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

kyear2

kyear2

International Coach
thierry henry said:
Actually on a review of further photographic evidence Boult generally looks a good 2”/5cm taller than Wagner. Sometimes more.

I’m also skeptical of Malcolm Marshall being 5’11” but it’s surprisingly hard to find good height comparison photos of him. The photos I can find tend to show him shorter than supposedly 5’10” Viv Richards

If Marshall was really 5’11” he would’ve been basically the same height as Lillee and Thomson, so it seems odd that so much was made of him being ‘short’.
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always thought Marshall was 5'8ish. Could be wrong, but that was always my. Impression.
 
Q

Qlder

International Regular
thierry henry said:
I’m also skeptical of Malcolm Marshall being 5’11” but it’s surprisingly hard to find good height comparison photos of him. The photos I can find tend to show him shorter than supposedly 5’10” Viv Richards

If Marshall was really 5’11” he would’ve been basically the same height as Lillee and Thomson, so it seems odd that so much was made of him being ‘short’.
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The Wisden Obituary for Marshall says he was 5'11". Doubt they would get it wrong for such an important piece.

Anyway, Marshall was only considered short compared to all the other WI pacers he bowled with
 
morgieb

morgieb

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thierry henry said:
If Marshall was really 5’11” he would’ve been basically the same height as Lillee and Thomson, so it seems odd that so much was made of him being ‘short’.
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In fairness when two of your bowlers are 6'8" you're bound to look short even at a normal height. It wasn't like the rest of his bowlers were midgets either.
 
P

peterhrt

U19 Captain
Statham was fast. Not as aggressive as some as rarely bowled short. Trevor Bailey said the difference between Statham's speed and his own was "considerable".

My understanding is that Davidson was fast-medium. Contemporary reports place him well below the Lindwall/ Miller pace bracket.

Spofforth's pace varied from fast (early career) to slow-medium. Mixed things up a lot. Probably belongs in the fast-medium list.
 
shortpitched713

shortpitched713

International Captain
With respect, when referring to @bagapath's list the **** is the difference between "express" and "fast"? And why is this stuff never really defined in hard numbers?

Is this a symptom of "speed inflation" over time, making the old categories less and less useful? Honestly, it's a bit flabbergasting that we would use these kind of vague descriptions, when we've had pretty reliable speed guns, for a good 2.5 decades now.
 
B

Bolo.

International Captain
shortpitched713 said:
With respect, when referring to @bagapath's list the **** is the difference between "express" and "fast"? And why is this stuff never really defined in hard numbers?

Is this a symptom of "speed inflation" over time, making the old categories less and less useful? Honestly, it's a bit flabbergasting that we would use these kind of vague descriptions, when we've had pretty reliable speed guns, for a good 2.5 decades now.
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It's pretty subjective stuff, even with guns. The pace of a bowler tends to vary wildy between spells (getting tired/conserving energy/adapting style to conditions) and across career (injuries/age/learning new tricks).

Express to me would probably be the ability to go over 150 (not consistently obviously, just occasionally, or everyone fails) for a decent chunk of career. Plus the tendency to just bowl flat out consistently.
 
Starfighter

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I think with pace categorisation we should use @C_C's classification here thus making everyone, if we go by the recorded speeds, slow-medium, medium or, at best, medium-fast.
 
bagapath

bagapath

International Captain
shortpitched713 said:
With respect, when referring to @bagapath's list the **** is the difference between "express" and "fast"? And why is this stuff never really defined in hard numbers?

Is this a symptom of "speed inflation" over time, making the old categories less and less useful? Honestly, it's a bit flabbergasting that we would use these kind of vague descriptions, when we've had pretty reliable speed guns, for a good 2.5 decades now.
Click to expand...
even "pace" and "spin" are subjective definitions. life in general is flabbergasting I agree.
 
Chin Music

Chin Music

State Vice-Captain
Don't know how the likes of Boult, Asif and Bruce Reid would ever have qualified for the fast category to name but three of those of the above.

I think Snow was one of those bowlers on his day who could crank it up Morgieb. It was said he was quick on the tour of Australia in the early 70s but he would often be medium pace or not much above when bowling for Sussex, often seemingly detached from it all.
 
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