fastest bowler ever?

[Pothas]

All i will say is that Shoib Akthar was damn fast when i saw him against the West Indies in the 1999 world cup at bristol. Infact he was so fast that the first ball was edged for 6.

 

[godofcricket]

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.

Well wasnt the lost of 15 Kmph in Shoaibs delivery due to the slowness of the pitch? I think that played a big role in the drop speed. It will be interesting to see how much it slows down when he bowls in England.

 

[Son Of Coco]

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.

I've heard stories Thommo bowled with little warm up and after a night out, but I'm not sure if that's reliable or not.

I've also heard it reported that Thommo would have been 160+ before injuring himself...

 

[greatindia]

Taling about express fast bowler, does anyone remember Raju Kulkarni??

Kulkarni played 3 test matches against Pakistan in the home series of 86/87 .The guy was hell fast, probably one of the fastest ever bowler.Imran Khan played in the same series and Raju was easily faster than Imran by a yard or two.Unfortunately the guy had "NO CONTROL" and as such just fade away, later he just played for Mumbai.

Had the guy got some control then i believe he would have ended up as one of the fastest bowler the game has ever seen.I remember the hard time the guy gave to Imran Khan, when Imran was batting, his short pitch stuff had Imran in all sorts of trouble.Too bad the guy didn't lived up to expectations.

 

[SJS]

I've heard stories Thommo bowled with little warm up and after a night out, but I'm not sure if that's reliable or not.

I've also heard it reported that Thommo would have been 160+ before injuring himself...

1. You will always lose speed on pitching. On some wickets you may lose more than on others but you WILL lose speed.

2. Besides the loss on pitching the ball slows down even if it doesnt pitch. Even a full toss or a beamer is slower after travelling 22 yards than it was at the beginning of it. It just HAS to other wise it could go on moving for eternity till it went into outer space

 

[shankar]

Besides the loss on pitching the ball slows down even if it doesnt pitch. Even a full toss or a beamer is slower after travelling 22 yards than it was at the beginning of it. It just HAS to other wise it could go on moving for eternity till it went into outer space

Of course it is slower, but it can be slower by an amount that is not considerable over 22 yards if the drag was small enough.

 

[SJS]

Of course it is slower, but it can be slower by an amount that is not considerable over 22 yards if the drag was small enough.

Would you like to wait till the next series when Lee or Shoaib bowl and they show the speed at different points or would you like to take a bet now ?

I will bet you a tousand dollars (US) the loss in pace is over ten percent irrespective of wicket.

Tempted ?

 

[shankar]

Would you like to wait till the next series when Lee or Shoaib bowl and they show the speed at different points or would you like to take a bet now ?

I will bet you a tousand dollars (US) the loss in pace is over ten percent irrespective of wicket.

Tempted ?

Obviously, I'm not 100% sure and not ****y enough to bet on it since I've never followed the speed loss pattern closely and could be wrong - But based on the physics, if the initial speed is 155+kmph then the speed should not reduce below more than 5% or so till the time it pitches. If I see that it actually reduces a lot more, then I'd be intrigued and very much interested to know what the reason behind it is.

 

[Sanz]

So with SJS's logic, assuming that Shoaib delivers the bowl @ 100 miles per hour and by the time ball reaches the batsmen it's travelling at speed < 90mph (considering that it lost more than 10% of the speed when the ball was bowled).

 

[adharcric]

So with SJS's logic, assuming that Shoaib delivers the bowl @ 100 miles per hour and by the time ball reaches the batsmen it's travelling at speed < 90mph (considering that it lost more than 10% of the speed when the ball was bowled).

I think SJS is relying more on observation than logic. Fair enough, that's what counts in the end.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Channel 4 did some graphics to that effect during the Ashes (I think it was then - could have been ARY/TEN during the Pakistan tour), and quickies lost about 12/13% between release and batter, IIRC

 

[open365]

Oh yeh,by the time the ball reaches the batsman,it is almost imposible for it to be going at 90MPH.

 

[RolledOver]

Srinath was very lively in his prime, i'm surprise noone mentioned him.Also unlike Lee and Akhtar he was a class act and he didn't had a dodgy bowling action either

 

[Salamuddin]

Fastest that I've seen would be a tossup between Akhtar and Waqar.

Brett SChultz and Shane Bond wdere pretty lively as well.

 

[Goughy]

Its a very tough thing to do, make a list like this.

I think the list begins and ends with Shoiab and Thompson

What if we looked at it like the World Heavyweight Championship. You only have the title whilst you play and lose it by someone becoming quicker or retiring.

My List of Champions, the person listed after takes over as FASTEST MAN ALIVE

Constantine
Larwood
Miller
Tyson
Hall
Thompson
Patterson
Malcolm
Akhtar

Akhtar is currently the holder of the Fastest Man Alive Title

This is off the top of my head. Im happy for people to think of changes.
There are also gaps in the timeline. Please fill them in if you like.
These are also all guys who has long careers bowling fast. Waqar played most of his career after back injury (bowling around mid 130's), Van Troost never played test cricket, Brett Shultz broke down before truly proving himself.

 

[Pedro Delgado]

Gooch reckoned Pat Pat was the quickest he faced.

 

[Goughy]

Srinath was very lively in his prime, i'm surprise noone mentioned him.

There are a million lively bowlers but only the freaks bowl fast. Srinath is a looooong way down the list. There is no need to mention Darren Gough, Donald, and a hundred others who were all quicker than Srinath because despite being quick they were not the freaks at the top of the tree.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Fastest Bowler Ever?

Well, Boycott said it was either Michael Holding or Patrick Patterson, but the important point is that these were only the people that he had faced or seen in the flesh.

Frank Tyson claims to have been clocked at 119mph in an interview he did for Wisden, and he wouldn't lie about something like that, and I can assume that nobody could have reached those heights and not been clocked doing it, so for me it is Tyson.

 

[silentstriker]

Well, Boycott said it was either Michael Holding or Patrick Patterson, but the important point is that these were only the people that he had faced or seen in the flesh.

Frank Tyson claims to have been clocked at 119mph in an interview he did for Wisden, and he wouldn't lie about something like that, and I can assume that nobody could have reached those heights and not been clocked doing it, so for me it is Tyson.

No one has ever bowled a cricket delivery at 119 mph. None. Even baseball pitches don't go anywhere near that fast (and their actions are very dodgy ). He might believe it, but that doesn't make it true.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Fastest Bowler ever

You can't say that no one has ever bowled that fast until you have faced every single delivery ever bowled, which I doubt you have. Many, many spectators, including highly esteemed writers and columnists, have said that they believe that Frank Tyson was faster than any bowler that they have ever seen, and that they could easily understand that he would break the 100mph mark with his stock effort ball, unlike any other bowler. Now I'm not catorgorically stating that I believe that Tyson bowled as fast as he claimed, but given the day and condition, I find no reason why anyone shouldn't believe him, since you don't really get 75 year old men lying about how fast they bowled in internet columns.