At what pace did wasim akram bowled at?

[Starfighter]

Yeah I watched Wasim heaps (Pakistan toured NZ every 5 minutes in his era) and this is the reality. I feel like I’m being gaslit with all the talk of him being fast because I just recall him always being like 128kph on the old radars. The accuracy of those 90s radars could of course be questioned.

It seems they set the radar up differently in NZ then. Cricinfo's 'report' on some controversial reverse swing has speeds consistent with what you remember. At the same time in South Africa Waqar was recorded between 140 and 153 km/h, not mid-130s. My guess is that they had a single radar pointing at the middle of the pitch in NZ, rather than one at each end. That said, IMO frames of footage seem consistent with Wasim usually being in the 130s rather than 140s around 1990.

 

[Silver Silva]

In 2003 WC when Wasim on his last legs
at 37 he was bowling high 130's for most of the tournament.
Here is a spell vs Namibia

 

[DrWolverine]

Steyn is an obviously bad comparison though.

Dale Steyn was much faster. At his peak; Akram had an effortless run up, bowled with lots of variation and swing so this made tougher to play than express bowlers.

 

[Patience and Accuracy+Gut]

In 2003 WC when Wasim on his last legs
at 37 he was bowling high 130's for most of the tournament.
Here is a spell vs Namibia

2003 WC speed guns on itself is very suspicious.

 

[Patience and Accuracy+Gut]

Brett Lee had an over in 2003 WC where he bowled every ball between 155 to 160 kmph. Brett Lee was very quick but he was no Thommo. I have no doubts whatsoever Peak Thommo with that exact same measurement would have got up to 165 kmph.

2003 WC speed should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[govinda indian fan]

In 2003 WC when Wasim on his last legs
at 37 he was bowling high 130's for most of the tournament.
Here is a spell vs Namibia

2003 wc speed guns had ashish nehra bowling 150+ while he bowled 142-144 in reality

 

[the big bambino]

Probably mid 130s in actual reality.

 

[Silver Silva]

2003 wc speed guns had ashish nehra bowling 150+ while he bowled 142-144 in reality

Ashish Nehra's fastest ball was 149.7 km/h at 03 WC

 

[Chin Music]

The Shoaib delivery that Nick Knight played comfortably enough being over 161kph (i.e. 100mph) was the definitely a bit questionable as was the suggestion that Nehra was nigh on 150kph. Then again, I have seen plenty of speed guns over the years that I would quesiton the accuracy of.

Re Akram, he was obviously quick enough in his earlier days, i.e. early to mid 90s (I mean years not pace although I suspect his stock deliveries were higher 80s mph!) although Waqar was clearly quicker in his pomp. It doesn't always need speed guns to assess what 'looks' and what 'is' quick.

 

[Kirkut]

Hot take - Wasim, Donald and Waqar were not as fast as they were hyped to be for majority of their careers. I can imagine them breaching 150 mark much earlier in their careers but for most of their time, they were in 86-88 mph range.

 

[Kirkut]

The only proper express bowlers were Holding, Akhtar, Bond, Lee and Thompson.

 

[DrWolverine]

I remember Donald bowling over 90mph easily but yeah he was never express as Shoaib, Lee or Tait. Wasim Akram was more of a 85-90mph bowler.

 

[howitzer]

Donald was absolutely breaking 90 regularly during his prime. He wasn't an 86-88 mph stock ball bowler.

 

[Midwinter]

Only time I saw Akram bowl was a tour game in 92 against Victoria. None of the other bowlers got the ball much above stump high for the game.
Akram had the keeper taking the ball head high, half way back to the boundary.

It was impressive.

 

[jcas0167]

Yeah I watched Wasim heaps (Pakistan toured NZ every 5 minutes in his era) and this is the reality. I feel like I’m being gaslit with all the talk of him being fast because I just recall him always being like 128kph on the old radars. The accuracy of those 90s radars could of course be questioned.

I vaguely remember Waqar was clocked at around 138 kph on those radars in 93/94 although, as you say, they may not have been as reliable as later ones.