Shoaib akhtar was undoubtedly the quickest , meanest fast bowler ever : Allan Donald

[the don]

Shoaib was undoubtedly the quickest, the meanest. The 1999 World Cup - Shoaib Akhtar arrived on the scene. The first game I watched, in my hotel room, where he yorked Adam Gilchrist [steve Waugh] at 97 miles an hour. I just thought that this kid is going to be a handful in this World Cup. You've got Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar - comfortably the best three quicks on display in the World Cup in 1999. Shoaib had an enormously long run-up. Bob Woolmer always used to say that it was a waste of energy. He could easily have come off a shorter run-up. But I think Shoaib's ego was far too big for anybody to tell him any differently, because for him it was a big thing - running that far. Jacques Kallis [would say] that he'd often take guard and wait for Shoaib to turn at the back of his mark and he just wait and waited and waited until the next ball was delivered. But my goodness he was quick, he was seriously quick. And again, another young Pakistani bowler who could bowl yorkers at will. [There are] not that many batsmen in world cricket who could play the hook shot against him. I think the other two [Wasim and Waqar], you could still at times get hold of them, but Shoaib was skiddy. He wasn't a tall man, so it was a skiddy bouncer and it was very, very quick. You had to know your story with him. You had to choose the right ball to try and play the horizontal shot. But he had everything. He had presence. He was a mean man. Look, he was absolutely ego-driven, that he was going to run all over you. And I think out of the three, definitely the quickest, not necessarily the most skillful, but not far away. He had an action that was almost like he was getting ready to throw a javelin, because he sort of turned himself sideways a little bit, and then that slingy action at the end where the ball tailed in. He got 5 for 11 in a spell of 11 overs in Durban in which he blew South Africa away, and it was a Test that they won. He knocked over Lance Klusener and the stumps were everywhere. Thank goodness I faced him in the last ball of his spell. And it was absolutely blown. That, to me, was one of the best balls I've seen. He hit Gary [Kirsten] hard in Lahore [in 2003]. Gary went for a hook shot and missed it and the ball went straight through. Gary actually spoke about that very recently and [said] it was the dumbest thing he's ever done - trying to hook him on one of the flattest wickets in the world. But that's what Shoaib is capable of doing. He made very great use of the new ball on a flat wicket. And then we all knew what he was capable of doing with the old ball because of the reverse swing. But he was intimidating. He was very intimidating. I would actually say that out of the three of them, Shoaib Akhtar was the most intimidating bowler. PS: his list of top fast bowlers includes 3 pakistanis out of 4 , miss shoaib :((, the fastest bowler ever :hatsoff:

[maniac]

Loved the way his career was ended.....Ross Taylor absolutely killed his career and his "ego" and everything attached to it :hysterical:

[Old guy]

is this the same guy who said dinda reminds him of himself ? :headshake:

[Vilander]

quickest - arguable ...dodgy speedometers and the lot. meanest - arguable since he was actually a fun guy off the field warts and what not and often bowled filth on it..

[vvvslaxman]

Agree he was very very quick albeit with chucking action

[Old guy]

jokes aside he probably was the quickest ever..good bowler but not even best of his era.. kind of an underachiever //

[deathmonger]

No WCs No CTs No WT20s Only overseas series win - NZ Choot bowler

[King Tendulkar]

Chucker and a cheat

[maniac]

Love how padosis call SRT and Dravid as not match winners where as this guy was manhandled in the WC final by Gilchrist,We all know when he talked big against SRT,got his *** handed by Ross Taylor in his last match in a WC...time and again he was absolutely put in his place and he has the ba**s to talk about and judge other players

[Sachin=GOD]

agreed. At his peak Akhtar was really fast and furious.

[div]

Fastest bowler faced by Donald

[Swing_n_Speed]

All said and done I am now convinced no matter how great a bowler as Donald was, his opinions are clearly not to be taken seriously. He must be the laughing stock of the the Pune Warriors dressing room!

[Clarke]

Not sure about meanest, didn't watch the WI greats. Quick as hell, no question about it.

[panther]

Who ever disagrees is either Indian or blind.

[vvvslaxman]

Who ever disagrees is either Indian or blind.

Shoaib akhtar was undoubtedly the quickest , meanest fast bowler ever : Allan Donald Accept everything except the highlighted red part :cantstop:

[KeyboardWarrior]

Shoaib Akhter :hatsoff:

[NareshK]

Loved the way he was manhandled by Ross Taylor in his final match. Put the fecker in his place. :hysterical:

[velu]

akhtar was still slower than vinay kumar at is peak

[Junyfan]

no doubt about it,

[Vilander]

actually paki bowlers are piss poor when they are forced to play fair.. they did well only because they cheated. Cheating comes naturally to pakistanis..its in their nature.