Has Shoaib Broken 100 mph?
Eddie Smith
On the 27th of April 2002, Shoaib Akhtar bowled a delivery to Craig McMillan which measured over 100mph. But was the ball’s actual velocity above100mph?
Ever since that day a storm has raged as to whether the 161kph (100.04mph) was genuine. We have heard the PCB go in to bat for Shoaib and claim that the speed should stand. We have read reports by various media outlets claiming that the speed recording device in question was dubious. The ICC has refused to ratify Shoaib’s 100mph ball, and a video tape showing an erroneous speed from 18 months ago emerged to gain more press coverage than Shoaib’s 161kph ball.
A few weeks have passed since Shoaib’s record breaking ball and only now that the storm has passed can the issue be clearly resolved.
The ICC has refused to verify Shoaib’s 100mph ball for one simple reason, that the ICC has not verified any bowling speeds in the past and was not about to start once the 100mph mark was broken. The debate which raged after the event has now forced the ICC’s hand, and the issue regarding different methods of measuring ball velocity, and the companies involved is being resolved at the present time.
The device which recorded the ball in question was a Stalker radar gun. This US made radar gun is a very accurate device and does what it was intended to do very well. Unfortunately in its raw state, what it was intended to record was horizontal velocity. This would be fine if a cricket ball travelled along a horizontal path and the gun could be placed directly in the flight path of the ball, but this is cricket, not baseball.
To accurately measure ball velocity using a horizontal measuring device, multiple angles need to be factored into the equation. Such variables as the height of the bowler, where the ball pitches, whether the bowler is bowling around or over the wicket, where and at what height the radar is placed in relation to the bowler and so on come into play. If these variables are not calculated and factored in accordingly, then the results may well be tainted through no fault of the gun.
The biggest variable is concerning the pitch of the ball. A bouncer will be released from the bowlers hand at a sharper downwards trajectory than say a yorker. A company which is not set up to compensate for this variable will simply adjust the calibration of the radar gun to allow for a standard length ball. What this simply means is that a Yorker will measure higher and a bouncer will measure lower than the balls actual velocity. In the case of Shoaib’s 161kph delivery, it was a yorker length ball.
The EDH company was contracted for the series in Pakistan to provide ball speeds to the T.V audience, as it had in South Africa the previous month and as it does with many series around the world. EDH uses equipment which measures actual ball velocity by tracking the ball and thus does not encounter the anomalies associated with horizontal velocity devices. Jaco Kruger from EDH informed myself after the event that the Stalker device at the ground had been giving a result which was on an average 3% different to EDH’s results and sometimes as much as 8%. When EDH shows a ball speed, it is because they have received 100% of the signal back from the ball and you can guarantee that the speed shown is almost exactly the balls velocity. A problem is encountered when less than 100% signal is received and in this case EDH in their wisdom has chosen not to display a speed which might be incorrect. This translates to around 1 in 10 balls missed.
The 100mph ball from Shoaib was missed by EDH but was recorded by the horizontal velocity device at the ground. This was not some sinister plot by EDH as some have suggested but a random missed ball. Others have murmered that the company Cyber.net may have pumped up results in the pursuit of publicity. Cyber.net has flatly denied this line of reasoning as ubsurd.
Rumour and innuendo aside, their are logical and not sinister reasons why the ball in question measured as it did.
So, was the ball’s velocity above 100mph at the time of its release? I don’t know, nobody knows. We do know that it was a yorker length delivery and that it was measured by a horizontal velocity device. This should not be discounted.
We also know for a fact that Shoaib was bowling faster between the 17th and the 27th of April than he ever had before. He had been recorded bowling at speeds over 158kph and up to 159.9kph by EDH’s equipment on numerous occasions during that 10 day period and it seemed merely a matter of time before the 100mph mark was his own.
In an ironic twist, I have received the following mail concerning the Stalker device “The third ball of the last over before tea (150th over) on day two of the first test match between New Zealand and Pakistan, was clocked at 190 km/h. The bowler - Craig McMillan!! The real irony was that Shoaib Akhtar was the batsman, who missed the ball completely.”
When bowling speeds are measured on a single horizontal velocity radar device then mistakes will happen. The larger companies such as IDS use multiple guns on spectrum frequencies to avoid external forces acting on their guns.
If Shoaib’s ball was in fact released at above 100mph, then this controversy is for Shoaib another personal tragedy. But this glitch in time can be more than compensated by Shoaib’s brilliant recent form. Many who were lucky enough to see Shoaib in full cry during April believe that it was the fastest bowling they have, or are ever likely to see.
Personally, I hope that Shoaib can bowl faster still and that this storm can be remembered for what it is - a storm in a tea cup.
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