Throwing the cricket ball

[neville cardus]

Old news now, but new to me, and apparently it hasn't yet been mentioned here: Roald Bradstock, the veteran Olympian, has broken Robert Percival's disputed century-old record:

On November 9, 2010 at the ripe old age of 48, I attempted to break the most unbreakable of records for a fifth and final time. On a fairly cool and windy day in Atlanta, Georgia I went to the track with some friends. I took just two throws with the cricket ball. The first throw was an unimpressive chuck of 119.46 metres but still better than anything I had done before on my previous four attempts. Then I took my second throw. I used a special "black" promotional cricket ball that Sky Sports had sent me, to try to beat the record. The measurement for this throw was 132.66m or 145 yards ½". So I had done it, but at the time I had mistakenly thought the record was 140.2 meters not 140 yards 2ft. It was nearly a year later before I realised my mistake and that my distance that day had actually surpassed Percy's record.​

I'd love to see a few of our big-name moderns have a go. As this is probably the only aspect of the game in which accurate inter-generational comparisons may be made, and as we cricket tragics are notorious for our delight in such comparisons, methinks it's high time an international ball-chucking event were thrown together. The present World Cup provides a near-perfect opportunity. So let's make this happen, as a matter of urgency, in the only way one makes anything happen nowadays: Let's start a social-media campaign.

Hashtag, anyone?

 

[neville cardus]

I'm going to be terribly imaginative and kick things off with #throwthatball. If you have as much time on your hands as most CricketWeb users appear to have, please go mad with it.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Surely if a 48-year old can break the record some of the younger guys in international cricket could do it. Dale Steyn or Corey Anderson could give it a decent hiff.

 

[neville cardus]

Bradstock, in fairness, isn't just any forty-eight-year-old. He has a plausible claim to a number of throwing records. But your point's taken. Now make it on Twitter.

 

[SuperMurali]

maybe Sunil Narine?

 

[archie mac]

The famous George Bonnor bet still stirs the imagination

 

[straw man]

I like the idea - we could have had a world throwing competition as the half time event throughout the world cup, or something like that. I am not on twitter however.

140m is an enormous throw - longer than a throw from one boundary to the opposite boundary on many grounds. I'd be amazed to see someone throw that far.

 

[neville cardus]

The famous George Bonnor bet still stirs the imagination

Especially since he did it without a warm-up, and after a months-long sea journey.

Bonnor is a character just screaming for a full-length biography.