Battle of Pre-Speedgun Fastest Bowlers

[Manee]

Fair enough.

 

[Goughy]

Well if we are throwing more pre-50s guys for a prelim round then Ill add 2 more.

Mohammad Nissar- The quickest Indian until Srinath?
Ken Farnes- Big tall quick that I would have loved to see bowl and had to operate at a time England were being overly nice after bodyline.

 

[fredfertang]

Looks a bargain!

Production standards none too grand but a fascinating little volume which is, as you say, a bargain price

 

[Goughy]

Production standards none too grand but a fascinating little volume which is, as you say, a bargain price

You have read it? Recommended?

 

[Goughy]

Ken Farnes- Big tall quick that I would have loved to see bowl and had to operate at a time England were being overly nice after bodyline.

Fascinating article on Farnes showing him to be a prototype of the modern tall, athletic quick bowler.

I tried to play back, a defensive back stroke while turning my head and lifting my hands. The next thing I knew was that someone was saying smoothly, `have some water, there's no hurry

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

How on earth are we supposed to judge these bowlers on how fast we thought they were, when 95% of members here will have seen nothing except for some grainy archive footage and from what they've read?

 

[fredfertang]

You have read it? Recommended?

It is interesting yes - obviously its appeal is limited by the relatively short and unsuccessful career that Hilton had and he never got involved in anything terribly controversial whether within or without the game but if you don't expect too much and/or your a Lancastrian reading it makes for a more entertaining tea interval than listening to Botham and Gower chewing the cud.

 

[Manee]

How on earth are we supposed to judge these bowlers on how fast we thought they were, when 95% of members here will have seen nothing except for some grainy archive footage and from what they've read?

I think the majority of bowlers will be from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s which quite a few members would have seen. The players who got in from pre-1950 would have all but one been eliminated too.

I am also in the process of removing bowlers who, imo have absolutely no chance whatsoever of recieiving more than one vote.

 

[zaremba]

Sylvester Clarke was rated by David Gower as the fastest bowler he ever faced. And Gower faced most of the fastest WI quicks at or near their peaks, including Holding, Marshall and Patterson (also IIRC a lightning fast pre-injury Ian Bishop in the 1988 ODIs). An absolutely terrifying prospect by all accounts.

Of bowlers that I've watched (since the late 70s or early 80s) the fastest, to my subjective eye, have been Holding, Imran, Patterson, Marshall, and the pre-speedgun Waqar Younis and Allan Donald.

Other candidates from before my time are, obviously, Thomson, Tyson and Larwood.

If you go much earlier than than that (eg Kortright), then I'm afraid that the evidence that we have to rely on becomes entirely unreliable. Yes Kortright may have been the fastest of his day, but there is no reliable comparative evidence of how quick he was compared with those of later generations. There may have been some old men who, in their 80s, saw Tyson bowl and were able to compare that sight with their misty-eyed reminiscences of watching Korty bowl when they were boys. Such evidence is so unreliable as to be meaningless, and I can't see how we can possibly accurately judge the pace of a bowler who last played the game over a century ago.

 

[Manee]

I've had a thought - after the nomination process is finished, any bowler post-1980 for whom clips cannot be found will be REMOVED. For now, they will be bolded on the first post.

 

[haroon510]

and also Ajit Agarkar.. lol

 

[fredfertang]

Well if we are throwing more pre-50s guys for a prelim round then Ill add 2 more.

Mohammad Nissar- The quickest Indian until Srinath?
Ken Farnes- Big tall quick that I would have loved to see bowl and had to operate at a time England were being overly nice after bodyline.

If your patient towards the end of this there is one delivery of Ken Farnes which doesn't look terribly fast


http://www.movietone.com/N_POPUP_Player.cfm?action=playVideo&assetno=88887

 

[Goughy]

If your patient towards the end of this there is one delivery of Ken Farnes which doesn't look terribly fast


http://www.movietone.com/N_POPUP_Player.cfm?action=playVideo&assetno=88887

Link not working

 

[fredfertang]

Link not working

My apologies - it works ok for me - could it be you have to register with movietone? Its gratis and there are plenty of old cricketing newsreels as well as many others - repays a few minutes spent registering

 

[Goughy]

My apologies - it works ok for me - could it be you have to register with movietone? Its gratis and there are plenty of old cricketing newsreels as well as many others - repays a few minutes spent registering

Excellent. With certainly check it (and others) out.

 

[Goughy]

If your patient towards the end of this there is one delivery of Ken Farnes which doesn't look terribly fast

Thanks for that, well worth watching.

Tough to say how quick it was. He has a very short and liesurely approach to the wicket. He does however, have that old style pivot where they traditionally got their pace from in the action (I wouldnt coach it now though) and it is far stronger than others I have seen that are similar.

The force of his action is apparant in his follow through. He barely ambles in and then finishes his considerable follow through about 15m away towards midwicket.

Very interesting.

 

[fredfertang]

Fiery Fred always used to complain that black and white film made him look "yards slower" and I think he has a point - having trawled through a lot of the Movietone stuff it seems to me that Larwood and Gubby Allen appear yards quicker than their contemporaries but, as I say, I suspect monochrome appearances can be deceptive.

Would love to see some footage of Gregory and MacDonald - I am told some exists but I have never been fortunate enough to track it down

 

[Manee]

My apologies - it works ok for me - could it be you have to register with movietone? Its gratis and there are plenty of old cricketing newsreels as well as many others - repays a few minutes spent registering

What are you supposed to do for 'Company' in the registration?

 

[Smith108]

From what I've heard in general, Jeff Thompson and Michael Holding.

 

[archie mac]

How on earth are we supposed to judge these bowlers on how fast we thought they were, when 95% of members here will have seen nothing except for some grainy archive footage and from what they've read?

That is why I think it a great idea for a battle, no one like a Bradman to make it a near waste of time

It will give the likes of SJS the chance to try and convince people who was really the fastest

Athough I think Lol will be hard too beat