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Height vs pace: which is more important for pace bowler success?

capt_Luffy

Cricketer Of The Year
Baseball at about 5-6 mph faster. 100 mph bowlers do come around more reguarly, but Chapman was the highest reliably recorded one at 106.

The majority of reliable pitchers can top out in the 90s.
I believe in baseball the stamina requirements of a pitcher is less than a pacer like Shoaib in cricket; not downplaying anyone but just commenting why I think it's comparatively easier to maintain a high pace.
 

Ali TT

International Vice-Captain
I believe in baseball the stamina requirements of a pitcher is less than a pacer like Shoaib in cricket; not downplaying anyone but just commenting why I think it's comparatively easier to maintain a high pace.
Isn't 100 pitches normally the limit? So about 16-17 overs worth. Another difference though is that starting pitchers only play about once a week during the season. Relief pitchers and closers may play a little more regularly but their workload per game is much lower.
 

capt_Luffy

Cricketer Of The Year
Isn't 100 pitches normally the limit? So about 16-17 overs worth. Another difference though is that starting pitchers only play about once a week during the season. Relief pitchers and closers may play a little more regularly but their workload per game is much lower.
Yeah, but I think they have to deliver less often, i.e., gets more breaks between deliveries. Not to mention the run up.
 

Ali TT

International Vice-Captain
Yeah, but I think they have to deliver less often, i.e., gets more breaks between deliveries. Not to mention the run up.
Yes and no. They bowl 10-20 deliveries in an innings, rest for 15, repeat 5-7 times over 3 hours.

Bowlers 6 deliveries in 5 mins, 5 mins rest, repeat 6-8 times in an hour, repeat that later on that day and maybe again a bit later.
 

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
There is an accurate 6foot tall pacer out there who can bowl 90+ MPH and because of his bowling action and long arms he has a release point comparable to a much taller bowler. Unfortunately he is always injured
Archer is definitely quite a bit taller than that - if you see photos of them together he generally looks a little bit taller than Anderson, so he's probably about 6'3".
 

shortpitched713

International Captain
I believe in baseball the stamina requirements of a pitcher is less than a pacer like Shoaib in cricket; not downplaying anyone but just commenting why I think it's comparatively easier to maintain a high pace.
Oh, I'm not even talking about maintaining. These are maximum numbers attained by pitchers.

Generally though, baseball pitches are coming in at least about 5-6 mph faster than cricket deliveries. You can be a great bowler in the mid/upper 80s mph and never crack 90 mph. In baseball, you really have to be in the 90s now, in order to trouble good batters, with pretty rare exceptions.
 

reyrey

U19 Captain
Archer is definitely quite a bit taller than that - if you see photos of them together he generally looks a little bit taller than Anderson, so he's probably about 6'3".
You might be right. Google has failed me.

He still has a crazy high release point for his height. One of BBL seasons he took part in had him with the second highest release point of all the bowlers in the tournament. He was behind Stanlake (6ft8) and not by much.
 

Flem274*

123/5
It's about match ups too. Pakistan hated facing KJ because they're not used to so much bounce, and NZ hated facing Shoaib because you don't get 155kph yorkers all that often in NZ.
 

Patience and Accuracy+Gut

State Vice-Captain
Thommo at his peak probably bowled at mid 90 Mph to all the way to high 90s (in his fastest spell) at average. I would except Thommo’s fastest ball would be the fastest ever in cricket imo around 103 Mph.
 
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Kirkut

International Regular
I've seen 178 to 179 for Steyn over the years but AFAIK Marshall was 180 or so. Not really a lot in it, but technically true. Both Trueman and Lindwall were about 5'10"/178.

And FTR all those would actually be above average for their respective time periods.
Marshall was 5 feet 8 inches actually. My relative met him at Kanpur test in 1983 and he was described as short but solid built without being too muscular.
 

Coronis

International Coach
172.7 cm apparently. Short for a bloke from Barbados but above average for a bloke from the subcontinent or Zim/SA

According to wikipedia, average male height (at 19) of test playing nations:

Dominica 180.2
Ireland 179.0
Antigua and Barbuda 178.8
Australia 178.8
Grenada 178.7
UK 178.2
New Zealand 177.7
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 177.5
Barbados 177.0
Jamaica 177.0
Saint Lucia 176.4
Trinidad and Tobago 176.0
Saint Kitts and Nevis 173.7
Guyana 172.2
Zimbabwe 170.7
South Africa 169.6
Afghanistan 168.5
Sri Lanka 168.1
Pakistan 167.3
India 166.5
Bangladesh 165.1

fwiw Netherlands ranks first in both men’s (183.8) and women’s (170.4) height. Clearly should be a test nation.
 

bagapath

International Captain
1 Bumrah 1.78

2 Marshall 1.80

3 Boult 1.8

4 Lillee 1.82

5 Akhthar 1.82

6 Wagner 1.82

7 Kapil Dev 1.83

8 Waqar 1.83

9 Hadlee 1.85

10 Lee 1.87

11 Imran 1.88

12 Roberts 1.88

13 Thomson 1.88

14 Botham 1.88

15 Wasim 1.88

16 Pollock 1.88

17 Anderson 1.88

18 Amir 1.88

19 Johnson 1.89

20 McDermott 1.91

21 Srinath 1.91

22 Rabada 1.91

23 Holding
1.92

24 Cummins 1.92

25 Hughes 1.93

26 Donald 1.93

27 Asif 1.93

28 Croft 1.96

29 McGrath 1.96

30 Tait 1.96

31 Bishop 1.96

32 Willis 1.98

33 Walsh 1.98

34 Afridi 1.98

35 Ambrose 2.01

36 Garner 2.03

37 Reid 2.03
 
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Ali TT

International Vice-Captain
I believe in baseball the stamina requirements of a pitcher is less than a pacer like Shoaib in cricket; not downplaying anyone but just commenting why I think it's comparatively easier to maintain a high pace.
Oh, I'm not even talking about maintaining. These are maximum numbers attained by pitchers.

Generally though, baseball pitches are coming in at least about 5-6 mph faster than cricket deliveries. You can be a great bowler in the mid/upper 80s mph and never crack 90 mph. In baseball, you really have to be in the 90s now, in order to trouble good batters, with pretty rare exceptions.
It's not just about having endurance to maintain pace but also maintain the accuracy and precision alongside that pace. As the body gets tired, you start to over-compensate. You definitely see this with pitchers who are still bowling above 90 as they go deep into a match but begin finding the middle of the strike zone more often and giving up hits. With quick bowlers, it's often the length that goes.
 

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