Where Are All The 150kph Bowlers?

[rkt.india]

By Ian Pont (3rd January 2013) There was a time in the 1980's when speed ruled the world. The West Indies had a quartet of quicks bowling around 150kph at their best, and used intimidation as a main weapon. They were aggressive. They were hostile. But above all they were quick. Or they were at least PERCEIVED to be quick and that is all that matters. When the West Indies played on 'sub continent' pitches and turning strips, they didn't pack their team with spinners. They simply used speed as a hammer to blast open batting line ups and change the game into an awkward one for the batsmen. Fast forward almost 30 years to the modern day. You would expect to see a world stage loaded with such fast bowlers given the advances in training, strength, conditioning, footwear, lifestyles, diets, nutrition and mindsets. Yet instead we see the cupboard is almost bare of such bowlers, and a few of those who can generate the sort of speeds that cast fear into a batsman's heart, are injury prone or have issues that often keep them out of cricket more than in it. We have technological advances, but no increases in speed. We have better monitoring, but we have fewer and fewer pace bowlers bowling at high speeds than ever. Many that can get it down the other end fast, often end up slowing down or losing their pace. It is only exceptions such as Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee, who have managed to bowl in excess of 150kph deep into their 30s. So what is happening? What is the issue? In all of the modern day sports, fast bowling within cricket is one of the most backward when it comes to coaching. Many still think 'fast bowlers are born' or that speed cannot be increased or improved. And sadly, this is the genuine issue. Where other sports improve and increase their power and speed in throwing, running and jumping - fast bowling coaching goes the other way and often coaches speed OUT of a bowler. Every coach that tells a bowler to 'slow down, bowl a line and length' shows they do not understand that speed can be created in a straight line to IMPROVE accuracy, not hinder it. Much of it is simple physics. Understanding what works and how, then applying it with bowling drills. But myths continue to be perpetrated such as 'brush your ear', 'stand tall' and 'bend your back'. Unless and until this misinformation is corrected, bowlers, commentators, fans - and coaches themselves, will continue to limit what is truly possible with a fast bowler. Harold Larwood it was estimated bowled in excess of 150kph. He played in the 1930s. 80 years on, if a bowler bowls 150kph, we get very excited. By comparison, Jesse Owens won the 100m in 1936 in 10.30s. In 2012, Usain Bolt won it in 9.63 with 7 finalists beating the 10.00s mark in that final. Bolt would have beaten Owens by around 7 meters and Owens would have been last. In fact his 1936 time wasn't good enough to even MAKE the final in 2012. Whatever speed a bowler can generate it can be improved. This is a fact. No one is 100% efficient. Some bowlers have poor actions, but it doesn't make them bad bowlers. So the challenge is to understand how to work with bowlers with small, incremental improvements, that they feel comfortable with. It should be remembered that something is only natural if you do it often enough, so what feels natural can be altered. A poor coach doesn't understand this. A poor coach education system also keeps this going. To get a bowler's speed to its maximum, it is vital to know and help develop key aspects of that bowler's action. He cannot copy what another player turned coach 'used to do' and neither can we clone a bowler to mimic someone else. We can only take what a player has and make him the very best version of himself. I do not expect this to change anytime soon though. If Larwood showed us the way (back foot drag, front foot block, slingy action, big follow through, chest drive and arm delay) then we haven't learned very much in 80 years, let alone improve on it. The game will continue to be filled with more and more technology, training, video analysis and strength & conditioning but less and less knowledgeable coaches on teaching speed. The gold mine has been there all along. But you have to be looking for it in the first place.

[Lord]

awesome:hatsoff:

[Sooda]

Im not sure it is so much poor coaching, though that may be part of it...speed is 'coached out' because of the toll it takes on a body and the amount of cricket players have to play these days across three formats, pacemen now want longevity in their careers. even then though there are not many out and out quicks there are some good pace bowlers coming through generally...

[CG]

What is pony on about ,I cannot remember even in 90s world cricket had so many fast bowlers who have touched 150ks as there are now. Ind-Aaron,Yadav,Ishant Aus-Johnson,Lee,tait,pattinson,cummins,starc,Harris,Siddle Eng-Finn,Meaker,Broad Pak-Gul,

[Hafeez]

Pakistan Up coming pacer Zia ul haq is around 147kph

[Hafeez]

What is pony on about ,I cannot remember even in 90s world cricket had so many fast bowlers who have touched 150ks as there are now. Ind-Aaron,Yadav,Ishant Aus-Johnson,Lee,tait,pattinson,cummins,starc,Harris,Siddle Eng-Finn,Meaker,Broad Pak-Gul,

Gul has Average speed 138kph Ishant Have Average speed 137kph IRFAN is fastest bowler pakistan have he is around 144kph

[NareshK]

What is pony on about ,I cannot remember even in 90s world cricket had so many fast bowlers who have touched 150ks as there are now. Ind-Aaron,Yadav,Ishant Aus-Johnson,Lee,tait,pattinson,cummins,starc,Harris,Siddle Eng-Finn,Meaker,Broad Pak-Gul,

:hmmm: Broad was barely touching 130 when he was bowling in India. Even Finn was bowling around 130s.

[CG]

:hmmm: Broad was barely touching 130 when he was bowling in India. Even Finn was bowling around 130s.

get your glasses on man,I said have touched 150k.

[vayuu1]

Well it's not running we are talking about it's fast bowling ,tell me one thing, in America baseball is played ,whose stature is some what similar to cricket ,infact it's similar to cricket ,going by this logic there should be plenty of 105-110 mph pitchers in baseball ,but it's not the case,it's about how much a human body can cope with ,it's one thing sprinting few hundred meters ,it's other thing bowling 18 overs per day in test ,10 overs in odi and 4 overs in t20 ,plus how many matches were played in 30's to early 90's per year and how many matches are played these days and I haven't even included ipl and other leagues and let's just not talk about the pitches and the rule in favor of batsmen shall we.

[CG]

Well it's not running we are talking about it's fast bowling ' date='tell me one thing, in America baseball is played ,whose stature is some what similar to cricket ,infact it's similar to cricket ,going by this logic there should be plenty of 105-110 mph pitchers in baseball ,but it's not the case,it's about how much a human body can cope with ,it's one thing sprinting few hundred meters ,it's other thing bowling 18 overs per day in test ,10 overs in odi and 4 overs in t20 ,plus how many matches were played in 30's to early 90's per year and how many matches are played these days and I haven't even included ipl and other leagues and let's just not talk about the pitches and the rule in favor of batsmen shall we.[/quote'] Todays bowlers are faster on average than mid 90s and If i see some actions and runups and placement of wk .I would say many so called fast bowlers are myths.I am talking pace only not skills btw. When lee came and akhar came in they were 140ks and that came as a shock to most batsman as they had not faced such speeds consistently.

[vayuu1]

Gul has Average speed 138kph Ishant Have Average speed 137kph IRFAN is fastest bowler pakistan have he is around 144kph

Well yadav,Aaron and shukla are all quicker than IRFAN,I think u guys are forgetting about jamie Overton as well.

[CG]

Gul has Average speed 138kph Ishant Have Average speed 137kph IRFAN is fastest bowler pakistan have he is around 144kph

I was talking about guys who have clocked 150ks.

[vayuu1]

Todays bowlers are faster on average than mid 90s and If i see some actions and runups and placement of wk .I would say many so called fast bowlers are myths.I am talking pace only not skills btw. When lee came and akhar came in they were 140ks and that came as a shock to most batsman as they had not faced such speeds consistently.

Well those pitches were bowlers paradise can u imagine any good teams of this generation facing westindies quartet in 80's Perth,Barbados or headingly.similarly likes of hynes,Richards,gavaskar,gowers would have feasted on today's pitches

[CG]

Well those pitches were bowlers paradise can u imagine any good teams of this generation facing westindies quartet in 80's Perth' date='Barbados or headingly.similarly likes of hynes,Richards,gavaskar,gowers would have feasted on today's pitches[/quote'] Yeah i agree,The pitches during the 2000-2010 were dead world over except sa.

[Lord]

Pakistan Up coming pacer Zia ul haq is around 147kph

is that the guy that played in U19WC.didnt look fast

[IKnowU]

No bowler is dumb enough to bowl 150kph if the conditions arent right. There are plenty of bowlers who can crack 150 if they wanted to.

[Cricket Tragic]

Tell Ian Pont to join ICF. We discover a new phhhassst bowler every week.

[Clarke]

Tell Ian Pont to join ICF. We discover a new phhhassst bowler every week.

aao thakur

[vayuu1]

just check baseball fastest pitcher of all time Robb Nen: 102 MPH Armando Benitez: 102 MPH Randy Johnson: 102 MPH Bobby Jenks: 102 MPH Brad Lidge: 102 MPH Matt Lindstrom: 102 MPH Justin Verlander: 102 MPH Brian Wilson: 102.2 MPH Jonathan Broxton: 102.6 MPH Mark Wohlers: 103 MPH Joel Zumaya: 104.8 MPH Aroldis Chapman: 105.1 MPH Aroldis Chapman: 106 MPH Bob Feller: 107.6 MPH Nolan Ryan: 108.1 MPH

[Cevno]

Pont should first answer, where did Atul Sharma go ?:giggle: