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Originally Posted by C_C
Well i dont think the term medium pace/express pace/fast-medium/medium-fast/fast/slow-medium are all that well supported by speed readings. For i've seen some people associate slow-medium with 60mph deliveries while some do it for anything below 75mph.
My understanding would be this :
express : 95+mph consistently ( Holding, Akhtar, Waqar, Thommo,Lee, Patrick Patterson, etc.)
fast : capable of 95mph+ bowling but usually in the 90-95mph group ( Donald, Ambrose in his 20s, Lillee, Imran, Roberts, Croft, Bishop, Hall, Trueman, etc.)
fast-medium : capable of 90+mph stuff but mostly in the high 80s zone ( Flintoff, Wasim, Walsh,Srinath,Gillespie,Garner,Sobers,Willis etc.)
Medium-fast : capable of high 80s or sometimes in the low 90s stuff but mostly in the mid-low 80s zone ( McGrath, Kapil,Vaas,Botham, Hadlee, Pollock, Sarfaraz,etc.)
Medium - incapable of high 80s/low 90s - usually hits mid-low 80s when going 'flat out' and operating in the low 70s category ( Pathan today, Kallis, Fleming, Amarnath, etc)
Slow-medium : almost never exceeds 80mph, usually operates in the high 60s/low 70s range at best (Cronje, Ganguly,etc).
Ofcourse, this is a rough understanding - not all bowlers fit their categories ideally - Wasim could churn out 95mph stuff and trouble the quickest of batsmen(such as Ritchie Richardson) when he chose to but most of the time he was content bowling in the high 80s. McGrath can crank out 90mph stuff but mostly chooses to stick ot the mid-low 80s zone. But i feel that in my rough approximation of the speed definitions, the bowlers i put in their categories 'fit' that category better than any other. Ofcourse, i dont believe much in speed being a factor that makes a bowler good - speed can be a weakness to some batsmen but nowhere close to movement in my opinion so i tend to use the generic term 'pacers' more than anything else - i basically view the word 'pacer' to be 'anyone who isnt a spinner'.
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