tall quicks have always been a Caribbean calling card for the new ball.

A curated, sourced snapshot of key entities and their heights

• Mohammad Irfan height — 216 cm (ESPNcricinfo, PCB).
• Marco Jansen height — 206 cm (Cricket South Africa, ESPNcricinfo).
• Blessing Muzarabani height — 203 cm (ESPNcricinfo).
• Kyle Jamieson height — 203 cm (ESPNcricinfo, NZC).
• Billy Stanlake height — 204 cm (Cricket Australia, ESPNcricinfo).
• Jason Holder height — 201 cm (ESPNcricinfo).
• Joel Garner height — 203 cm (Wisden, ESPNcricinfo).
• Bruce Reid height — 203 cm (ESPNcricinfo).
• Sulieman Benn height — 201 cm (ESPNcricinfo).
• Chris Tremlett height — 201 cm (ECB/ESPNcricinfo).
• Steven Finn height — 201 cm (ECB/ESPNcricinfo).
• Curtly Ambrose height — 201 cm (Wisden, ESPNcricinfo).
• Ishant Sharma height — ~193 cm (ESPNcricinfo).
• Abey Kuruvilla height — ~196 cm (BCCI archives/Wisden references).
• Will Jefferson height — 208 cm (ECB/ESPNcricinfo county profiles).
• Cameron Green height — 198 cm (Cricket Australia).
• Jacob Oram height — 198 cm (NZC/ESPNcricinfo).
• Reece Topley height — 201 cm (ECB/ESPNcricinfo).
• Jhulan Goswami height — ~183 cm (BCCI/ESPNcricinfo).
• Kate Cross height — ~183 cm (ECB/ESPNcricinfo).
• Sophie Ecclestone height — ~180 cm (ECB/ESPNcricinfo).

Edge cases and often-misreported entries

• Marco Jansen sometimes appears at 207 cm in media guides. Most official listings consolidate at 206 cm.
• Tom Moody fluctuates between 198 and 199 cm across sources. Both translate to 6 ft 6 in and keep him firmly in the tallest international batter-allrounder conversation.
• A few domestic-only players have been reported as extremely tall without reliable source backing. This article limits to entities with established, verifiable listings.

Where “tallest by country” stands today

• Tallest Indian cricketer, all-time: Abey Kuruvilla at roughly 196 cm has the strongest claim among confirmed listings at international level; a few domestic pacers have matched or slightly exceeded that bracket but with limited documentation.
• Tallest Australian cricketers: Bruce Reid and Peter George share the 203 cm tier; Billy Stanlake edges them at 204 cm.
• Tallest South African cricketer: Marco Jansen at 206 cm.
• Tallest New Zealand cricketer: Kyle Jamieson at 203 cm among internationals; Jacob Oram among batters at 198 cm.
• Tallest West Indies cricketer: Joel Garner at 203 cm, with Ambrose, Benn, and Holder all at 201 cm.
• Tallest Pakistan cricketers: Mohammad Irfan at 216 cm, Shaheen Afridi at 198 cm.
• Tallest England/Ireland cricketers: Will Jefferson at 208 cm domestically, Boyd Rankin at 203 cm among internationals, alongside Tremlett, Finn, and Topley at 201 cm.
• Tallest Sri Lankan cricketers: Dushmantha Chameera in the low 190s leads among recent quicks.
• Tallest Bangladesh cricketers: Ebadot Hossain around 191 cm; Taskin Ahmed a shade below.
• Tallest Afghan cricketers: primary international quicks in the mid-to-high 180s rather than above 190 cm.
• Tallest Irish cricketer: Boyd Rankin at 203 cm.

A compact list of the tallest cricketers of all time (men, mixed roles)

Note on list construction: This set is weighted toward reliable, consistent listings. Some historical or domestic-only candidates occasionally pop up as “taller than X” in anecdotes; without a stable primary source, they remain outside this verified top table.

1. Mohammad Irfan — 7 ft 1 in — 216 cm — Pakistan — left-arm fast
2. Will Jefferson — 6 ft 10 in — 208 cm — England (domestic) — batter
3. Marco Jansen — 6 ft 9 in — 206 cm — South Africa — left-arm fast
4. Billy Stanlake — 6 ft 8.5 in — 204 cm — Australia — fast
5. Joel Garner — 6 ft 8 in — 203 cm — West Indies — fast
6. Bruce Reid — 6 ft 8 in — 203 cm — Australia — left-arm fast-medium
7. Kyle Jamieson — 6 ft 8 in — 203 cm — New Zealand — fast
8. Blessing Muzarabani — 6 ft 8 in — 203 cm — Zimbabwe — fast
9. Boyd Rankin — 6 ft 8 in — 203 cm — Ireland/England — fast-medium
10. Peter George — 6 ft 8 in — 203 cm — Australia — fast
11. Jason Holder — 6 ft 7 in — 201 cm — West Indies — allrounder
12. Curtly Ambrose — 6 ft 7 in — 201 cm — West Indies — fast
13. Sulieman Benn — 6 ft 7 in — 201 cm — West Indies — left-arm spin
14. Chris Tremlett — 6 ft 7 in — 201 cm — England — fast-medium
15. Steven Finn — 6 ft 7 in — 201 cm — England — fast
16. Reece Topley — 6 ft 7 in — 201 cm — England — left-arm fast-medium
17. Shaheen Shah Afridi — 6 ft 6 in — 198 cm — Pakistan — left-arm fast
18. Tom Moody — 6 ft 6 in — 198 cm — Australia — allrounder
19. Cameron Green — 6 ft 6 in — 198 cm — Australia — allrounder
20. Jacob Oram — 6 ft 6 in — 198 cm — New Zealand — allrounder

Why the tallest stories endure

Height in cricket is theater. The ball arrives from a frame that seems impossible, at an angle that looks unfair. The crowd’s intake of breath when a tall quick hits the deck hard is not about speed; it’s anticipation. Everyone, batter and onlooker, senses the next ball could misbehave in a way no practice strip ever truly prepares you for. Great tall bowlers harness that anticipation, stringing batters along with steady lines and small changes — a seam tilted one degree, a stride shortened by half a foot.

In the long view, Mohammad Irfan remains the solitary giant at the top. Marco Jansen carries the living torch, and a tight ring of 6 ft 8 in contemporaries takes turns imposing their angles on different formats. The women’s game has its own tower guards now; Goswami, Cross, Ecclestone and others prove height can be harnessed across roles. Not every giant becomes a great, but the game is richer, and more unpredictable, when a skyscraper finds rhythm.

Key takeaways

• Tallest international cricketer: Mohammad Irfan (Pakistan) at 7 ft 1 in (216 cm).
• Tallest active international: Marco Jansen (South Africa) at 6 ft 9 in (206 cm).
• Tallest specialist spinner: Sulieman Benn (West Indies) at 6 ft 7 in (201 cm).
• Tallest batter at top domestic/pro level: Will Jefferson (England) at 6 ft 10 in (208 cm).
• IPL’s tallest player: Marco Jansen at 206 cm.
• Height adds bounce and angle; it doesn’t automatically add bowling speed.
• Extremely tall wicketkeepers are rare because of the biomechanical cost of the role.
• Women’s cricket has tall leaders in both pace and spin — Goswami and Cross among the tallest seamers, Ecclestone among the tallest and most effective spinners.

The human side matters as much as the centimeters

Watch a tall bowler’s run-up closely. The best of them measure those long strides with the composure of a metronome, then, right at take-off, their frame becomes quiet. Arm high, seam proud, front leg braced: the ball leaves on an arc that looks like a hawk’s glide. That’s not a number. That’s a craft. The scoreboard will credit wickets and dot balls, the database will credit height and speed, but in the space between you’ll find the true advantage of the tallest cricketers — a vantage point the rest of us can’t simulate, and a way of bending the same 22 yards into a shape only they can control.