Dale Steyn is the only pacer in world cricket now: Holding

[vamos_rafa]

West Indies former fast bowling great Michael Holding believes pacers are born not made and said South African quick Dale Steyn is the only pacer playing Test cricket currently. Holding feels mere coaching, gym work or fitness routines cannot not turn trundlers into fast bowlers. "You can't make a fast bowler. You can't take anyone and put them in a gymnasium and give them whatever exercises and strengthen their body and turn out a fast bowler," Holding told the **********.net. "You have to be born a fast bowler. You've got to have the rhythm and the coordination and everything else that it takes to bowl that fast. Strength, hard work and practice alone cannot make a fast bowler. It's not just physical - it's a lot of other things combined," he said. One of the greatest fast bowler's to emerge from the Caribbean, Holding terrorised batsmen in the 80s and feels that nowadays global fast bowling stocks appear to have deteriorated significantly, with very few genuine pacers still playing Test cricket on a regular basis. "Well, there's only one right now - Dale Steyn. He is the only fast bowler in the world playing Test match cricket right now and that's impressive. The rest of them are either injured, not playing on a regular basis or have retired," he said. Holding was quick to clarify that bowling military medium pace with an occasional 'faster delivery' does not make one a 'fast bowler'. "And when I say fast bowlers, I am not talking about people who bowl 80 miles an hour. Those are not fast bowlers. I am talking about people pushing 90 miles an hour". Over-work, fixture congestion, and lack of appropriate recovery time after injuries were cited by Holding as the key reasons why modern day fast bowlers do not last long at Test level, and are either injured, such as West Indian hopefuls Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards, or have given up on Test cricket altogether. "A lot of the fast bowlers - not just West Indian fast bowlers - get injured on a regular basis these days because of the amount of cricket that they play. Look around the world right now and tell me the number of fast bowlers who are playing Test cricket," he said. Holding also felt that shorter careers were also due to a hectic cricket schedule these days and cited the example of Australian Brett Lee. "Brett Lee is a young man, he retired from Test match cricket because he could not take the strain. He is playing the shorter form of the game and playing it quite successfully," he said. "Shaun Tait - well, he retired even before Brett Lee! And I think he might be younger than Brett Lee. Look around the world and see how many fast bowlers are really left? Shane Bond - he was constantly on and off the field." "Again, when I say fast bowlers, I'm not talking about people who run in from 40 yards or 30 yards. I'm talking about people who are bowling close to 90 miles an hour - that's what I call a fast bowler. There aren't many around the world right now. Dale Steyn is the only one who bowls at that pace and can maintain that pace on a regular basis and can maintain that pace and produce results," he added. Holding also said a full-time coaching position does not suit his temperament. "My mother was a teacher but I didn't get her patience for coaching or teaching. I don't have the patience to coach," he said.

[Sir john]

:headshake:

[vpg0002]

Michael Holding - very well said. Hoping to see some pacers come from India pretty soon.

[Switchblade]

Morne Morkel Is Also Fast

[rkt.india]

Morkel is faster than steyn on consistent basis

[DomainK]

This statement will not be digested very well in a certain part of the world.

[rkt.india]

Today i watched 5 overs of aaron and he bowled only 2-3 balls under 140. those too were all 139 and he wad consistently clocking over 144 kph and he took a 5-fer also, it means india have got a fast bowler now..

[pinkfreud]

Morne Morkel Is Also Fast

Yeah true, I wonder why he left Morkel out of the equation.

[Switchblade]

Yeah true' date=' I wonder why he left Morkel out of the equation.[/quote'] may be because STEYN is number 1 at the moment in test matches

[pinkfreud]

may be because STEYN is number 1 at the moment in test matches

Yeah but that doesn't make him the only 'true pacer' in world cricket.

[Switchblade]

Yeah but that doesn't make him the only 'true pacer' in world cricket.

Agree

[NareshK]

Deccan Chargers :yay: I hope he lasts the World Cup during the hot Indian summer and gets to play in the IPL.

[Lord]

Today i watched 5 overs of aaron and he bowled only 2-3 balls under 140. those too were all 139 and he wad consistently clocking over 144 kph and he took a 5-fer also' date=' it means india have got a fast bowler now..[/quote'] Abhimanyu Mithun also clocked 140+ consistently in FC cricket n picked coz he was fast.we saw how really fast he was.I'm telling you dont trust Neo's speed guns

[rkt.india]

@mithun rarely touched 140.today likes of dinda didnt even bowl 135 and its not just speed gun reading.he looks quick..according to me neo speed guns normally show less speed than iactual so to me he will be bowling much quicker than what was shown on gun

[Ranvir]

Steyn is more of a 85 - 88mph bowler. He rarely goes above 90.

[vamos_rafa]

I thought Kemar Roach is also some1 who bowls really phast... Infact he along with Morkel clock speeds more than what Steyn does on an average. IMO Steyn is generally in the mid-80s and occasionally increases it to 90s.

[Switchblade]

Tait?

[vamos_rafa]

^ He has mentioned about Tait in his views.

[Switchblade]

ok thanks

[vamos_rafa]

ok thanks

:--D