Pace List

[Manee]

Indeed. When has Mohammad Asif ever hit 95?

I remember seeing him clock about 155.

We oughn't forget the great quicks of yore, in which case Kortie stands out for me.

Malinga and Harmison should be in there somewhere.

No-one really knows before 1998. There were various attempts to measure speed, but none were definitively accurate until those speedguns the BCC unveiled that summer.

Tyson, however, does seem to have been a freak where speed is concerned, the way Bradman was where batting was concerned. No other bowler in modern times has regularly bruised batsmen through pads.

That's the thing - by the time speedguns were perfected, he was 32. To bowl at 93mph at 32 (which he did - regularly - that series) is quite some effort, and suggests that in his heyday at 26-27 he might well have been up at 96-97mph.

I would say Tyson would be adjudged as the fastest I have seen.He did not get his nickname of "Typhoon" for nothing.There was nothing around to accurately test the speed of bowlers in the fifties when he was at his peak and I can only judge it by the naked eye.

The speed a bowler bowls at is overexaggerated I feel due to the fact they cannot bowl consistently at that pace.Shoab and Lee come close..The real armour in a pace bowler's repertoire is change of pace and guile in his deliveries. That is why there is so much conjecture regarding just who was the best paceman. Maybe it should come down to who was the smartest.

BTW..If you are facing a bowler of Wes Hall's pace you would think he is the fastest bowler of all time as that ball whistles past your ears

I believe Tait will go down as being quicker than both Lee and Akhtar by the time his carears out, Lee, Akhtar and Shane Bond all hit their peaks in terms of raw pace in about 2002/03 when they were all in the 26-29 age category, which is when a fast bowler traditionally hits his peak in terms of strength and fitness.
Yet Tait at 24 years of age clocked 160.1 kmph, and this is from only two home ODI's, thats pretty much as fast as Lee or Shoaib ever bowled at their peaks and a yard quicker than they were at the same age, Lee has only ever touched 160 once or twice in his carear and Shoaib only a couple of times aswell, and at Taits age Lee's quickest ball was about 155 in a ODI against South Africa.
So provided injuries dont ruin him a little I reckon Tait is capable of pushing 163,164 maybe even 165 kph by the time he's 27 or so, which would make him the fastest ever recorded.

I don't wish to nitpick but I have the Windies current bowlers fastest spells mostly on tape.

I have Fidel Edwards bowling at 97 mph against SA
Darren Powell bowling at 92mph against NZ/SA, England (so 80-92)
Jerome Taylor bowling at 91 mph against India (80-91).

Hope that helps

All of this helps loads. Thank you.

 

[Manee]

I would say Tyson would be adjudged as the fastest I have seen.He did not get his nickname of "Typhoon" for nothing.There was nothing around to accurately test the speed of bowlers in the fifties when he was at his peak and I can only judge it by the naked eye.

The speed a bowler bowls at is overexaggerated I feel due to the fact they cannot bowl consistently at that pace.Shoab and Lee come close..The real armour in a pace bowler's repertoire is change of pace and guile in his deliveries. That is why there is so much conjecture regarding just who was the best paceman. Maybe it should come down to who was the smartest.

BTW..If you are facing a bowler of Wes Hall's pace you would think he is the fastest bowler of all time as that ball whistles past your ears

I am aware that pace is not everything but thought it would be interesting to devise a list of pace.

PS: I meant Mohammad Sami, not Asif. My mistake. I am also just going to go with rough maximum paces instead of e.g. 80-90mph, it will just be 90mph.

 

[Richard]

I believe Tait will go down as being quicker than both Lee and Akhtar by the time his carears out, Lee, Akhtar and Shane Bond all hit their peaks in terms of raw pace in about 2002/03 when they were all in the 26-29 age category, which is when a fast bowler traditionally hits his peak in terms of strength and fitness.
Yet Tait at 24 years of age clocked 160.1 kmph, and this is from only two home ODI's, thats pretty much as fast as Lee or Shoaib ever bowled at their peaks and a yard quicker than they were at the same age, Lee has only ever touched 160 once or twice in his carear and Shoaib only a couple of times aswell, and at Taits age Lee's quickest ball was about 155 in a ODI against South Africa.
So provided injuries dont ruin him a little I reckon Tait is capable of pushing 163,164 maybe even 165 kph by the time he's 27 or so, which would make him the fastest ever recorded.

The speeds Tait was bowling at in those CB Series matches last winter were borderline alarming, TBH.

 

[Manee]

The speeds Tait was bowling at in those CB Series matches last winter were borderline alarming, TBH.

Yes. But it will be interesting to see if he will progress anymore and see if he can break the 100mph barrier.

 

[Richard]

Think he already might have... isn't 160ks 100mph?

 

[Manee]

No. Tait's delivery was 99.4mph. 160kph = 99.4mph.

In a match aganist England, I have seen Brett Lee bowl 99.9mph, I found it quite funny but noone else took any notice.

 

[iamdavid]

Think he already might have... isn't 160ks 100mph?

I think he was .02 of a kilometre short of 100mph....but still for one who still has a bit of developing to go thats alarming.

Interesting that the speeds of just about everybody in the world cup dropped off a good bit, dont know whether it was the slow wickets (even though I thought they measured it out of the hand :S ), because Tait was barely clocked above 144kph as was Malinga (the two quickest bowlers of the tournament)...and Shane Watson who is regularly upwards of 140kph barely touched 130.
Maybe the quality of the speedguns?

 

[Richard]

Probably more the fact that it's harder to bowl quick in West Indies, as it's often easier in South Africa - remember speeds were all up in the 2003 WC.

 

[Richard]

No. Tait's delivery was 99.4mph. 160kph = 99.4mph.

In a match aganist England, I have seen Brett Lee bowl 99.9mph, I found it quite funny but noone else took any notice.

Yeah, Nick Knight played it with great ease, as he had the 100.2mph Shoaib ball 2 games previously!

 

[archie mac]

We oughn't forget the great quicks of yore, in which case Kortie stands out for me.

Yes, and Jonah Jones, Walter Brearley, Tibby Cotter, Jack Gregory, Larwood. Marshall and Holding were also very quick

 

[iamdavid]

I spose that figures, with some of the venues at South Africa being played at great altitude and most of the West Indian ones at sea level.....still....Perth is at sea level as are most Australian test venues...and I wouldnt have thought altitude could make a 15kph difference:S

 

[neville cardus]

Interesting that the speeds of just about everybody in the world cup dropped off a good bit, dont know whether it was the slow wickets (even though I thought they measured it out of the hand :S ), because Tait was barely clocked above 144kph as was Malinga

He seems to have trailed off a touch.

 

[neville cardus]

Yes, and Jonah Jones, Walter Brearley, Tibby Cotter, Jack Gregory, Larwood. Marshall and Holding were also very quick

Kortie is the only bowler of whom I've ever heard conceding six byes.

 

[Manee]

Yes, and Jonah Jones, Walter Brearley, Tibby Cotter, Jack Gregory, Larwood. Marshall and Holding were also very quick

You got any rough maximum pace numbers for this lot. All I know is that Malcolm Marshall was bloody quick, but I know no comparison between the others.

 

[archie mac]

You got any rough maximum pace numbers for this lot. All I know is that Malcolm Marshall was bloody quick, but I know no comparison between the others.

Well Jones said 'Larwood could not dint a pound of butter on a hot day'

And Walter Brearley said about Jones 'I could throw my hat faster'

Hope that helps

Only kidding mate, I don't think they measured any of them, except Larwood, which I can't tell you just now because the book it is recorded in is packed up, but I have mentioned it on this forum before

 

[Manee]

Not exact measurements, I just want some rough ones. Were they around 90mph or 95mph or 105mph?

 

[pasag]

I was under the impression that Marshall wasn't blisteringly fast. Can anyone clarify?

 

[archie mac]

I was under the impression that Marshall wasn't blisteringly fast. Can anyone clarify?

When the Windies came here in 84/85 (I think) he was as quick as anything I have watched except for maybe Thommo

 

[archie mac]

Not exact measurements, I just want some rough ones. Were they around 90mph or 95mph or 105mph?

No idea mate, from memory Larwood said he was measured at 105

 

[The Sean]

I was under the impression that Marshall wasn't blisteringly fast. Can anyone clarify?

I think it's a mark of just what a clever and complete bowler he was the people sometimes tend to forget just how electrifyingly quick he was. At his peak in the mid-80s he was astonishingly fast.

Bradman in fact once said that the three fastest bowlers he ever saw were Larwood, Tyson and Marshall. Though I was surprised he left out Thommo...