Cricinfo's bowling designations

[Gangster]

Am I the only one who gets angry when Cricinfo's bowling designations come up? In the case of spinners, they get it right, but they're so bad when it comes to fast bowlers, it's insane.

For example, Cricinfo continues to insist that Andrew Flintoff is Fast Medium. In fact he bowls at 90 mph regularly, whether in tests or ODIs. That is Right Arm Fast. Period, end of sentence. Makhaya Ntini never hits 90 mph. His fastest deliveries in the recent series have barely touched 85 mph. In Sri Lanka, it was even slower. (I know the pitches don't help fast bowlers in Sri Lanka, but even his yorkers which go through the air didn't register 85 mph). Yet Ntini is Right Arm Fast. He should be Right Arm Fast Medium. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan is considred Right Arm Medium. He bowled regularly at over 85 mph. He should be Fast Medium. Irfan Pathan is Left Arm Medium Fast, yet he bowls quicker than Zaheer Khan, who according to Cricinfo is Left Arm Fast Medium. What gives? Shaun Pollock is Right Arm Fast Medium, yet he barely touches 80 mph! He should be Right Arm Medium Fast. Lasith Malinga was hitting 90 mph in the ODIs, but he is Right Arm Fast Medium, which is a recent upgrade from his initial Right Arm Medium Fast designation. Jason Gillespie barely registers 85 mph and is often at 82-83 mph, yet he is Right Arm Fast. I know his pace has dropped since his collision with Steve Waugh, but so too should his designation. Cricinfo needs to revamp how they do classify it entirely. Here's my suggestion:

Fast: Above 88 mph
Fast Medium 82-88 mph
Medium Fast 75-82 mph
Medium: Below 75 mph

 

[Gangster]

So, according to my categories, I only see 11 legitimate fast bowlers bowling today:

Lee, Akhtar, Sami, Harmison, Flintoff, Steyn, Butler, Bond, Malinga, Edwards and Best. And if Bond can't bowl at his usual pace, then there's the 10 quickies of the world. Sorry India, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe for having no representation on that list! Maybe Abid Nabi or Munaf Patel for India or Shahadat Hossain for Bangladesh can join it soon. Zimbabwe, get a move on!

 

[bryce]

yeah, it's always been really mucked up and inconsistent

 

[BoyBrumby]

Excellent point, Gangster; it’s one of those things that I find mildly irksome too. I wish I didn’t care, but I do!

They are pretty arbitrary designations. I'm inclined to think it's partly laziness on Cricinfo's part; Dizzy certainly used to be quicker (as you say), so maybe his "Fast" is a throwback to then.

A couple of other bowlers who are potentially genuinely fast: Simon Jones (measured at 92.8mph in SA series, but admittedly doesn't touch that as often as he did before he snapped his anterior cruciate ligament) & Nantie Hayward (seen him over 90mph too).

 

[Prince EWS]

I dont belive in the distinction between Medium Fast and Fast Medium. For me, your either Medium, Fast Medium (saying it this way actually makes sence. With fast being the adjective of medium... soft of...) or Fast.

Cricinfo definately do get it wrong a lot though. I agree with that. Vasbert Drakes RF.... hahaha!

As for Zimbabwean bowlers, Travis Friend used to let them go a bit.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Always amuses me when Gough is bowling and is listed as right arm fast...

 

[BoyBrumby]

Always amuses me when Gough is bowling and is listed as right arm fast...

TBF to old Daz he used to be genuinely quick before he knackered his knee; I reckon he was obsessed about it! He'd be craning his neck to look at the speed-gun measurement almost during his delivery stride!

 

[BoyBrumby]

It seems the disease isn't limited to cricinfo; I was just having a look on "Howstat" & they define Paul Collingwood's bowling style thus:

Right Arm Off Spin Bowler

Er.....

 

[Prince EWS]

It was once well-reported everywhere that Douglas Marillier bolwed medium pace, when he cleared bowled off spin.

This really puzzled me, but they seem to have fixed it up now.

 

[Scaly piscine]

It seems the disease isn't limited to cricinfo; I was just having a look on "Howstat" & they define Paul Collingwood's bowling style thus:

Right Arm Off Spin Bowler

Er.....

Well he used to bowl off-spin, so like Gough it's just somewhat out of date.

 

[C_C]

I think there is a difference between fast medium and medium fast....
fast medium is a bowler who normally bowls pretty fast but can spend a spell or two bowling at consierably lower speeds....medium fast is the other way round

but i agree...those designations are infuriating.

 

[Prince EWS]

I think there is a difference between fast medium and medium fast....
fast medium is a bowler who normally bowls pretty fast but can spend a spell or two bowling at consierably lower speeds....medium fast is the other way round

but i agree...those designations are infuriating.

Indeed there are bowlers that bowl like that. Im not disputing that.

Im disputing the terminology. Gramtically speaking, medium fast is actually faster than fast medium..... but its not really used like that.

So we should either come up with new terminologies for these bowler types, or just group them all in as Fast Medium.

 

[bryce]

but then say you have the likes of daryl tuffey & glenn mcgrath listed as the same speed as naved ul-hasan & makhaya ntini, i think 4 pace-bowling categories is a minimum(M, MF, FM & F), what they are named though is a different story and one which i quite frankly don't give a toss about since most of us are used to the terminology anyway

 

[dinu23]

Always amuses me when Gough is bowling and is listed as right arm fast...

yeah, and Mcgrath....

 

[Tim]

I guess you can consider Butler for that list. I think his top speed has been 148 km's.
He'll get overtaken soon in terms of pace by Canterbury bowler Richard Sherlock anyway who has been confirmed as 150 km's+

 

[tooextracool]

personally i think that system of assigning bowlers is absolutely useless.
for me its always been easier to have just 3 categories- express, fast and medium.

 

[southern man]

Tama Canning

Fast medium, Yeah right!!!

 

[Ming]

Yes....

They had Styris as fast-medium a while ago as well. Same as James Franklin as fast medium.

 

[mavric41]

Am I the only one who gets angry when Cricinfo's bowling designations come up? In the case of spinners, they get it right, but they're so bad when it comes to fast bowlers, it's insane.

For example, Cricinfo continues to insist that Andrew Flintoff is Fast Medium. In fact he bowls at 90 mph regularly, whether in tests or ODIs. That is Right Arm Fast. Period, end of sentence. Makhaya Ntini never hits 90 mph. His fastest deliveries in the recent series have barely touched 85 mph. In Sri Lanka, it was even slower. (I know the pitches don't help fast bowlers in Sri Lanka, but even his yorkers which go through the air didn't register 85 mph). Yet Ntini is Right Arm Fast. He should be Right Arm Fast Medium. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan is considred Right Arm Medium. He bowled regularly at over 85 mph. He should be Fast Medium. Irfan Pathan is Left Arm Medium Fast, yet he bowls quicker than Zaheer Khan, who according to Cricinfo is Left Arm Fast Medium. What gives? Shaun Pollock is Right Arm Fast Medium, yet he barely touches 80 mph! He should be Right Arm Medium Fast. Lasith Malinga was hitting 90 mph in the ODIs, but he is Right Arm Fast Medium, which is a recent upgrade from his initial Right Arm Medium Fast designation. Jason Gillespie barely registers 85 mph and is often at 82-83 mph, yet he is Right Arm Fast. I know his pace has dropped since his collision with Steve Waugh, but so too should his designation. Cricinfo needs to revamp how they do classify it entirely. Here's my suggestion:

Fast: Above 88 mph
Fast Medium 82-88 mph
Medium Fast 75-82 mph
Medium: Below 75 mph

Whats the equivalent in kph?

One bowler who I thought was deceptively fast was Rana who regularly reached 145 kph.

 

[Josh]

McGrath should DEFINATELY be Right Arm Medium Fast, not Fast Medium.