Pepsi Pacers vs u19 Pacers: The speed mystery!!

[Mercenary]

About 4 months ago a Pepsi Pace competition was held to find the fastest non first class bowler in Pakistan. The results were interesting with a top speed of 87.4 mph being achieved by Kamran Shezad of Lahore.

After watching the u19 WC my faith in the Pakistani fast bowling factory has been rekindled. Below are the speeds of the Pepsi pace competition winners mixed with the three u19 pacers top recoded speeds in the finals. The Pepsi Pacers are in blue and the u19 stars are in green...

142.0 kph/ 88.2 mph ----> Akhtar Ayub
140.7 kph/ 87.4 mph ----> Kamran Shehzad
138.5 kph/ 86.1 mph ----> Jamshed Ahmed
137.9 kph/ 85.7 mph ----> Sohail Pathan
136.2 kph/ 84.6 mph ----> Nasir Ahmed
136.0 kph/ 84.5 mph ----> Mohammad Talha
135.3 kph/ 84.1 mph ----> Anwer Ali
135.3 kph/ 84.1 mph ----> Shahid Iqbal
132.4 kph/ 82.3 mph ----> Muhammad Imran

Bearing in mind that the three u19 pacers produced their speeds in real matches under pressure situations, its quite incredible that they have appeared first, third and joint 7th in this list where the Pepsi pacers were straining for speed and nothing else!!

Akhtar Ayub actually outpaced all the Pepsi pacers by about a mile an hour! Jamshed would have come second by speed but had he taken part in the pace tourney then surely he would have had a good chance of winning it by bending his back for speed and nothing else.

The above numbers and speeds raise one very serious question!

Where were Ayub, Jamshed and Anwer four months ago? Why didnt they take part in the Pepsi pace competition?

And most importantly of all, how many other 85-88mph (or more) pacers did this competition completely miss?!!

Also for those of us wondering whether Irshad can genuinely top 90mph, well Ayub came close in the u19 world cup and nippy as he is, he didnt look anywhere near as fast as Irshad looks in the clips I've seen of him!!

Pakistani pace is alive and well :11:

[Cartman]

the pepsi pacers were pure amateurs with no first class experience unlike some of these under 19 kids. some of them were also older than 19.. ur comparing apples and oranges.. but ok.. i guess this one is for the speed freaks.

[Oxy]

Just wait until the u19s get access to fitness/conditioning coaches! They are still growing - fantastic prospects

[Cartman]

that kid akhtar ayub impressed me the most.. he has all the correct basics and pace and swing.. he cleaned up the tail in double quick time in the final. and they also dropped one catch off his bowling.. i think more than jamshed and anwar, he is going to suprise us at the highest level.

[Big Daddy]

that kid akhtar ayub impressed me the most.. he has all the correct basics and pace and swing.. he cleaned up the tail in double quick time in the final. and they also dropped one catch off his bowling.. i think more than jamshed and anwar, he is going to suprise us at the highest level.


nah i think all 3 will be the face of pakistan bowling around the 2011 worldcup

[Azam6380]

that kid akhtar ayub impressed me the most.. he has all the correct basics and pace and swing.. he cleaned up the tail in double quick time in the final. and they also dropped one catch off his bowling.. i think more than jamshed and anwar, he is going to suprise us at the highest level.

And he is very, very aggressive............

[Cartman]

yes.. very aggressive.. thats what i liked about him the most.. he was up and at them.. when they were 7 down and he was brought on for Jamshed I worried if we would be able to clean them up.. Anwer was bowling well on the other end but they had figured out a way to handle him.. they were padding up his inswingers by stepping way outside the offstump ...

anyhow in comes Ayub and man he bowled some jaffas.. and he was up and at them, in their face.. the Indian tailenders probably ended up with yellow underwears after that spell. one of his balls that took the shoulder of the bat on the way to the keepr was one that would make any quick bowler proud. I have seen Alan Donald and Mcgrath bowl such stuff.

[Big Daddy]

i think there is consensus that the under 19 class of 2006 was better then its predecessors when it comes to pace bowling

[pakistani pride]

Dont wat 2 hype them but they look awsome what a bowling display !

[sehsan]

and a short action if i remember it correctly

[Cartman]

he has what it takes to be a fast bowler..

[Geordie Ahmed]

I love Akhtars run up, its pretty intimidatin - also it helps he has a pretty vicious stare

[Toony™®]

for me anwar ali has lot of hard work ahead... compared to the other two.

[ataullah]

I love Akhtars run up, its pretty intimidatin - also it helps he has a pretty vicious stare

His stare looks scary mn. Top bowler. Pace, swing and venom. Good prospect

[badxhah]

Also for those of us wondering whether Irshad can genuinely top 90mph, well Ayub came close in the u19 world cup and nippy as he is, he didnt look anywhere near as fast as Irshad looks in the clips I've seen of him!!

Pakistani pace is alive and well :11:

U have Irshaad's clip .. where can i find it can u tell me plz

[Muddaser]

‘Tez dalta hoon, baki tuppa, shappa’ (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=87715)

An article on Akhtar Ayub.

[Mercenary]

U have Irshaad's clip .. where can i find it can u tell me plz

Sorry my fault, I meant Yasir Ali.

I saw him when he was bowling in the practise match vs England. Here were my thoughts on him at the time...

sky sports news (the channel) showed all the England wickets that fell.

Najaf Shah looks faster than I thought he would be and much better prospect than khalil

Arafat clean bowled all his victims and it looked awesome to see stumps getting knocked back!

Tahir was lucky to get that lbw as it looked like it was going down leg.

At first I thought Ali was a spinner coz he seemed to be ambling in off a few paces but then suddenly he exploded and the ball seemed to go through very fast surprising Pieterson who edged it.

They didnt show Irshad as he didnt get a wicket

... Ali looked much faster than Arafat or Ayub so he's gotta be around 90mph+ and Woolmer reckons Irshad is faster than Ali

[Hash]

I was impressed by all three but in particular Akhtar and Jamshed.

Anwar is certainly something special. Anyone who can swing the ball as much as he can is something special. He has plenty of time to learn a few more deliveries.

But for me, Akhtar and Jamshed are 'closer' (but still have a lot of work to do) to being the finished articles than Anwar.

[Oxy]

U-19 has never been a barometer for future success at senior level.

I just hope that at least one of these boys comes good - exciting prospects indeed

[Miraj101]

"Ask coach Mansoor Rana about this very Pakistani trait of unearthing these speed demons and he says, ‘‘Most of the times it is an open trial. And most of the time suddenly there will be shout from a corner of the field with several nets. Somebody will say ‘Mil gaya, mil gaya’ and the rest rush there. Most of the time we spot a kid running in as if to save his life and hurling the ball as to take a life.’

[cavin420]

Sorry my fault, I meant Yasir Ali.

I saw him when he was bowling in the practise match vs England. Here were my thoughts on him at the time...



... Ali looked much faster than Arafat or Ayub so he's gotta be around 90mph+ and Woolmer reckons Irshad is faster than Ali
merc, they showed micheal vaughns stumps flying......that was courtesy of mohd irshad im sure and he was the fastest on display as far as i can remember......

[JhonnyBravo]

any chance of getting the clips of u19 pakistan bowlers ????

[Bewal Express]

I hope they don`t disappear like the previous great hopes. We never saw Abdur Rauf.

[Saqlain_doosra]

AKthar and Ysir are very fast man. I hope to see both playign for pakistan together one day. Ti si like dream, come true. 2 players from attock opeing bowling attack, with lightening speed. :19: :27: :30:

[IMMY69]

U-19 has never been a barometer for future success at senior level.

I just hope that at least one of these boys comes good - exciting prospects indeed

I hear what you saying but then how old was wasim when he made his debut or waqar or even aqib javed??? if my memory serves my correctly
wasim made his debut at 17 or 18 years of age and aqib was taken to aussie when he was 16..i think waqar made his debut at around 18 or 19...so taking this into account why cant we atleast throw one of these youngsters into the pot...perhaps have all three in squad and have them rotating on a game by game basis...jamshed already has control, movement and pace and is a leftie so adds variation to our bowling...the other two also have a bit about them...what with anwars' extravagent inswing and akhtars ability to move the ball away and bowl with pace and hostility....

i think these guys should be blooded in sooner rather then later otherwise they may pick up bad habbits playing first class cricket in pakistan and picking up bucket loads of cheap wickets against failry mediocre batsman!

[Farhad]

merc, they showed micheal vaughns stumps flying......that was courtesy of mohd irshad im sure and he was the fastest on display as far as i can remember......

Yah! That's the England V Patrons XI match..


http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/54800/54895.jpg



and when he took out Loudon...


http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/54800/54894.jpg

[sehsan]

I hear what you saying but then how old was wasim when he made his debut or waqar or even aqib javed??? if my memory serves my correctly
wasim made his debut at 17 or 18 years of age and aqib was taken to aussie when he was 16..i think waqar made his debut at around 18 or 19...so taking this into account why cant we atleast throw one of these youngsters into the pot...perhaps have all three in squad and have them rotating on a game by game basis...jamshed already has control, movement and pace and is a leftie so adds variation to our bowling...the other two also have a bit about them...what with anwars' extravagent inswing and akhtars ability to move the ball away and bowl with pace and hostility....

i think these guys should be blooded in sooner rather then later otherwise they may pick up bad habbits playing first class cricket in pakistan and picking up bucket loads of cheap wickets against failry mediocre batsman!

no doubt he is good bowler BUT shouldn't we try NAJAF before jamshed?

[Farhad]

I hear what you saying but then how old was wasim when he made his debut or waqar or even aqib javed??? if my memory serves my correctly
wasim made his debut at 17 or 18 years of age and aqib was taken to aussie when he was 16..i think waqar made his debut at around 18 or 19...so taking this into account why cant we atleast throw one of these youngsters into the pot...

The issue is those three and Pak naturally were lucky in that we had Imran Khan at the helm of affairs on the field as the team skipper - their mentor. He honed those bowlers' skills and made them the finished product in no time. Things are not the same now.

[Cartman]

Those were old days. These days cricket is a batsman's game. You dont want the confidence of young bowlers ruined so early. they need to get mentally strong first.

[IMMY69]

I hear what everyone is saying....

however would it not be better to have these bowlers around our team management rather then playing for some first class side who is gonna bowl them till their backs break?
i know wasim, waqar and aqib had imran khan around...but at the end of the day the credit should go to those bowlers and not only to imran khan...

perhaps the solution is to have a proper fast bowling coach within the management who can guide these youngsters???

irrespective of whether the game has become more batsman orientated today (lets not forget the sides of the eighties did have some great batsman too) my gut instinct would be tothrow these boys into the deep end and hope they can swim! afterall the game as a whole has lacked top quality bowlers since windies stopped producing the battery of quick bowlers and once wasim and waqar retired so batsman have had a field day so to speak...perhaps its time now that we started throwing in these young pacers who hopefully can once again shift the balance...

just a thought...