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Brett Lee is Actually the Fastest.

lord_of_darkness

Cricket Web XI Moderator
but cant the videos be changed ? as in tampered with ?

im still sure that jeff thomson is the fastest or even bret lee legally
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
Here's the ridiculous thing about this speed competition.

At the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore, the ground radar reported 157 km's for an Ahktar delivery while the television radar reported 153 km's.
thats 4 km's difference, so the 161 km's he bowled to McMillan is more than unlikely.
 

Top_Cat

Request Your Custom Title Now!
but cant the videos be changed ? as in tampered with ?
Yes indeed but I bought the video at the time of release (almost 18 months ago) when this wasn't even an issue and can tell you having had a look at it last night that Brett Lee was indeed timed at 161.8 km/h. Whether the speed is accurate is obviously open to question.

im still sure that jeff thomson is the fastest or even bret lee legally
I doubt you'd get any argument from anyone who faced Thommo at his peak. :D

The other inconsistency in the camera measurements was that Thommo's speed was measured using a camera which tracked the path of the ball from his hand to the batsman, whereas the new ones track from the bowler's hand. The camera used in Thommo's day was far more accurate but also, by the time it reached the batsman it's lost a few km/h. So who really knows? This is why the speed will always be 'unofficial'.

Plus you'll always hear of times when certain bowlers bowled faster. Thommo was said to have bowled FAR faster on many occasions and having seen footage of him bowling, I don't doubt it. In fact, there was a special TV programme done on Thommo years ago where they put a camera and reporter behind bullet-proof glass and measured the speed. Thommo shattered the glass and the speed measured in at 108mph!!!!! That's almost 180km/h!

And then there's Brett Lee. Apparently he bowled awfully quick in a Sheffield Shield game at the WACA (the first time Steve Waugh played in the field with him in fact, so I guess he was keen to impress) right before he got picked for Australia. I've seen footage of the match and I find it hard to believe that anyone could have bowled quicker. It was FAR quicker than anything we've seen of him so far. I saw him bowl one ball which broke Joe Angel's arm and he didn't even see it. I mean he literally didn't even react when the ball was being bowled. He sure reacted when it crashed into his arm, though. Then there was a bouncer which went for 6 byes.........never seen anything like it.

So who knows?
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
Yeah - Bowler bowls it, bounces once - keeps rising, over keeper, slips, everyone else, and the boundary without bouncing!
 

Top_Cat

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Yeah - Bowler bowls it, bounces once - keeps rising, over keeper, slips, everyone else, and the boundary without bouncing!
And that's about it. It was a mildly quick ball. :D

wow hmm ... the pitch must have good bounce .. was the boundaries pretty small ?
The WACA boundries aren't that small, are they?
It was certainly a VERY quick pitch but the boundaries at the WACA aren't that small. One of the straight ones isn't huge but the square boundaries are a decent size. Either way, what an achievement??
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Neil Pickup said:
Yeah - Bowler bowls it, bounces once - keeps rising, over keeper, slips, everyone else, and the boundary without bouncing!
I bowled 7 wides the other day.
You might be interested to know.
 

superkingdave

Hall of Fame Member
But i thought the laws of cricket made it clear that you couldn't get 'a six' without hitting it, i.e a bouncer not hitting the ground has still gone for 4


Law 19 (Boundaries) said:
The allowances for boundaries shall be 6 runs if the ball having been struck by the bat pitches beyond the boundary, but otherwise 4 runs.
 

deeps

International 12th Man
the cricketing laws DO state that such a situation is still considered 4 byes...now, the link doesn't seem to be working...
 

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