Cricinfo's bowling designations

[Josh]

Whats the equivalent in kph?

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

Fast: Above 88 mph -141 Km/h and over
Fast Medium 82-88 mph - 130 - 140 Km/h
Medium Fast 75-82 mph - 120 - 130 Km/h
Medium: Below 75 mph - 120 Km/h and under

 

[mavric41]

Fast: Above 88 mph -141 Km/h and over
Fast Medium 82-88 mph - 130 - 140 Km/h
Medium Fast 75-82 mph - 120 - 130 Km/h
Medium: Below 75 mph - 120 Km/h and under

Thanks for that.

Personally I would extend the fast limit to 145 and above. A lot of bowlers can reach the 140 -145 mark (rana, Gillespie etc) but I wouldn't call them out and out fast bowlers.

 

[Arrow]

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.

I never saw flintoff hit 90mph ONCE during the entire test series in SA. He was usually in the 80-85 mph. He is fast medium at best.
Ntini was usually around 85-90 during the series.
Pollock struggles to even get 80mph these days.

 

[Arjun]

That doesn't end there. You also have some faster bowlers listed as spinnes. If their classifications are to be believed, the opening bowler for Madhya Pradesh is a left-arm spinner!

Then again, you have Munaf Patel, who's said to be the fastest bowler in India, when he's not sitting out of matches due to minor cuts. Yet, he's only Right Arm Medium, while a (relatively) unknown bowler from Mumbai, Swapnil Hazare, is Right Arm Fast-medium!

 

[twctopcat]

I never saw flintoff hit 90mph ONCE during the entire test series in SA. He was usually in the 80-85 mph. He is fast medium at best.
.

Then you weren't watching very closely! Flintoff hit 90 on many occasions with his average delivery around 88/89, despite the pain from his ankle.

 

[Arrow]

Then you weren't watching very closely! Flintoff hit 90 on many occasions with his average delivery around 88/89, despite the pain from his ankle.

Nope your wrong. I was actually taking note of his speed and others and i remember thinking to myself , this guys a trundler.

 

[twctopcat]

Nope your wrong. I was actually taking note of his speed and others and i remember thinking to myself , this guys a trundler.

Well thats conclusive, your eyes are better than mine!

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

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

Disagree. In fact, even by your own measurements that you posted below, McGrath is fast medium. He is incredibly consistent with his pace, just like everything else, and it is invariably 130-135kph. Only his slower balls or the odd loosener ever drop below 130.

Medium fast is more like the bowlers from the minnow nations who never break 130, or Zaheer Khan whos average ball is around 128-129.

 

[twctopcat]

Mcgrath rarely tips 85 in tests though and averages 82 ish, which in my book is medium-fast.

 

[Josh]

Disagree. In fact, even by your own measurements that you posted below, McGrath is fast medium. He is incredibly consistent with his pace, just like everything else, and it is invariably 130-135kph. Only his slower balls or the odd loosener ever drop below 130.

Medium fast is more like the bowlers from the minnow nations who never break 130, or Zaheer Khan whos average ball is around 128-129.

They weren't my measurements, I was repeating what someone else said and converting them. I still think McGrath should be Medium Fast. I myself think Fast Medium (these days) should be someone who bowls consistently over 135 Km/h and pushes the 140 barrier from time to time. McGrath is lucky to push 135, methinks.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Nope your wrong. I was actually taking note of his speed and others and i remember thinking to myself , this guys a trundler.

Err no he isn't, he did hit 90mph in SA although he might well have been a little lower at times due to his workload and the ludicrous schedule. He'll regularly be high 80s against Bangladesh & Australia in the spring/summer.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Mcgrath rarely tips 85 in tests though and averages 82 ish, which in my book is medium-fast.

85 is in the middle of the range others have suggested for fast-medium. Ignoring mph which I haven't seen as much when watching cricket, I'd say:

Fast = 140+
Fast-medium = 130-139
Medium-fast 120-129
Medium = under 120

Basically, these are for average speeds. Gillespie breaks 140, but his average speed is around 138-39. McGrath's average is around 132-134. Gillespie is quicker, but they are in the same group... Pollock is in the group lower.

Alternatively you could have 145+, 135-145, 125-135 and under 125, but that would mean very few bowlers in the world are fast, since really only Lee and Akhtar average over 145. Those other bowlers like Harmison and Bond who can break 145 don't do it every ball.

 

[Gangster]

Err no he isn't, he did hit 90mph in SA although he might well have been a little lower at times due to his workload and the ludicrous schedule. He'll regularly be high 80s against Bangladesh & Australia in the spring/summer.

Yeah Flintoff hit 90 for sure, and the reason I'm so sure is because I remember thinking when I saw the speeds come on after his delivers, "WOW! I can't believe he bowled that so quickly." That's not to say every one of his deliveries was 90 mph but I'd say 2 from every over approached that, and I think in ODIs, that jumps to 3-4 out of 6. I think the fact that he's an all-rounder plays against him, people I suppose are loathe to accept the fact that he can bowl at 90 mph and score a century in 80 balls batting at #5 or #6, seems like too much talent and ability for one person to have!

 

[ReallyCrazy]

We should have another official category called "express" for the Shoaib/Sami/Bond/Lee type bowlers who bowl around 150 kms consistently.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Getting back to semantics, Prince EWS is right as far as I'm concerned.

Fast
Medium Fast (medium being the adjective - mediumish fast)
Fast Medium (fast being the adjective - fastish medium)
Medium

 

[twctopcat]

Getting back to semantics, Prince EWS is right as far as I'm concerned.

Fast
Medium Fast (medium being the adjective - mediumish fast)
Fast Medium (fast being the adjective - fastish medium)
Medium

Exactly, now email that to cricinfo and all the problems will be solved - along with the speeds obviously.

 

[Jono]

Getting back to semantics, Prince EWS is right as far as I'm concerned.

Fast
Medium Fast (medium being the adjective - mediumish fast)
Fast Medium (fast being the adjective - fastish medium)
Medium

The funny thing is even though it is true, people will have no idea as they are more familiar with the erroneous ways.

That being said, I like the ideas mentioned:

Express
Fast
Medium

I think 3 categories is better, but that's just me.

 

[bryce]

Disagree. In fact, even by your own measurements that you posted below, McGrath is fast medium. He is incredibly consistent with his pace, just like everything else, and it is invariably 130-135kph. Only his slower balls or the odd loosener ever drop below 130.

Medium fast is more like the bowlers from the minnow nations who never break 130, or Zaheer Khan whos average ball is around 128-129.

mcgrath definately deserves to be medium-fast, i'd prefer ratings to be something fairly simple like this,

145km/h + = Fast
135-145km/h = Fast-Medium
125-135km/h = Medium-Fast
-125km/h = Medium

 

[Tom Halsey]

I never saw flintoff hit 90mph ONCE during the entire test series in SA. He was usually in the 80-85 mph. He is fast medium at best.
Ntini was usually around 85-90 during the series.

Flintoff hit it quite a lot. Can't remember Ntini getting above 85 too often (yes, I know he did, but not often).

 

[Gangster]

Flintoff hit it quite a lot. Can't remember Ntini getting above 85 too often (yes, I know he did, but not often).

Yeah, Ntini was oddly slow. And you can't blame it on sluggish pitches when it's in South Africa and Flintoff and Harmison are bowling at 90, and Steyn too. Ntini just isn't a legitimate fast bowler anymore, he's fast medium.

And yes, proper grammatical usage is that Medium Fast is faster than Fast Medium but i think the impact of the term is in the first word people hear. In fact I believe originally it was designated as Medium/Fast or Fast/Medium as opposed to one actual term. So Fast/Medium is a fast bowler who occasionally drops his pace, while a Medium/Fast bowler is a medium-pace bowler who occasionally lifts his up.