Fast Bowling And The Speed Gun

[express bowling]

One thing that I find very heartening is there are so many of us Indians that are really longing for a genuinely express bowler. This was not the case even 5 years back. To me, one of the most pleasing aspects of cricket is to watch a genuine fast bowler in full cry. According to me the speed gun showing speeds of 140k+ or 145k+ is not the sole indicator of fast bowling. The reasons are as follows -- The speed gun measures the ball speed at the point of release ( or something very close to that ). So, pace off the pitch, that has been the forte of so many bowlers like McGrath, Srinath, Akram etc., is ignored. During our last tour of Australia, it was shown on TV that 146k deliveries by both Ishant and Brett reached the batsman quicker for Ishant than for Brett. This is perhaps the reason why a visually quick delivery often clocks a lower speed than a visually slower ball. -- The speed gun seems to be adjusted differently for each series and gives different readings for balls bowled at the same speed. In case of domestic matches it seems to be adjusted differently in every match. All our bowlers seem to be about 4/5 k slower in Bangladesh and in this current series than they were in the home Australian series. Both the fastest deliveries as well as the average speeds for all bowlers seem to be 4/5 k slower proving thereby that it is the speed gun which is giving varying readings. The South Africans are also about 4/5k slower in this series than they were in their last series against England. Steyn was bowling between 135 and 145k mostly. Here he is bowing between 130 to 140k generally. Morkel was/is about 3k quicker in both series. In the domestic matches the speed gun seems to be set much lower -- by around 7 or 10 or even 12 k in various matches, than say the setting in the last India/ Australia home series. Bowlers like RP Singh, who we all know rarely bowls below 127k even when he is not putting in too much effort ( in the international matches ) was clocking 117/118 k with some of his normal ( not slower deliveries ). Praveen Kumar's faster deliveries often go up to 132/133k or even higher occationally but in a Duleep Trophy match was rarely going over 121k. Mithun, who was looking genuinely quick to me gauging by the batsmen's reaction time and comparison with other seamers, was clocking 131/132k in the Duleep trophy semifinal. -- I nowadays look at the batsman's reaction to a delivery, the frequency with which a batsman is getting beaten by pace, getting hurried vis-a-vis the the pitch type, the hostility of the delivery/ whether a batsman is getting hit etc. as well as the comparitive speed gun reading of a bowler with other pacers in the match, to gauge whether he is express/fast/fast-medium or medium.

[Online]

Brilliant post, welcome to ICF

[express bowling]

Brilliant post' date=' welcome to ICF[/quote'] Thanks.

[Ram]

Express B makes a good point. The speed records dont really mean much unless we can verifiably confirm that speed gun measurements are standardized and calibrated and clearly, it doesnt seem to be the case. For eff's sake, Dhawal Kulkarni and Irfan Pathan barely managed to cross 115 kph on some occasions. Sure, they're not super-quick, but there's no way they're that slow either. We have all seen guys like Collingwood and Astle simply amble up to the crease, roll their arm over and clock 125 kph. I also agree that the sight of genuine fast bowler running and unleashing some thunder-bolts is certainly one of the more exhilarating sights in world cricket. Forget the speed gun readings, if the bowler is quick, you can just tell. Like in the other day, Imran Farhat was swinging and swinging hard against Tait in the T20 match, but it was bleeding obvious that he didnt see a thing.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[vvvslaxman]

I saw the highlights. I must say Steyn looked much quicker than what it showed. Ball was just zipping through.

[thevortex]

Good post that .... but the Pace off the pitch is largely a function of the pitch .... I doubt that 2 balls bowled by 2 different bowlers at the same hand release speeds will get to the batsmen at different speeds unless they are released at different heights. In other words I dont know how a bowler can control "pace of the pitch"

Agree. The speedgun is not as bad as Hawkeye, but it is still not picture perfect, it looks like. :)

[express bowling]

Good post that .... but the Pace off the pitch is largely a function of the pitch .... I doubt that 2 balls bowled by 2 different bowlers at the same hand release speeds will get to the batsmen at different speeds unless they are released at different heights. In other words I dont know how a bowler can control "pace of the pitch"

Hi Bossbhai, there are some ways of generating more pace off the pitch with same hand release speed. From the comments and articles of fast bowlers some such techniques are -- llanding a ball perfectly on the seam, having a clean ball release, using wrists favourably etc. . Bowlers who hit the deck hard generally get more pace and bounce off the pitch than those who just float the ball even if that is done at speed. Some pacers impart backsipin on the ball in an attempt to confrol it better and they lose out on pace off the pitch. Some bowlers have the ability to skid the ball off the surface while others don't. If there is any fast bowling coach reading this, then he might be able to add to this or correct me if I am wrong.

[guju24]

i think it all depends on bowler himself...if he puts extra efforts than i m sure any bowler can achieve his target...let's take ishant for example...after he bowl that spell in australia he wanted to hit 150...he did come close but than suddenly dropped to 130 in last test match...so i dont know if its to do with bowling action or not...i know pitch plays more role but 75% is up to bowler