This is something very interesting. A competition held in 1979 to find the fastest bowler in the world. The greats of that time compete with each other. The feared bowlers of this time include Jeff Thomson, Denis Lillee, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Michael Holding etc. These are all time greats and most feared fast bowlers of each time. However, the test is a revelation. Except for Thompson who achieved a speed of 147.8 kmph the rest achived speeds in the 130s or below. It was a disappointment since with these names I had associated sheer pace which modern day bowlers cannot match. It seems the present day bowlers are much faster. Brett Lee consistently bowls at over 145kmph and often above 150kmph. Akhthar being no different. Bowlers of the calibre of Harmison, Shane Bond, Ntini all seem to be faster than most these guys. Even our own Lasith Malinga and Dilhara bowls faster than most.
So the question is why are these guys considered greats and so feared by batsment in their era. I can still remember world series games in Australia where the pace attack led by Holding, Garner, Marshall and Roberts terrorized Sri Lankan batsmen. There could be many reasons here're some possible reasons:
- The speed radar used here could be flawed. It's technology 27 years ago so this is possible.
- Those days pitches had more grass and more lateral movement and had more bounce than the batsman friendly pitches of today. So accuracy, aggression and decent pace made it difficult for batsmen.
- Batsmen did not wear helmets so always feared getting struk on the head.
12 comments:
I just watched the same video on you tube and am likewise surprised at how comparatively slow the bowlers of the 70s were on that show. Interestingly during Jeff Thompson's career he was timed at around 160kph. Perhaps the method of timing for that show, which was computed on an analysis of the file frames was flawed... or perhaps in a match, with the adrenelain flowing the bowlers bowl faster... or perhaps like all athletes... todays athletes are just stronger
Thompson and Lillee were almost old men here. Their peak was early seventies. They timed it from the end of the pitch, after the ball had travelled 22 yards. So tack on some speed, and consider this was just a day in the life of fast bowling greats, and suddenly they seem to not only match, but excede the calibre of today's bowlers.
Amiable post and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you seeking your information.
Amiable fill someone in on and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you seeking your information.
Great posting. For being a emerging blogger We are getting to know a lot with these kinds of articles continue the great hard work.
Appreciation for this particular useful submit! Make sure you keep it coming. Regards.
Resources like the one you mentioned here will be very useful to me! I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful.
It really is sad that there are individuals not likely browsing over this website. Great job
the reason being the 70's blokes reading lower speed is simple. they were all timed at the batsmen's end and the current crop lee, shoaib etc are timed at the moment of release. if you factor the loss in the air and pitch which is say 15Ks then the numbers look as good as look today
btw, they bowled under a temperature of 40 degrees!! that must have taken some out!!
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283875.html
Reportedly , Thompson had been out injured that season and arrived at the competition fresh from drinking beer at the pub. We can assume that he wasn't in his best form, even though he won the accuracy competition, too.
Post a Comment