fastest bowler ever?

[luckyeddie]

no, if the ball bounces to about your chest/stomach, its a long hop even if its coming at 100mph.. bouncer is neck region or above

Try telling that to Justin Langer.

 

[Swervy]

no, if the ball bounces to about your chest/stomach, its a long hop even if its coming at 100mph.. bouncer is neck region or above

I doubt anyone would really call a ball travelling at 100mph towards your chest a long hop

 

[aussie]

Holding constantly says that Lee and Akhtar are faster then he was.

really?, i've never heard him say that, according to my pops who has saw Holding thinks he was just as fast as Lee or Shoaib if not faster..

 

[Tom Halsey]

no, if the ball bounces to about your chest/stomach, its a long hop even if its coming at 100mph.. bouncer is neck region or above

Stomach yes, but I don't want a 90mph ball coming at my chest.

They often say the best bouncers are at the chest.

 

[age_master]

In games where Lee and Akhtar have played together that i have seen Lee has always been quicker (and more consistantly so in those games).

Lee hasn't been bowling quite as quickly of late though, maybe 4-5kph slower than he has been in past years.

 

[Top_Cat]

Brett Lee is consistently the fastest bowler I've seen.

 

[Craig]

It will forever be undecieded.
From what i know, the fastest bowler ever(as in consistently fast) would be one of :

Waqar Younis ( before back injury)
Shoaib Akhtar
Michael Holding
Jeff Thompson
Frank Tyson
Patrick Patterson
Roy Gillchrist.

Out of interest what was Waqar's fastest speed/s?

 

[C_C]

I think it was in the mid-high 90s...something like 96-97mph or so...but Waqar was never timed before his back fracture after which his speed dropped noticably.

 

[roseboy64]

AFAIK Akhtar's the fastest.

 

[Arrow]

There was a little segment on the cricket show earlier this summer about a speed contest they had back in the 1970's in the nets at Perth, they got the fastest 7 or 8 bowlers of that era n lined em up in front of a speed gun for an over each I think it was.

I dont know how reliable the speedo was but I remember Thompson won it but his fastest delivery was only recorded in the high 140's ...and noboddy else was really close to him.
It seems pretty unreliable given that it wasnt a match situation and they werent given a whole lot of deliveries...but still...That would imply that if that was anywhere near accurate then Lee...Shoaib...Donald...Bond were at their respective peaks significantly quicker than the fastest of yesteryear.

Tommo was only at 145kph , holding was at 142 or something, and i think only 1 more got into the 140s. The rest were in the 130s.
The guys from yesteryear seem to be overrated.

The fastest ever are Ahkter and Lee.

 

[Autobahn]

I think it was Geoff Boycott who says he is convinced that at his peak Holding was bowling at around 100mph. Then again Boycott does talk a lot of nonsense.

Nah Holding managed to get some terrorifying lift and pace which probably made him appear him quicker then he probably was. (remember that Holding to boycott over on that Bridgetown green-top).

And to be fair a "long-hop" that flies at 90mph into my stomach region would probably smash my ribs anyway.

 

[marc71178]

Tommo was only at 145kph , holding was at 142 or something, and i think only 1 more got into the 140s. The rest were in the 130s.
The guys from yesteryear seem to be overrated.

Actually I'd say the guys from yesteryear were never properly timed.

 

[SJS]

Actually I'd say the guys from yesteryear were never properly timed.

Well. Some of them were but the timing techniques AND what was being measured (the definition of speed) were different.

They were timed at the average speed (from the time it left the hand till it passed the stumps) over 22 yards. Today the speeds that are shown are the speeds at the time release. We are also shown today how much is the drop in speeds along the way, in particular after pitching. So those who talk of the speed of Thomson and Imran who were amongst those timed then need to be reminded of this.

The average speed is HUGELY different from the speed at release.

Shoaib and Lee CANT touch 150 on average speed !!

 

[social]

Well. Some of them were but the timing techniques AND what was being measured (the definition of speed) were different.

They were timed at the average speed (from the time it left the hand till it passed the stumps) over 22 yards. Today the speeds that are shown are the speeds at the time release. We are also shown today how much is the drop in speeds along the way, in particular after pitching. So those who talk of the speed of Thomson and Imran who were amongst those timed then need to be reminded of this.

The average speed is HUGELY different from the speed at release.

Shoaib and Lee CANT touch 150 on average speed !!

Exactly!

Based on today's methodology, Geoff Lawson was quoted on ABC radio last season as stating that Thommo's maximum speed "on the day" was 170 ks plus.

Whilst Lawson is hardly an expert in the field, his explanation as to how the speed was estimated made a lot of sense.

 

[luckyeddie]

.
The guys from yesteryear seem to be overrated.

The fastest ever are Ahkter and Lee.

C_C? Is that you?

 

[shankar]

Well. Some of them were but the timing techniques AND what was being measured (the definition of speed) were different.

They were timed at the average speed (from the time it left the hand till it passed the stumps) over 22 yards. Today the speeds that are shown are the speeds at the time release. We are also shown today how much is the drop in speeds along the way, in particular after pitching. So those who talk of the speed of Thomson and Imran who were amongst those timed then need to be reminded of this.

The average speed is HUGELY different from the speed at release.

Shoaib and Lee CANT touch 150 on average speed !!

Actually, beyond the critical speed (which I think is around 145 for a cricket ball, varying a little based on the ball's condition) the drag on the ball reduces drastically and speed of the ball doesnt reduce much across the length of the pitch ((just 5% or so). So the average speed would be practically same as the release speed for express bowlers like Shoaib and Lee.

 

[social]

Actually, beyond the critical speed (which I think is around 145 for a cricket ball, varying a little based on the ball's condition) the drag on the ball reduces drastically and speed of the ball doesnt reduce much across the length of the pitch ((just 5% or so). So the average speed would be practically same as the release speed for express bowlers like Shoaib and Lee.

If you believe technology, it's well over 20%.

Ive played at 2 club grounds that Thommo was a member of and, allowing for greener wickets, etc, 35+ yards back (which is where the wk of the day pointed to the spot that they stood to take his deliveries) is a hell of a long way back in anyone's language.

I remember watching him at Bankstown Oval (showing my age!), which is bigger than the SCG, and watching him hit the sight-screen with a bouncer without bouncing after it hit the pitch.

From a child's memory (and according to players that faced him), he was unbelievably quick before he suffered the shoulder injury in 76/77.

 

[SJS]

Actually, beyond the critical speed (which I think is around 145 for a cricket ball, varying a little based on the ball's condition) the drag on the ball reduces drastically and speed of the ball doesnt reduce much across the length of the pitch ((just 5% or so). So the average speed would be practically same as the release speed for express bowlers like Shoaib and Lee.

One can argue about the lack of logic in what you say but it isnt required.

I dont know if you watched the India Pakistan test in the recent series. They showed the speed at differnt points during thhe 22 yards 'journey'

Shoaib lost about 15 kmph between delivery and pitching and another 15 kmph by the time the ball reached the stumps.

You dont have to believe me. Wait for the next series in which Shoaib and Lee play and see for yourself.

 

[shankar]

When a cricket ball crosses the critical speed (which is around 145 kph - 150 kmph), the flow around it becomes fully turbulent and the drag on it drops by close to a fourth. The ratio of the speeds at release and when it hits the pitch decreases exponentially as the drag coefficient decreases. Based on the experimental drag co-efficient results we can show that the speed would only reduce by about 5% over the pitch length.

Of course this does not apply to the speed loss when the ball hits the ground. Now as I recall Shoiab in the recent series didnt bowl too many deliveries which started out at over 150 kmph - Hence this theory would not apply. But for the delivery he bowled in the past which was recorded at close to 100 mph (assuming that measurement was right) there wouldnt have been much deceleration and the average speed before pitching would have been very close to the release speed.

 

[luckyeddie]

Of course this does not apply to the speed loss when the ball hits the ground. Now as I recall Shoiab in the recent series didnt bowl too many deliveries which started out at over 150 kmph

Recently, Shoaib hasn't been bowling that many deliveries that have lost pace when they hit the ground either.

What am I saying?!??! He hasn't been bowling that many that have hit the ground period.