EddieSmith
3rd February 2005, 12:45
Hey guys, thought you may like a sneak look at an article I'm sending of to Wisden/cricinfo soon.
Thanks for all the help and if you have any constructive criticism then feel free to air it.
A Selection of the Fastest Balls of 2005 (Updated 31/1/05)
150kph And Above (Express Pacemen)
B Lee (AUS) 156.4 v WI 14/1/05
154.0 v Pak 16/1/05
153.7 v Pak 30/1/05
152.6 v WI 21/1/05
151.0 v WI 26/1/05
S Harmison (Eng) 151.0 v SA 17/1/05
Shoaib Akhtar(PAK) 150.9 v Aus 5/1/05
148.0 v WI 19/1/05
147.8 v Aus 16/1/05
SP Jones (ENG) 150.8 v SA 22/1/05
147.5 v SA 2/1/05
145kph(90mph) to 150kph (Genuine Speedsters)
A Flintoff (Eng) 147.4 v SA 17/1/04
D Steyn (SA) 146.9 v Eng 12/1/05
Naved-ul-Hasan(Pak) 145.0 v WI 1/2/05
144.8 v WI 28/1/05
144.6 v Aus 16/1/05
143.9 v Aus 5/1/05
142.8 v Aus 30/1/05
140kph to 145kph (Qualified Fast Men)
A Nel (SA) 143.6 v Eng 23/1/05
JN Gillespie (Aus) 143.5 v Pak 5/1/05
141.8 v WI 14/1/05
141.3 v WI 21/1/05
140.0 v Pak 30/1/05
S Watson (Aus) 143.4 v Pak 5/1/05
140.7 v WI 14/1/05
140.3 v WI 21/1/05
R King (WI) 142.2 v Pak 28/1/05
M Kasprowicz (Aus) 142.0 v Pak 16/1/05
140.7 v WI 14/1/05
A Razzaq (Pak) 141.5 v WI 19/1/05
141.3 v Aus 30/1/05
140.8 v WI 28/1/05
140.6 v Aus 16/1/05
K Ali (Eng) 140.3 v SA 30/1/05
P Collins (WI) 140.2 v Aus 26/1/05
139.9 v Aus 21/1/05
J Wilson (NZ) 139.9 v World 11 26/1/05
The stage was set once again over the Australian summer for the two fastest bowlers on the planet to show us their wares, and battle it out for the top spot in the pace race. Throw in Mohammad Sami who lives life around 150km/h on the rung just below Shoaib and Lee, then you have a pace showdown of epic proportions. Unfortunately the pace battle between the world’s fastest guns never really got off the ground due to the unfortunate injuries to the Pakistani pace pair, but they did stay healthy enough to produce some speeds of note.
Brett Lee once again has proved to be the fastest bowler over an Australian summer with a top speed of 156.4km/h. That’s only 4.3km/h shy of his fastest recorded delivery of 160.7km/h, and 4.6km/h away from becoming the second man alongside Shoaib to have been recorded breaking the phenomenal 100mph (160.93km/h) barrier.
The signs were ominous as to Lee’s extreme pace this summer when he clocked 156.1km/h verses New Zealand in his first match for Australia in some time. The fitness was there, the desire was there and the pent up frustration from an extended term as twelfth man in India, fuelled his ambition to hurl the ball at supersonic speeds. Lee was constantly above 153km/h as the military style training regime that himself and Shane Watson employed in India hit pay dirt.
Watson too proved to have relished training alongside the second fastest bowler in the universe, as his speeds hit uncharted territory and proved that the stress fractures that kept him out of the 2003 World Cup will be seen as but a blip on the radar of his career. In the first one day international against New Zealand Shane Watson’s whole first spell was above 140km/h, with a peak of 143.6km/h which he achieved three times. To put that kind of pace into perspective, Michael Kasprowicz who opened the bowling was a little down on pace at around 134km/h, peaking at around 137km/h.
The Australian selectors realized that they had a rare bird on their hands and propelled Watson straight into a baggy green cap. Here was someone who could potentially hold his own as a specialist batsman at test level and bowl at ninety-miles-per-hour (144.85km/h).
The only other player on the world’s scene to be bracketed with that status would be Andrew Flintoff of England who often bowls at above 145km/h and touched 149km/h in the ICC tournament last year. Jacques Kallis was occasionally above 145km/h from 1999 to 2001 with top speeds of 147.6km/h in 2000 and 146.4km/h at the 1999 World Cup. His former pace has decreased as his batting ability has increased and Kallis is no longer in the mould of the fast-bowling-allrounder.
In the third test against Pakistan Shane Watson debuted with balls of fire reaching speeds of 141.0km/h in his first spell and with a fastest ball of 143.4km/h, only 0.1km/h below the top speed reached by former express paceman Jason Gillespie of 143.5km/h.
Throughout 2001 and 2002 Gillespie was consistently bowling whole overs above 145km/h with his fastest deliveries often registering 149km/h. In 2002 he edged out Shane Bond to be the third fastest bowler in the world with match fastest speeds of 153.5km/h and 151.0km/h. During 2003 Gillespie’s pace dropped off a little, but he still managed to clock up 148.3km/h at the Cricket World Cup.
These days Jason Gillespie can go whole matches bowling the wrong side of 140km/h and his pace has plunged around 6km/h across the board from 2003. Tremendous pace was only one of Gillespie’s weapons, so 6km/h is an acceptable loss as long as he continues to take wickets and Australia continues to win matches.
Glenn McGrath who since the advent of speed guns has not been known for his great pace has also dropped a couple of km/h off his fastest speeds. In previous years McGrath has frequently nudged above 140km/h as his pace increases during the one day internationals late in the Australian summer, but this season his fastest balls are around 138km/h.
The worrying factor heading into the battle of the Ashes is that apart from a few subtle variances, the first choice Australian pace trio is one-dimensional. They are all tall, exceptional, right-arm, medium pacers in the 130km/h to 140km/h range. The first choice English pacers on the other hand are on the whole, perhaps the fastest pack of pacemen in the World. Steve Harmison and Simon Jones are capable of exceeding 150km/h, Harmison as high as the mid 150s(km/h) on his day. Andrew Flintoff is sitting just below them at a peak of around 147km/h, James Anderson around 144km/h and Kabir Ali and Mathew Hoggard are capable of cranking it up to over 140km/h as well. In short, unless things change between now and the commencement of the Ashes contest, for the first time in many years Australia will be entering the field of battle against the old enemy severely out-gunned and giving away a psychological advantage. The Australian selectors are caught between breaking up a winning combination and taking a punt on pace.
In Brett Lee, Shane Watson and Shaun Tait, Australia has the arsenal at their disposal to blast out any batting combination in the world on their day, and to fight fire with fire in England. But whether any or all of these fast-man will break into the test eleven is in the hands of the selection panel.
A surprise speedster of the Australian summer has been Rana Naved-ul-Hasan of Pakistan. Rana often bowls whole overs in the 139km/h to 142km/h range and has fastest speeds during the month of January recorded at 144.6km/h, 144.8km/h and 145.0km/h. In the absence of Shoaib and Sami, Rana has led the bowling attack admirably and will be hard man to displace in a full strength bowling attack.
Shoaib and Sami did open up the throttle somewhat this Australian summer with fastest balls of 153.2km/h and 152.9km/h respectively in the test matches before injury took its toll, but both are capable of more than this when fully fit.
In the absence of Shane Bond the fastest bowler from New Zealand was Ian Butler at 145.1km/h. Butler is a genuine ninety miles-per-hour bowler and has displayed consistent speed around that mark over the past few years.
The West Indian attack on display did not contain their fastest bowlers in Fidel Edwards, Tino Best and Jermaine Lawson all of whom are capable of exceeding 150km/h, but they did boast two men who pushed the BBG guns above 140km/h in Reon King (142.2km/h) and Pedro Collins (140.2km/h).
A few confirmed bowling speeds of note have also filtered across from the matches between South Africa and England. Simon Jones is now bowling faster than he was before his ACL knee reconstruction and the emergence of an exciting new speedster in Dale Steyn who clocked 147.6km/h on debut has South African cricket fans abuzz with excitement.
The fastest confirmed delivery for Jones prior to his injury was 148.9km/h on his test debut in July 2002 and his short stint during the Ashes in Australia yielded maximum speeds of 145.9km/h and 144.8km/h.
On the 22nd of January 2005 Jones joined the ranks of the express pacemen with a 150.8km/h thunderbolt, but as his confidence grows even more pace is expected from the fittest member of the English squad.
Note: Those who would like to help contribute to the 2005 bowling speeds list or have some other relative comments can contact Eddie at docushred@yahoo.com.au Please take careful note to record and pass on the date, opposition and the exact speed in question as without this information bowling speeds often go unconfirmed.
Thanks for all the help and if you have any constructive criticism then feel free to air it.
A Selection of the Fastest Balls of 2005 (Updated 31/1/05)
150kph And Above (Express Pacemen)
B Lee (AUS) 156.4 v WI 14/1/05
154.0 v Pak 16/1/05
153.7 v Pak 30/1/05
152.6 v WI 21/1/05
151.0 v WI 26/1/05
S Harmison (Eng) 151.0 v SA 17/1/05
Shoaib Akhtar(PAK) 150.9 v Aus 5/1/05
148.0 v WI 19/1/05
147.8 v Aus 16/1/05
SP Jones (ENG) 150.8 v SA 22/1/05
147.5 v SA 2/1/05
145kph(90mph) to 150kph (Genuine Speedsters)
A Flintoff (Eng) 147.4 v SA 17/1/04
D Steyn (SA) 146.9 v Eng 12/1/05
Naved-ul-Hasan(Pak) 145.0 v WI 1/2/05
144.8 v WI 28/1/05
144.6 v Aus 16/1/05
143.9 v Aus 5/1/05
142.8 v Aus 30/1/05
140kph to 145kph (Qualified Fast Men)
A Nel (SA) 143.6 v Eng 23/1/05
JN Gillespie (Aus) 143.5 v Pak 5/1/05
141.8 v WI 14/1/05
141.3 v WI 21/1/05
140.0 v Pak 30/1/05
S Watson (Aus) 143.4 v Pak 5/1/05
140.7 v WI 14/1/05
140.3 v WI 21/1/05
R King (WI) 142.2 v Pak 28/1/05
M Kasprowicz (Aus) 142.0 v Pak 16/1/05
140.7 v WI 14/1/05
A Razzaq (Pak) 141.5 v WI 19/1/05
141.3 v Aus 30/1/05
140.8 v WI 28/1/05
140.6 v Aus 16/1/05
K Ali (Eng) 140.3 v SA 30/1/05
P Collins (WI) 140.2 v Aus 26/1/05
139.9 v Aus 21/1/05
J Wilson (NZ) 139.9 v World 11 26/1/05
The stage was set once again over the Australian summer for the two fastest bowlers on the planet to show us their wares, and battle it out for the top spot in the pace race. Throw in Mohammad Sami who lives life around 150km/h on the rung just below Shoaib and Lee, then you have a pace showdown of epic proportions. Unfortunately the pace battle between the world’s fastest guns never really got off the ground due to the unfortunate injuries to the Pakistani pace pair, but they did stay healthy enough to produce some speeds of note.
Brett Lee once again has proved to be the fastest bowler over an Australian summer with a top speed of 156.4km/h. That’s only 4.3km/h shy of his fastest recorded delivery of 160.7km/h, and 4.6km/h away from becoming the second man alongside Shoaib to have been recorded breaking the phenomenal 100mph (160.93km/h) barrier.
The signs were ominous as to Lee’s extreme pace this summer when he clocked 156.1km/h verses New Zealand in his first match for Australia in some time. The fitness was there, the desire was there and the pent up frustration from an extended term as twelfth man in India, fuelled his ambition to hurl the ball at supersonic speeds. Lee was constantly above 153km/h as the military style training regime that himself and Shane Watson employed in India hit pay dirt.
Watson too proved to have relished training alongside the second fastest bowler in the universe, as his speeds hit uncharted territory and proved that the stress fractures that kept him out of the 2003 World Cup will be seen as but a blip on the radar of his career. In the first one day international against New Zealand Shane Watson’s whole first spell was above 140km/h, with a peak of 143.6km/h which he achieved three times. To put that kind of pace into perspective, Michael Kasprowicz who opened the bowling was a little down on pace at around 134km/h, peaking at around 137km/h.
The Australian selectors realized that they had a rare bird on their hands and propelled Watson straight into a baggy green cap. Here was someone who could potentially hold his own as a specialist batsman at test level and bowl at ninety-miles-per-hour (144.85km/h).
The only other player on the world’s scene to be bracketed with that status would be Andrew Flintoff of England who often bowls at above 145km/h and touched 149km/h in the ICC tournament last year. Jacques Kallis was occasionally above 145km/h from 1999 to 2001 with top speeds of 147.6km/h in 2000 and 146.4km/h at the 1999 World Cup. His former pace has decreased as his batting ability has increased and Kallis is no longer in the mould of the fast-bowling-allrounder.
In the third test against Pakistan Shane Watson debuted with balls of fire reaching speeds of 141.0km/h in his first spell and with a fastest ball of 143.4km/h, only 0.1km/h below the top speed reached by former express paceman Jason Gillespie of 143.5km/h.
Throughout 2001 and 2002 Gillespie was consistently bowling whole overs above 145km/h with his fastest deliveries often registering 149km/h. In 2002 he edged out Shane Bond to be the third fastest bowler in the world with match fastest speeds of 153.5km/h and 151.0km/h. During 2003 Gillespie’s pace dropped off a little, but he still managed to clock up 148.3km/h at the Cricket World Cup.
These days Jason Gillespie can go whole matches bowling the wrong side of 140km/h and his pace has plunged around 6km/h across the board from 2003. Tremendous pace was only one of Gillespie’s weapons, so 6km/h is an acceptable loss as long as he continues to take wickets and Australia continues to win matches.
Glenn McGrath who since the advent of speed guns has not been known for his great pace has also dropped a couple of km/h off his fastest speeds. In previous years McGrath has frequently nudged above 140km/h as his pace increases during the one day internationals late in the Australian summer, but this season his fastest balls are around 138km/h.
The worrying factor heading into the battle of the Ashes is that apart from a few subtle variances, the first choice Australian pace trio is one-dimensional. They are all tall, exceptional, right-arm, medium pacers in the 130km/h to 140km/h range. The first choice English pacers on the other hand are on the whole, perhaps the fastest pack of pacemen in the World. Steve Harmison and Simon Jones are capable of exceeding 150km/h, Harmison as high as the mid 150s(km/h) on his day. Andrew Flintoff is sitting just below them at a peak of around 147km/h, James Anderson around 144km/h and Kabir Ali and Mathew Hoggard are capable of cranking it up to over 140km/h as well. In short, unless things change between now and the commencement of the Ashes contest, for the first time in many years Australia will be entering the field of battle against the old enemy severely out-gunned and giving away a psychological advantage. The Australian selectors are caught between breaking up a winning combination and taking a punt on pace.
In Brett Lee, Shane Watson and Shaun Tait, Australia has the arsenal at their disposal to blast out any batting combination in the world on their day, and to fight fire with fire in England. But whether any or all of these fast-man will break into the test eleven is in the hands of the selection panel.
A surprise speedster of the Australian summer has been Rana Naved-ul-Hasan of Pakistan. Rana often bowls whole overs in the 139km/h to 142km/h range and has fastest speeds during the month of January recorded at 144.6km/h, 144.8km/h and 145.0km/h. In the absence of Shoaib and Sami, Rana has led the bowling attack admirably and will be hard man to displace in a full strength bowling attack.
Shoaib and Sami did open up the throttle somewhat this Australian summer with fastest balls of 153.2km/h and 152.9km/h respectively in the test matches before injury took its toll, but both are capable of more than this when fully fit.
In the absence of Shane Bond the fastest bowler from New Zealand was Ian Butler at 145.1km/h. Butler is a genuine ninety miles-per-hour bowler and has displayed consistent speed around that mark over the past few years.
The West Indian attack on display did not contain their fastest bowlers in Fidel Edwards, Tino Best and Jermaine Lawson all of whom are capable of exceeding 150km/h, but they did boast two men who pushed the BBG guns above 140km/h in Reon King (142.2km/h) and Pedro Collins (140.2km/h).
A few confirmed bowling speeds of note have also filtered across from the matches between South Africa and England. Simon Jones is now bowling faster than he was before his ACL knee reconstruction and the emergence of an exciting new speedster in Dale Steyn who clocked 147.6km/h on debut has South African cricket fans abuzz with excitement.
The fastest confirmed delivery for Jones prior to his injury was 148.9km/h on his test debut in July 2002 and his short stint during the Ashes in Australia yielded maximum speeds of 145.9km/h and 144.8km/h.
On the 22nd of January 2005 Jones joined the ranks of the express pacemen with a 150.8km/h thunderbolt, but as his confidence grows even more pace is expected from the fittest member of the English squad.
Note: Those who would like to help contribute to the 2005 bowling speeds list or have some other relative comments can contact Eddie at docushred@yahoo.com.au Please take careful note to record and pass on the date, opposition and the exact speed in question as without this information bowling speeds often go unconfirmed.