A history of fast bowling

[Brook's side]

At the time England possessed no such firepower. One of the bowlers taken on the 1920/21 tour was Harry Howell. Not helped by plentiful dropped catches he was very much a failure. Otherwise a difficult figure to find anything about, although best First class figures of 10/51 are a notable achievement.

Another player whose main test achievement was failing in 1920/21 was Yorkshire fast-medium bowler Abe Waddington, who had a notably sharp kink in his run just prior to delivering his left-armers around the wicket.

And yet another peripheral English bowler was the Middlesex fast or fast medium Jack Durston. Despite picking up wickets, albeit expensively, at Lord's in 1921 he was never selected play another test. Seen here bowling in a test trial match in 1926, there is a second clip at 5:55.

You've done so much work here @Starfighter . It's fascinating stuff you've put together.

The clips in this particular post of yours seem to indicate that fast bowling may have really started to develop in the 20s.

The guy in the first video from 20/21 (who the news reel seems to think is absolute lightning) seems to be military medium at most.

There's a chap in the 2nd video who has quite a fast run up, but actually bowls it out of the back of his hand. Then right at the end of that one, there's a chap bowling who wouldn't even get a bowl in a village side.

The 4th video (1926), the batting looks absolutely woeful, but around the 6 minute mark there's a guy bowling at a decent pace.

The 3rd video, Hobbs plays a really decent looking cut shot, far more like the standard of a modern batsman than most of the clips from this period where they look like they can hardly hold the bat.

Anyway, am very tired and going to sleep.

 

[the big bambino]

Should be a really interesting spreadsheet: “guy from 1920 looks village. Chap from 1926 looks crap but another guy looks decent …”

 

[HookShot]

Charlie Macartney played for NSW from 1907 to 1927. Albert ‘Tibby’ Cotter played for NSW from 1901 till WW1, during which he was shot dead by a sniper at Beersheba. Jack Gregory’s career with NSW lasted from 1920 to 1929. Ted McDonald’s played for Tasmania, then Victoria from 1909 to 1922.

So Macartney would have likely faced all three bowlers either in the nets or during competition, and certainly witnessed them up close.

Macartney thought that Cotter was the fastest of the three quicks….

During the years that I was actively playing in first-class cricket Albert Cotter was the
fastest bowler of all. At times Cotter was not so accurate as others but for sheer speed he stood alone and he was a menace to his opponents' hopes of success both with the new ball and the old. He was a great fighter and ready at all times to do his best no matter how old the ball or how hard the day.

What a great pair Gregory and McDonald were in 1921! It was the quality ol their bowling that was so delightful to watch. The rhythmic bowling of McDonald was a pleasure to the eye. The kangaroo hop of Jack Gregory made himself a terror to opponents. I never thought that either was as fast as Cotter but they possessed enough speed and manipulated the ball with so much accuracy and "devil" that they accomplished all they set out to do.

Point being *real* fast bowling dates back to turn of the 20th century, and possibly even further as many witnesses thought that Ernie Jones was more rapid than Cotter; occasional no-balls for chucking aside.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17332699

 

[Starfighter]

Charlie Macartney played for NSW from 1907 to 1927. Albert ‘Tibby’ Cotter played for NSW from 1901 till WW1, during which he was shot dead by a sniper at Beersheba. Jack Gregory’s career with NSW lasted from 1920 to 1929. Ted McDonald’s played for Tasmania, then Victoria from 1909 to 1922.

So Macartney would have likely faced all three bowlers either in the nets or during competition, and certainly witnessed them up close.

Macartney thought that Cotter was the fastest of the three quicks….





Point being *real* fast bowling dates back to turn of the 20th century, and possibly even further as many witnesses thought that Ernie Jones was more rapid than Cotter; occasional no-balls for chucking aside.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17332699

Nobody at the time claimed that Gregory and McDonald were the fastest of all time. At least Jones, Brearley, Knox and Cotter were considered faster. Hobbs would have played against Brearley and Cotter as well as Gregory and McDonald, and played with Knox.

 

[Brook's side]

Charlie Macartney played for NSW from 1907 to 1927. Albert ‘Tibby’ Cotter played for NSW from 1901 till WW1, during which he was shot dead by a sniper at Beersheba. Jack Gregory’s career with NSW lasted from 1920 to 1929. Ted McDonald’s played for Tasmania, then Victoria from 1909 to 1922.

So Macartney would have likely faced all three bowlers either in the nets or during competition, and certainly witnessed them up close.

Macartney thought that Cotter was the fastest of the three quicks….

Point being *real* fast bowling dates back to turn of the 20th century, and possibly even further as many witnesses thought that Ernie Jones was more rapid than Cotter; occasional no-balls for chucking aside.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17332699

Just because they were called "fast" in 1910 doesn't mean they were Shoaib Akhtar

There's someone here from 1924 who was being called super fast, who's no quicker than Derek Underwood:

Edit:
For the avoidance of doubt, this video has already been posted by Star Fighter, which is why was aware of it. I'm reposting it outside a quote, because I specifically want to start the video at a particular place in order to make the (significant relevant) point to hand, and because the comment in which it was originally chronologically posted contained numerous videos and comment.

 

[the big bambino]

Was that the bloke you reckon was smoking a cigarette?

 

[Starfighter]

Just because they were called "fast" in 1910 doesn't mean they were Shoaib Akhtar

There's someone here from 1924 who was being called super fast, who's no quicker than Derek Underwood:

Please. While it's not entirely possible I'd like to keep the videos as chronological as possible. You already quoted my old post with the video in it - just do that again.

 

[Starfighter]

Your post contained several videos. There was one specific video that I was referencing.

You can edit a quote to only include the one you want.

 

[Starfighter]

I wasn't intending in any way to take credit for the video. I've already expressly commented on your (superb) research.

Thanks, but I wanted this to be structured a certain way and to not have repeat videos and the utter chaos that this thread has. I'm actually not happy I'm cluttering it up with this argument and would be genuinely grateful if you could please edit your post as I suggested.

 

[shortpitched713]

If Spofforth ever broke 80 mph, I'd eat my own hat.

Fast bowling technique has taken a huge leap since these early days. I appreciate the efforts taken here to show it off.