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Oldest 'Fast' Bowler

PhoenixFire

International Coach
Having recently watched Darren Gough bowling over 90mph at the age of 38 (I think), who has been the oldest bowler to bowl at over 90mph?
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
To be clocked at over 90mph, I'd imagine Gough - if he truly has. I'm rather surprised if so TBH - the games I've seen this season he's been around 82-83mph.

I can't imagine anyone else has bowled at 90mph at such an age in such a short timespan as the 10 years that timing technology has existed. We'll never know whether anyone did before timing technology, obviously.

Michael Holding reached 86mph at the age of 47 in 2001 in a Sky Sports commentators pace challenge, however. Which is, TSTL, fairly impressive.
 

PhoenixFire

International Coach
Jesus Christ, that is rather imressive. I wonder at what age I will be able to bowl faster than Holding..
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Even with my limited access to cricket I have seen Gough go over 90 mph this season.
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
When I last saw Gough bowl a couple of years ago, his problem was not pace but the fact that he didnt move the ball at all.

Unlike guys like Lillee, who compensated for a drop in pace with increased variation, he totally lacked in the latter
 

TheEpic

School Boy/Girl Captain
Yep, have seen Gough touch 90mph on multiple occasions this summer. Not bad for an old, fat bloke.
 

funnygirl

State Regular
To be clocked at over 90mph, I'd imagine Gough - if he truly has. I'm rather surprised if so TBH - the games I've seen this season he's been around 82-83mph.

I can't imagine anyone else has bowled at 90mph at such an age in such a short timespan as the 10 years that timing technology has existed. We'll never know whether anyone did before timing technology, obviously.

Michael Holding reached 86mph at the age of 47 in 2001 in a Sky Sports commentators pace challenge, however. Which is, TSTL, fairly impressive.
:-O :-O :-O ,what a man .
 

four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
Yes, I saw Gough live at the weekend in the FP semi, and he was clocked over 90mph, off not such a long run either.

Hoggard, by comparison, ran in miles and was clocked slower than Bopara and ten Doeschate. And looked pretty awful. For the first time I haven't been a bit horrified at him no longer playing in the England team.
 

open365

International Vice-Captain
Yes, I saw Gough live at the weekend in the FP semi, and he was clocked over 90mph, off not such a long run either.

Hoggard, by comparison, ran in miles and was clocked slower than Bopara and ten Doeschate. And looked pretty awful. For the first time I haven't been a bit horrified at him no longer playing in the England team.
Yeh I picked up on that too, he's never been a very good Limited overs player I don't think so I hope he's bowling better in the 4-day game, but he's looked really awful on his TV outings with Yorkshire this year.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Yeh I picked up on that too, he's never been a very good Limited overs player I don't think so I hope he's bowling better in the 4-day game, but he's looked really awful on his TV outings with Yorkshire this year.
Worrying thing is, his one-day bowling for Yorkshire has usually not been the worst. He's well short of ODI-standard and has been all career, but domestically he's usually done pretty well.

Of course, how he's bowling in one-day cricket is largely irrelevant to how he's bowling in First-Class cricket and he's obviously done well this year in the First-Class game. People bowl "within" themselves in the one-day game all the time.

Thing is, though, people have been saying for a while now that Hoggard's lost speed. I've not seen a decent breakdown of his paces for quite a while now, but it'd be interesting to see how true it was.
 

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
It's not particular surprising that a man in his mid 40's who's kept himself fit can still bowl at 86mph for a few deliveries.
 

open365

International Vice-Captain
Thing is, though, people have been paying for a while now that Hoggard's lost speed. I've not seen a decent breakdown of his paces for quite a while now, but it'd be interesting to see how true it was.
He's definitely been bowling slower on average on the times i've seen him on TV, but from what I remember of his last game he wasn't bowling particulary quickly then either so maybe he hasn' changed that much.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
I didn't record it, unfortunately. I would've done if I'd realised just how remarkable the results were going to be.
I cant find it mentioned anywhere at all. I cant believe that in this age of 24 hr news and the internet that no mention of such an event (if true) exists.

Surely if the results were so remarkable that people are still talking about it 7 yrs later then some one would have mentioned it at the time. Im sure you can find a link to verify.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I can't find any mention of Mark Nicholas' chat with Shane Warne in Cricket Roadshow of 2000 either - but it certainly happened. It's not the sort of thing that would be reported anywhere outside Sky Sports, it was a nothing event. A few old-timers whose only uniting front is that they all commentate for the same network bowling in front of a speedgun, that's it. It's not going to get any form of coverage. The only online place it might conceivably have been mentioned was the Sky Sports website, and I haven't a clue whether they reported the sort of irrelevant stuff they do these days in those days (this wasn't yesterday - 2001 is quite a while ago now), as the first time I read the site was about 2006.

I don't know whether it is remarkable, and no-one has ever mentioned it to me, the only person I know for certain watched the thing was myself. I've never seen anyone of Holding's playing-days capability (presumably in '76 he was bowling at 95mph or even more) bowl in front of a speedgun in their mid-40s aside from that occasion. It's quite conceivable that in 5 or 6 years' time Allan Donald could be doing something similar. But it is very impressive.
 

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