Who was the quickest West Indian pace bowler ??

[Chrish]

Self-explanatory title..

 

[ZK$]

Patrick Patterson

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Mind the windows Tino

 

[Gob]

Holding

 

[Slifer]

Imo, one of Holding, Patterson or Roy Gilchrist.

 

[Starfighter]

Visually, Holding in the mid-late seventies.

FTR Cosier among others reckoned Thomson was quicker than any of them.

 

[Chrish]

“Whilst his Test bowling figures are not exceptional, and he was one of several particularly fast West Indies' bowlers at the time, Clarke nevertheless gained a reputation amongst his fellow players as the most intimidating and feared fast bowler of his generation. In his obituary in The Guardian, it was written "like the Jamaican Roy Gilchrist in the 1950s, and his fellow Bajan, Charlie Griffith, in the 1960s, Clarke's weaponry was based more on sheer menace than technical accomplishment. He induced fear and self-doubt in even the best batsmen."Viv Richards claimed Clarke was the only bowler he did not feel comfortable batting against, David Gower stated that Clarke was by far the fastest man he ever faced, Geoff Boycott said Clarke "scared me silly", and in the mid-1980s Garry Sobers wrote that Clarke was "the quickest and most hostile fast bowler now playing in world cricket".

-Sylvester Clarke wiki

 

[Fuller Pilch]

P Patterson

 

[subshakerz]

This guy.

 

[Kirkut]

Majority of West Indian quicks were as quick as Rabada, with exception to Holding who was possibly as quick as Bond.

 

[Calm_profit]

Sylvester Clarke,Viv and Imran said he was the fastest,Viv wore a helmet while facing him in county cricket.

 

[Chrish]

Viv wore a helmet while facing him in county cricket.

Source ??

 

[Chrish]

Fastest delivery Tendulkar said he faced in his career was from Patterson. Dujon mentioned he was the quickest he kept to..

 

[Aritro]

Patrick Patrick Patterson is the subject of one of the finest pieces of cricketing journalism I've ever read and you should read it too if you haven't already.

Patrick Patterson: The story of an Unquiet Mind

The most fearsome of Caribbean pacers disappeared into oblivion in the 1990s. Patrick Patterson is still around, though he does not quite remember the man he was, or his bowling spells which went down in history. But he is grateful for the dogged fan who travelled half-way around the world to...

indianexpress.com

^Not sure if that's his actual middle name but it seems probable

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Patrick Patrick Patterson is the subject of one of the finest pieces of cricketing journalism I've ever read and you should read it too if you haven't already.

Patrick Patterson: The story of an Unquiet Mind

The most fearsome of Caribbean pacers disappeared into oblivion in the 1990s. Patrick Patterson is still around, though he does not quite remember the man he was, or his bowling spells which went down in history. But he is grateful for the dogged fan who travelled half-way around the world to...

indianexpress.com

^Not sure if that's his actual middle name but it seems probable

Article is paywalled sadly. Can you give us cliffs?

 

[Chrish]

Majority of West Indian quicks were as quick as Rabada, with exception to Holding who was possibly as quick as Bond.

Garner and Ambrose weren’t out and out quick iirc. They were sharp fast-medium; quicker than McGrath but not lightening.

 

[Aritro]

Article is paywalled sadly. Can you give us cliffs?

Oh dear, that really sucks. It won an award for the best piece of cricket journalism that year.

Cliffnotes are not particularly happy: basically suffered with mental health problems all his life, ended up with psychotic episodes where he was hearing voices, has had problems with substances and doesn't remember his career with much clarity.

But that does the article itself absolutely no justice. The author Bharat Sundaresan tracked him down with some difficulty and spent a day interviewing him about his life and career, and wrote about the experience with fantastic skill and grace.

Here's a summary of the article on the Cricket Australia website. Has some excerpts but you really need to read the whole thing:

Lost and found: Patrick Patterson's story told | cricket.com.au

Menacing paceman from West Indies' golden era tracked down after a six-year search by Indian...

www.cricket.com.au

 

[Burgey]

Yeah that’s a terrific article. Commend it to everyone

 

[BazBall21]

Patterson or Holding.

 

[Johan]