Pace List

[Manee]

I wish to assemble, with much discussion, a rough list of pace bowlers in terms of their speed to gain some form of comparison between e.g. Frank Tyson and Shoaib Akhtar. Hopefully we can get some rough numbers in terms of mph or kph too, all players in their prime of course.

I can provide some rough numbers for the current era of speed guns and hopefully we can compile several sources (e.g. Thompson allegedly being timed at 160kph in a test) and get some from the past era too.

Here is a start from bowlers I have seen timed on TV in matches:

1. Shoaib Akhtar: 100mph
   Jeff Thompson: 100mph
   Typhoon Tyson: 100mph
2. Shaun Tait: 99mph
3. Brett Lee: 99mph
4. Fidel Edwards: 97mph
   Malcolm Marshall
5. Dale Steyn: 96mph
   Allan Donald: 96mph
6. Shane Bond: 95mph
   Mohammad Sami: 95mph
7. Daren Powell: 92mph
8. Jerome Taylor: 91mph
   Sreesanth: 91mph

Hope you guys can help with my pointless if not mildly interesting task...

Just a note, with things like this, keep in mind that the speed gun measures the average speed from release to stumps and so it is not accurate with todays standards.

 

[silentstriker]

Donald was certainly faster than Sreesanth and Mohammad Asif.

 

[Sanz]

Irfan Pathan - 50-85 mph

 

[nightprowler10]

Asif has never bowled that fast tbh. He's more 75-85 mph.

 

[Sanz]

Also in the video, I have doubts over the accuracy of the speed mesurement in that video. I can believe that Guys like Holding, Roberts, Croft etc had avg. bowling speed of 135-138.

 

[Manee]

Donald was certainly faster than Sreesanth and Mohammad Asif.

But he only maxed at 90mph and was more vicious than quick.

 

[neville cardus]

Donald was certainly faster than Sreesanth and Mohammad Asif.

Indeed. When has Mohammad Asif ever hit 95?

 

[neville cardus]

But he only maxed at 90mph and was more vicious than quick.

I remember seeing him clock about 155.

 

[neville cardus]

We oughn't forget the great quicks of yore, in which case Kortie stands out for me.

 

[stumpski]

Malinga and Harmison should be in there somewhere.

 

[Richard]

No-one really knows before 1998. There were various attempts to measure speed, but none were definitively accurate until those speedguns the BCC unveiled that summer.

Tyson, however, does seem to have been a freak where speed is concerned, the way Bradman was where batting was concerned. No other bowler in modern times has regularly bruised batsmen through pads.

 

[Richard]

But he only maxed at 90mph and was more vicious than quick.

That's the thing - by the time speedguns were perfected, he was 32. To bowl at 93mph at 32 (which he did - regularly - that series) is quite some effort, and suggests that in his heyday at 26-27 he might well have been up at 96-97mph.

 

[JBMAC]

I would say Tyson would be adjudged as the fastest I have seen.He did not get his nickname of "Typhoon" for nothing.There was nothing around to accurately test the speed of bowlers in the fifties when he was at his peak and I can only judge it by the naked eye.

The speed a bowler bowls at is overexaggerated I feel due to the fact they cannot bowl consistently at that pace.Shoab and Lee come close..The real armour in a pace bowler's repertoire is change of pace and guile in his deliveries. That is why there is so much conjecture regarding just who was the best paceman. Maybe it should come down to who was the smartest.

BTW..If you are facing a bowler of Wes Hall's pace you would think he is the fastest bowler of all time as that ball whistles past your ears

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Also in the video, I have doubts over the accuracy of the speed mesurement in that video. I can believe that Guys like Holding, Roberts, Croft etc had avg. bowling speed of 135-138.

My understanding is that the speed measurements shown in that clip were done as averaged speeds over the length of the wicket rather than measured out of the bowler's hand as speed readings are today. Given that the ball slows considerably as it travels, that would warp things a bit. Given the comparisons, I always thought that clip showed Thomson's speed in a new light, given how quick he is clocked with those methods, he looks to be faster than the likes of Lee and Akhtar by a noticable margin.

 

[Matteh]

My understanding is that the speed measurements shown in that clip were done as averaged speeds over the length of the wicket rather than measured out of the bowler's hand as speed readings are today. Given that the ball slows considerably as it travels, that would warp things a bit. Given the comparisons, I always thought that clip showed Thomson's speed in a new light, given how quick he is clocked with those methods, he looks to be faster than the likes of Lee and Akhtar by a noticable margin.

If that's the case, the fact the WIs bowlers were slamming it in short won't have helped their readings compared to those with a more slingy action or were just pitching it up.

 

[iamdavid]

I believe Tait will go down as being quicker than both Lee and Akhtar by the time his carears out, Lee, Akhtar and Shane Bond all hit their peaks in terms of raw pace in about 2002/03 when they were all in the 26-29 age category, which is when a fast bowler traditionally hits his peak in terms of strength and fitness.
Yet Tait at 24 years of age clocked 160.1 kmph, and this is from only two home ODI's, thats pretty much as fast as Lee or Shoaib ever bowled at their peaks and a yard quicker than they were at the same age, Lee has only ever touched 160 once or twice in his carear and Shoaib only a couple of times aswell, and at Taits age Lee's quickest ball was about 155 in a ODI against South Africa.
So provided injuries dont ruin him a little I reckon Tait is capable of pushing 163,164 maybe even 165 kph by the time he's 27 or so, which would make him the fastest ever recorded.

 

[silentstriker]

My understanding is that the speed measurements shown in that clip were done as averaged speeds over the length of the wicket rather than measured out of the bowler's hand as speed readings are today. Given that the ball slows considerably as it travels, that would warp things a bit. Given the comparisons, I always thought that clip showed Thomson's speed in a new light, given how quick he is clocked with those methods, he looks to be faster than the likes of Lee and Akhtar by a noticable margin.

I've heard this but haven't been able to find any detailed info on the methods.

 

[Sanz]

I've heard this but haven't been able to find any detailed info on the methods.

I think what Sean said makes some sense to me, but I dont think its totally accurate. When the speed is measured at the release point, it's not going to be the fastest speed. The bowl is still going to get some momentum and at some point in the air it reaches the max. speed.

I always wanted to know how they measured speed now a days, i.e. at the point where the the bowl is released or at the point when the bowl reaches the batsmen/stumps.

 

[andyc]

I always wanted to know how they measured speed now a days, i.e. at the point where the the bowl is released or at the point when the bowl reaches the batsmen/stumps.

With the current speeds, it's definitely measured when the bowler releases the ball, or just after.

 

[Beamer]

I don't wish to nitpick but I have the Windies current bowlers fastest spells mostly on tape.

I have Fidel Edwards bowling at 97 mph against SA
Darren Powell bowling at 92mph against NZ/SA, England (so 80-92)
Jerome Taylor bowling at 91 mph against India (80-91).

Hope that helps