Fastest ever bowler?

[Crookbond]

But technology has gotten better' date=' [b']you will agree and they are best parameter available right now. You must be talking about the inconsistencies but I will say that inconsistency is not because of radars but because of broadcasting or technical failures or may be human scoring failure.

Yes - just like they were the best available back then? I mean you are comparing two sets of bowlers with two different sets of machinery and hence, arguments are conflicting.

What?

Updated image - from Dale Steyn's Twitter profile.

[rkt.india]

Yes - just like they were the best available back then? I mean you are comparing two sets of bowlers with two different sets of machinery and hence' date=' arguments are conflicting.[/quote'] And technology today is certainly better than the past, so there are questions. We may have questions on today's speed calculations too albeit 30 years down the line. As I earlier said that was an error, may not be because of speed gun but because of human broadcast error because that ball is not recorded on IPL website. Even Zaheer Khan was once shown 170K, Vinay Kumar in Australia was shown 150K which certainly was not. You can easily ignore such blue moon inconsistencies. No system is 100% perfect like people say about DRS.

[Crookbond]

And technology today is certainly better than the past, so there are questions. We may have questions on today's speed calculations too albeit 30 years down the line. As I earlier said that was an error, may not be because of speed gun but because of human broadcast error because that ball is not recorded on IPL website. Even Zaheer Khan was once shown 170K, Vinay Kumar in Australia was shown 150K which certainly was not. You can easily ignore such blue moon inconsistencies. No system is 100% perfect like people say about DRS.

The question arises - which of these recording were correct? How do we know? I look at the speed guns with more skepticism. In this case, it was way exaggerated but in other cases it may be subtly exaggerated. For example, 135kph shown as 130 kph - now that is a huge difference for me.

[Muloghonto]

I do not agree. Why you think those experts are the only thing you will take? Holding had a good action but there are others who have as good action and runups. Umesh Yadav has an action and runup though shorter but very similar to Holding.

Again, actually ask a biomechanical expert if you are ever curious. Their rating of Holding's action is consistently the 'once seen golden goose'. All the guys you are mentioning had good actions or good runups or such. Holding simply was a step above the rest.

Brett Lee and Alan Donald had the action and runups which are bio-mechanics delight. Lee had one of the best runups you will ever see. it does not look like he is running but flying.

Lee had a runup that looked good but i still think Holding's was a class above.

Regarding this, a bowler's runup has little to do with how fast he can run in a 100 meter dash. I accept he had a good runup but saying he was all and be all is not right.

Arrey baba, you really think 400 m is all about dashing around ? Ever ran it ? or seen high school coaches coach it ? next time watch it if you can at a NCAA meet. Running is about technique. Especially 400m, which incorporates a 100m dash at the end. As i said, Holding was a candidate in his youth for Jamaican olympic 400 team. That automatically puts him at the very top end of the run-ups if you ask me and the results have largely borne that out. So efficient was his entire run that even the umpires didnt hear him comming. Whispering death. That was his nickname. Please, as far as actions go, ask the best of the best. Holding is the gold standard there.

So you could measure his speed via naked eyes while watching a match.

What i could tell, is that he was still super fast as he was 4 hours ago, bowling the 17th over between now and when he started. I have already given up trying to convince you, because you simply wont believe me. That there used to be a guy named Michael holding and another named Marshall, who bowled at 95mph range all day long. Why 95 ? well i am being conservative here, since Mashall and Holding were rated fastest of their times by various batsmen (after Thommo, everyone was obsessed about Thommo and his superfast slingy bouncers) and i will grant him that he was maybe a step or two slower than Thommo's fastest recorded balls. But you will say its 'inhumanely impossible' that Holding & Marshall could ping away at you at 150kph bowling 20 overs in a day, pretty much being in the 147-152kph range all the 120 legal balls they throw down over 4+ hours, interspersed with running around fielding. Well, the numbers are an allegory here, but such a feat is not impossible, just exceedingly rare. If you don't believe me, thats fine. If you ever were curious, do ask people who have faced Marshall & Holding. Or if you want to try baseball, ask the name 'Randy Johnson'. You will see, this 'biomechanical impossibility' is actually an exceedingly rare 'murali-esque' possibility.

Any bowler who could bowl 160 KPH is a physical freak in himself because that is a rarity and a few bowlers in the history of cricket have done that. I dont think you have seen Shoiab Akhtar enough to assess him. He could bowl 150-155K even at the end of the day in a test match, not just at the start. I have seen him do that. Same for Brett Lee. Holding and Marshall were not the only guy to do that.

I have watched Akhtar closely actually in the Paki vs India series where Veeru slayed him. He was *not* breaking 140 very consistently near the end of the day. Yes, he started at a very fast speed. Trust me, not many bowlers- Wasim,Waqar,Donald, Lillee, etc.included, get to consistently break the 140kph range after 3-4 hours of bowling.

But I will still say no bowler in the history of cricket can or could bowl 20 overs in a day averaging 90-95 mph.

I know. Which is why i will stop trying to convince you.

[Ankur Upadhyay]

He was not clocked randomly. Those were fast bowling competitions organized to measure pace in 1975 and 1976 during test match and those were his fastest balls not average. Every bowler knew they are being measured and it will reveal who is the quickest bowler. So they were all encouraged to put their best efforts to clock high speeds. No bowler would do that in a normal match. Brett Lee and Akhtar too have done this several times. 160.45 Kph is around 100 mph.

those were no competitions... but ya players knew that they are being mesured but still those were just two matches... are you saying that lee and akhtar has bowled at 100 mph in test matches several times???

[Ankur Upadhyay]

I am not denying he was not quick. He was' date=' but saying he could bowl over 100 mph is ridiculous. 100 mph is 161K. He was clocked 160.45 in 1975 in fast bowling competition and too when he put his best effort to bowl quick.[/quote'] i am still saying it was no competition.... their speeds were being measured but it was not a competition.... the competition you are talking about was held in 1979 and thommo was still the quickest despite losing his pace drastically after that collision with greg chappel... One more thing, i have read a west indian fast bowler, Colin Croft saying that thommo bowled at 103 mph in a certain match.... C

[Ankur Upadhyay]

I am not denying he was not quick. He was' date=' but saying he could bowl over 100 mph is ridiculous. 100 mph is 161K. He was clocked 160.45 in 1975 in fast bowling competition and too when he put his best effort to bowl quick.[/quote'] i am still saying it was no competition.... their speeds were being measured but it was not a competition.... the competition you are talking about was held in 1979 and thommo was still the quickest despite losing his pace drastically after that collision with greg chappel... One more thing, i have read a west indian fast bowler, Colin Croft saying that thommo bowled at 103 mph in a certain match.... Croft was quite pacy himself.... he was as pacy as holding in his prime and he said that thommo was easily 5+ mph quicker than him... Now, u have to trust him because he was not his teammate but opponet and not any opponent but one hell of a opponent....

[Deleted_User_1]

I am not denying he was not quick. He was' date=' but saying he could bowl over 100 mph is ridiculous. 100 mph is 161K. He was clocked 160.45 in 1975 in fast bowling competition and too when he put his best effort to bowl quick.[/quote'] He was clocked in a match as well.

[Deleted_User_1]

No. They were not measured when they pitched but from the hand. Their measuring techniques can be faulty too as there were no speed guns at that time. Those were manual calculations.

Source? It is a known fact that in 1975 when he was clocked it was after the ball pitched.....they discussed in a forum with Thommo, Imran and Mark Nicholas. Now you will say all are wrong. BTW, you avatar may have been quick, but a **** bowler...

[Junyfan]

Shoaib Akhtar ,no doubt.

[wanted_desi]

Has to be our Parosi Chucker, with clean action Lee would be my choice.

[SLICKR392]

Shoaib Akhtar ' date='no doubt.[/quote'] We are talking about genuine fast bowlers, not drugged ones. @Topic Did Thompson bowl 155+ consistently. I read it on a YouTube comment saying he bowled 155-157 every over.

[thongale]

Mohammed Zahid. A short career, but when he was fit quicker than Akthar.

[Hafeez]

Zahid was yard faster than me :Akthar

[Vilander]

meh zak bowled 170 + :giggle:

[mastana]

Zahid was yard faster than me :Akthar

Faster? In taking drugs??

[thongale]

Faster? In taking drugs??

Zahid was never associated with drugs during his short career. He made Akram and Waqar look pedestrian during his short career.

[Junyfan]

Zahid was also very fast.

[express bowling]

Source? It is a known fact that in 1975 when he was clocked it was after the ball pitched.....they discussed in a forum with Thommo, Imran and Mark Nicholas. Now you will say all are wrong.

Whenever different speeds for the same ball, from the bowler's hand to the batsmen, are showed on tv , it is seen that speeds reduce by about 20% on pitching. If those 150 k and 160 k speeds were after pitching then then the release speeds would be 188 k and 200 k . Even if the reduction in speed is by 15 % then the release speeds would be 176 k and 188 k. Does this seem possible ?

[Rocky Balboa]

Jeff Thomson.... m8tFgtzeA2M