Cricket Conspiracies : Was the 2003 CWC speed gun broken ?

[Everton Seymour]

It was the World Cup of the Fast Bowlers ..

The only time in Cricket (Officially) that two bowlers crossed the 100 mph barrier in the same tournament...

The thing is though , it seemed like everyone was clocking their personal best at this tournament ?

What are your thoughts? Did anyone have similar feelings?

 

[TheJediBrah]

Speed guns are extremely unreliable and vary all the time

BBL speed guns are the worst at this IMO when every bowler is clocked at bowling 150kph

 

[Everton Seymour]

Even Douglas Hondo was clocked at 87mph in this tournament and he was military medium !

 

[social]

Shoaib & Lee were incredibly quick so I believe that they bowled 160 at some point in their careers

Some of the speeds of other bowlers were a bit head scratching

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

It's all made up.

 

[Flem274*]

Ross Taylor had an anecdote in his book where he was talking to the hawkeye/broadcast people and they get a selection of readings from the gun, and depending on match context they choose one.

Like if someone is in the middle of a really good spell they'll take the quickest reads and so on.

This makes sense when you think of Supersport in particular, who in some tours I've noticed touring bowlers sending down a casual 122kph all day. Supersport would be that petty.

 

[Xuhaib]

I am not sure the Nik Knight ball that actually recorded 100.4.mph was really that quick. I have seen atleast two dozen deliveries from Akhtar that looked and should be quicker then that ball.

 

[Xuhaib]

He was furiously quick in the odi series vs NZ 12 months earlier where he clocked 161.6. ICC I refused to give it an official status as they did not approve the accuracy of the localy produced speed gun. I think they wanted the first 100 MPH ball to be delivered at an ICC tournamnent for promotional reasons.

 

[Silver Silva]

Yes I also believed the speed gun was dodgy in that World Cup.

 

[Chin Music]

Yeah, I never thought the Akhtar delivery was that quick as Knight played it rather too easily. However, it is hardly just that tournament where speeds seem to be remarkably souped up.

 

[Ali TT]

Not sure it was just the speed gun that was souped up when Akhtar was being recorded at 100mph

 

[Silver Silva]

The fastest recorded deliveries by bowlers at 2003 WC according to cricinfo :

Australia
Brett Lee 160.7 km/h v England
Jason Gillespie 148.3 km/h v Zimbabwe
Andy Bichel 146.1 km/h v England

Bangladesh
Mashrafe Mortaza 139.5 km/h v Canada
Tapash Baisya 138.9 km/h v Kenya
Talha Jubair 135.9 km/h v West Indies

Canada
Davis Joseph 140.5 km/h v Bangladesh
Sanjayan Thuraisingham 135.5 km/h v Bangladesh
Austin Codrington 135.3km/h v New Zealand

England
James Anderson 144 km/h v Australia
Andrew Flintoff 143.9 km/h v India
Andrew Caddick 143.3 km/h v Namibia

Holland
Edger Schiferli 138.4 km/h v Namibia
Roland Lefebvre 126.1 km/h v India
Tim de Leede 124.8 km/h v Namibia

India
Ashish Nehra 149.7 km/h v Zimbabwe
Zaheer Khan 147.4 km/h v Holland
Javagal Srinath 143.0 km/h v England

Kenya
Thomas Odoyo 135.1 km/h v Bangladesh
Martin Suji 131.2 km/h v West Indies
Peter Ongondo 131.2 km/h v Bangladesh

Namibia
Gerrie Snyman 138.2 km/h v Pakistan
Burton van Rooi 134.7 km/h v Australia

New Zealand
Shane Bond 153.4 km/h v Canada
Andre Adams 143.8 km/h v West Indies
Jacob Oram 140.6 km/h v Canada

Pakistan
Shoaib Akhtar 161.3 km/h v England
Waqar Younis 142.6 km/h v India
Abdul Razzaq 141.5 km/h v Holland

South Africa
Makhaya Ntini 149.4 km/h v Sri Lanka
Monde Zondeki 141.0 km/h v Sri Lanka
Jacques Kallis 139.8 km/h v Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka
Dilhara Fernando 147.9km/h v Bangladesh
Prabath Nissanka 143.5 km/h v Bangladesh
Pulasthi Gunaratne 138.6 km/h v South Africa

West Indies
Jermaine Lawson 153.2 km/h v Kenya
Mervyn Dillon 143.0 km/h v Kenya
Pedro Collins 143.0 km/h v Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe
Andy Blignaut 145.6 km/h v New Zealand
Douglas Hondo 140.0 km/h v New Zealand

 

[Chin Music]

There are certain readings there that just make me think WTF! Nehra, Ntini spring to mind immediately. Not that they weren't capable of bowling slippery pace deliveries but that the delivery clocked is just so much quicker than the typical speeds you would associate with them.

As I have said here, I was somewhat incredulous that Gus Atkinson was clocked at 95mph in the Hundred a couple of years ago. I would reckon that his very top bowling speed is probably around 91mph when everything is going well and that is obviously above his typical bowling speed which is obviously around 85/86mph when fully fit.

There have been a whole host of occasions apart from this when those speeds never made sense, this just being one example.

 

[TheJediBrah]

The fastest recorded deliveries by bowlers at 2003 WC according to cricinfo :

Australia
Brett Lee 160.7 km/h v England
Jason Gillespie 148.3 km/h v Zimbabwe
Andy Bichel 146.1 km/h v England

Bangladesh
Mashrafe Mortaza 139.5 km/h v Canada
Tapash Baisya 138.9 km/h v Kenya
Talha Jubair 135.9 km/h v West Indies

Canada
Davis Joseph 140.5 km/h v Bangladesh
Sanjayan Thuraisingham 135.5 km/h v Bangladesh
Austin Codrington 135.3km/h v New Zealand

England
James Anderson 144 km/h v Australia
Andrew Flintoff 143.9 km/h v India
Andrew Caddick 143.3 km/h v Namibia

Holland
Edger Schiferli 138.4 km/h v Namibia
Roland Lefebvre 126.1 km/h v India
Tim de Leede 124.8 km/h v Namibia

India
Ashish Nehra 149.7 km/h v Zimbabwe
Zaheer Khan 147.4 km/h v Holland
Javagal Srinath 143.0 km/h v England

Kenya
Thomas Odoyo 135.1 km/h v Bangladesh
Martin Suji 131.2 km/h v West Indies
Peter Ongondo km/h v Bangladesh

Namibia
Gerrie Snyman 138.2 km/h v Pakistan
Burton van Rooi 134.7 km/h v Australia

New Zealand
Shane Bond 153.4 km/h v Canada
Andre Adams 143.8 km/h v West Indies
Jacob Oram 140.6 km/h v Canada

Pakistan
Shoaib Akhtar 161.3 km/h v England
Waqar Younis 142.6 km/h v India
Abdul Razzaq 141.5 km/h v Holland

South Africa
Makhaya Ntini 149.4 km/h v Sri Lanka
Monde Zondeki 141.0 km/h v Sri Lanka
Jacques Kallis 139.8 km/h v Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka
Dilhara Fernando 147.9km/h v Bangladesh
Prabath Nissanka 143.5 km/h v Bangladesh
Pulasthi Gunaratne 138.6 km/h v South Africa

West Indies
Jermaine Lawson 153.2 km/h v Kenya
Mervyn Dillon 143.0 km/h v Kenya
Pedro Collins 143.0 km/h v Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe
Andy Blignaut 145.6 km/h v New Zealand
Douglas Hondo 140.0 km/h v New Zealand

So many of these are clearly hilariously wrong

Andy Bichel 146??
Tapash Baisya 138??

 

[Silver Silva]

So many of these are clearly hilariously wrong

Andy Bichel 146??
Tapash Baisya 138??

Canada have 3 seamers above 135 kph , even in 2025 that is rare for an associate team

 

[trundler]

Ashish Nehra 149.7 km/h v Zimbabwe

lmao

 

[govinda indian fan]

lmao

Nehra could bowl about 144-146 consistently. He was no trundler but 149.7 lol

 

[govinda indian fan]

I saw during highlights of match vs sri lanka srinath was bowling over 90mph. Here it says he's fastest was 143

 

[Coronis]

I saw during highlights of match vs sri lanka srinath was bowling over 90mph. Here it says he's fastest was 143

Wouldn’t surprise me if they upped it for TV purposes

 

[Silver Silva]

I saw during highlights of match vs sri lanka srinath was bowling over 90mph. Here it says he's fastest was 143

Just checked
The report was released 11th March on cricinfo when the WC was ongoing ..Maybe these were the speeds of the group stages