G’day guys. You may have seen this one on cricinfo, but they cut the article down to about half its size. Here is the unedited version.
World’s Fastest Bowler - Part 1
Shoaib Vs Lee - The 100 mph race
(World Cup 1999 to April 2002)
By Eddie Smith
A Six-Foot Pakistani Powerhouse charges towards you like an enraged bull. From seventy feet away you see the whites of his eyes as his stare burns a hole in your chest. Amidst a furious flurry of arms and legs, a leather-covered rock in the guise of a ball is hurled towards you at more than 150kph. This is surely the most fearsome sight in world cricket today.
Across an ocean and thousands of miles away a six foot one, youthful looking athlete turns and begins to stride towards the batsman. Beginning with a brisk walk and building to a medium paced jog he cruises effortlessly looking dazed and expressionless. With just a few strides remaining his nostrils flare and his face tightens as the batsman gets his first glimpse of the fury that is imminently approaching. With a high leap into the air the young man curls himself up into a ball and upon landing an explosion of power propels the ball towards the batsman at breakneck speeds. Less than half a second later it cannons into the batsman’s helmet damaging the life saving device and rendering it useless.
Over the past few years Australia’s Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar from Pakistan have been clearly the two most devastatingly destructive bowlers in world cricket. In modern times nobody else has been closer to the elusive 100 miles per hour mark(160.9kph) and subsequently breaking the world record for a fastest single delivery standing at 160.45kph(99.7mph). This may have been an ultimate goal of these two rare gems but over the past few years an intriguing battle has ensued as they jostle for the title as the ’Worlds Fastest Bowler’.
As you read through the many articles written about Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar over the past few years, you may have noticed one common thread. The articles about Shoaib claim that he is the fastest bowler in the world, whilst the articles regarding Lee claim that the Australian speedster is the Worlds Fastest. So just who is number one in the ‘race for pace‘?
So close has the margin been between Shoaib and Lee that they have almost gone ball for ball, speed for speed since Lee’s emergence on the world stage in December 1999. Prior to this, Shoaib held the mantle as the world’s fastest bowler leaving the rest of the world in his wake.
Early in 1999, Shoaib was timed at 154.5kph(96mph) in Sharjah, the same mark that he reached against South Africa in Durban, the previous year. In May 1999 at the World Cup, Shoaib proved himself the undisputed fastest bowler in the world, by bowling at 153kph(95mph) in his opening spell against South Africa. He then produced the fastest ball of the tournament in the final verses Australia once again reaching 154.5kph (96mph). Even the man regarded as the fastest bowler of the decade, ‘White Lightning’ Alan Donald, had proved to be consistently 10kph slower than the young Pakistani dynamo. Shoaib was the undisputed ‘World Champion’ of speed.
Former ‘Champions of speed’ such as Waqar Younis and Donald were on the decline. Serious injuries had befallen speed demons Jason Gillespie and Mohammad Zahid. And with no future ‘fast men’ bursting forth at the ‘World Cup’, it looked like Shoaib would remain unchallenged for some years to come.
In October 1999, the great DK Lillee wrote an article for The West Australian Newspaper, suggesting the imminent arrival of a sensational new speedster to the world stage, a 22 year old Australian, who at the tender age of 19 had been clocked at 148kph(92mph). Although no name was mentioned, by December 1999 the whole of the the cricketing world would know the name Brett Lee. A new and very real contender for the crown as the ‘Worlds Fastest Bowler’ had emerged.
In Brett Lee’s first Test match he ripped one down at 154.1kph(95.77mph), signalling himself as a genuine express bowler of rare ilk. The two speedsters went head to head trading missiles throughout the Australian Summer, constantly bowling in excess of the 150kph mark, up to and over 154kph. One wickedly brutal waist high full toss from Shoaib to Justin Langer recorded a horizontal velocity of 154.2kph(95.83mph), Langer’s hand bore the brunt of the red missile.
It was the 23rd of January 2000, when Lee bowled what was long considered the fastest recorded opening spell in history. Lee was consistently between 150kph to 154kph with a top speed of 154.8kph, which he bowled twice. His third and fastest over of that spell will go down as one of the fastest overs in history, recording speeds of 153.2kph, 152.7kph, 153.9kph, 154.1kph, 154.5kph and 154.8kph with an average speed of 153.9kph. But Shoaib was to come back with some pure speed of his own.
In the second final of the 1999/2000 season at the MCG, Shoaib bowled an over based on raw, untamed aggression. His fourth over recorded the following speeds:151.7kph, 152.2kph, 152.9kph, 154.7kph, 153.5kph and 153.1kph, the average being 153.0kph. The two men were fast and getting faster.
It was March 29th 2000 when Shoaib Akhtar bowled the ball which was to stamp him as the undisputed ‘World Champion of Speed’. In Sharjah verses South Africa, Akhtar bowled a ball which registered a phenomenal 156kph(97.0mph). He subsequently broke down with a groin strain in his fifth over but surely this mark would not be bettered for some time.
Early April in South Africa, at the climax of a gruelling international schedule, Lee would have his last chance till July to go for the gun and eclipse Shoaib’s mark which was set two weeks previous. Lee produced a seemingly effortless, rhythmical display netting him the same personal best mark of 156kph(97.0mph). Not only was this mark reached once but twice in the same match however it was not bettered. These two 156kph deliveries registered on the14th of April would rank the young Australian at number one in the speed stakes, even if only by means of a count back.
Through the turbulent months to follow for both men, these speeds were not rivalled. Following controversy and operations on both ankles, Lee returned months later to bowl a fastest ball in the return leg One Dayer against South Africa of 142kph. His fastest ball of the following Australian Summer was 150kph in the Perth Test. An examination revealed that the back pain which was bugging Lee was ‘hot spots’, the first signs of a stress fracture and rest was ordered. It was a cruel and ironic twist that in early February 2001, just when Lee seemed to be getting back his all important rhythm, he would blow out the elbow on his bowling arm whilst fielding in a similar injury to those often suffered by baseball pitchers. Lee would miss the tour to India whilst recovering and be at least fit if not a little bit rusty for the all important Ashes tour to follow. When repairing the damaged elbow, Lee’s specialist also repaired long-standing bone damage. The question needed to be asked, could Lee return to challenge as the fastest bowler in the world once more? The specialists assessment regarding Lee’s elbow was similar to when he was recovering from his ankle operations in April 2000 - That Brett Lee had been bowling with pain and that the operation would relieve the pain, free up the joint and ultimately lead to the Aussie paceman bowling faster than ever.
Shoaib’s recent history was also marred by controversy and injury. He constantly seemed to be breaking down and had no doubt been through the most horrendous period of his life so far. Shoaib was passed fit and ready for action in December 2000 and it was revealed by Pakistani officials that he had bowled at a speed of 158.4kph(98.45mph), most likely in practice. The ‘fast man’ reached incredible highs and lows in New Zealand, bowling one of his most devastating spells with a fastest ball of 151kph(93.85mph), breaking down and ultimately being reported by the officials.
Shoaib later spent a few weeks in Perth, Australia under the watchful eye of the great D K Lillee and Darryl Foster, where he was timed in excess of 145kph(90mph) whilst trying out an adjusted, less body shattering bowling action. With his fresh action, and looking decidedly heavier, Shoaib returned home and began to prepare for the tour to England.
In the second match of the Tri-nation one-day series in England, a rusty, under prepared Lee was a surprise inclusion to an injury ravaged Australian bowling line up. This was the first time in well over a year that the two ‘Kings of Speed’ would face off in the same match. Brett Lee looked weak and nervous in his return bout, being mauled by the batsmen and not even surpassing the 140kph mark. Lee’s trepidation would serve as the Pakistani Tiger’s inspiration.
As if being released from a cage, the Rawlpindi Express steamed in and in his first over recorded the super fast time of 152.85kph(95mph). But In Shoaib’s second over, he was to hurl the red sphere faster than any bowler in modern times. With the eighth ball of his spell Shoaib bowled a 157.2kph(97.7mph) howitzer and wrested back the title which he coveted so dear. Shoaib Akhtar was now standing alone as the fastest bowler in the world. He had just bowled a full 1.2kph faster than Lees best of 156kph(97.0mph).
Only 3.25kph(2.02mph) now separated the Pakistani Paceman from the world record standing at 160.45kph(99.72mph). A further 0.45kph(0.28mph) past this point and Shoaib would see a major ambition reach fruition. The cricket equivalent of the four-minute mile or the 10 second 100 metre dash was within his grasp and Shoaib pushed himself harder still to surpass that 100-Miles Per Hour(160.9kph) mark.
Akhtar’s ecstasy turned to agony once more as he broke down towards the end of his fifth over. Shoaib had again pushed his body harder than it was ready to handle and the price he paid was pain. As Shoaib was in the rooms spitting up blood, with his match and also his tour over, he could gain solace in the fact that he now stood alone as the ‘Fastest Bowler in the World’ once more. Although criticism about putting personal ambition ahead of team and country did surface, nobody could take away the fact that Shoaib had just become clearly the 2nd fastest bowler in recorded history.
Not since December 1975 was anybody recorded bowling that fast in match conditions. On that one day in Perth, Jeff Thomson had recorded release speeds on 200/400 frames per second photosonic cameras of 159.49kph and 160.45kph(99.7mph), less than 0.3mph short of the magical 100mph mark. In fact, two men considered in the ‘Fastest Ever’ category, Michael Holding(148.54kph) and Andy Roberts(150.67kph) were both 10kph slower than Thommo on that day and an unwell Dennis Lillee(139.03kph) was 20kph slower. Thommo’s record had stood for more than a quater of a century and for the moment it was to remain. As an interesting side point, Jeff Thomson was also recorded by conventional radar the following year at 160.58kph to win a ‘fastest bowler’ competition.
In Brett Lee’s next match of the One Day Tri Series, he would surpass the benchmark of a genuine express bowler(150kph) once again, although only just. Now their was Shoaib followed by daylight. This round went to the Powerful Pakistani and Lee took on the tag of being ‘Formerly The World’s Fastest Bowler’, a label which no doubt did not bode well with the then 24 year old blonde bomber.
Publicly Lee stated “I couldn’t care less, just as long as I’m taking wickets.”, however one gets the feeling that this was little more than a smoke screen to what really was going on in the mind of a demon of speed such as Brett Lee. Lee would well know that failure to chase Shoaib and gun for the 100mph mark may cost him much more than just a place in immortality. Losing his place at the top of the pace tree could well cost the young celebrity big dollars in the endorsement stakes.
Those of us who have been keeping a close eye on the Aussie dynamo will testify that Lee’s speed is not merely an optional extra, it is a necessity. His all-important Rhythm is undeniably linked to both his speed and accuracy. In other words, if Lee wants to bowl well, then he must be bowling very fast.
Brett Lee would also be aware that his two biggest ‘old ball’ weapons, namely reverse and late swing are directly reliant upon bowling with real pace, 145kph and above. Despite Lees’ words, his mindset would be to regain his rhythm and bowl as fast as was humanly possible.
During the Ashes series which followed, it became painfully clear that Brett Lee was not match ready either mentally or physically and his pace was spasmodic at best. Not only had he assumed second place to Shoaib in the ‘pace stakes’ but in most pundits eyes he had slipped behind Jason Gillespie as Australia’s fastest bowler. Gillespie had bowled whole spells around 145kph(90mph) to 149kph whereas Lee was constantly in the 136kph to 143kph range. In the fourth test though Lee did bowl a spell close to his best, bowling both the fastest over and fastest ball of the five test series. Lee’s hostile over recorded an average speed of 148.3kph and peaked at 152.4kph.
Following ‘The Ashes’ Brett Lee returned home to nurse his niggles and to get his mindset right for the three test series of both New Zealand and South Africa.
In the meantime, Shoaib was making another comeback to the international arena following his injuries in England and the whole of Pakistan was wondering if their paceman was still ‘express’. The wait was not long as the ‘Rawlpindi Express’ exceeded the 150kph mark (150.7kph) in his very first over.
A mere four matches later and Shoaib was given another forced absence as suspicious officials reported him once more. Ironically, Shoaib would bide his time with Brett Lee’s club side Mosman as he waited for the process to take due course.
While Lee and Shoaib were together on Australia’s Eastern seaboard, a third genuine ‘express’ bowler was emerging and a legitimate threat to Shoaib’s crown. The new threat had not come from the youngsters Mfuneko Ngam of South Africa or Mohammad Sami of Pakistan as was expected as both were on the long road back from injury. But another South African, a 24 year old peroxide blonde power-pack had materialized after spending two years in the fast bowling wilderness.
Back on the 10th of December 1999, The then fiery red headed Mornantau Hayward had stopped the gun at 151kph. His speed reading verses England had stamped the 22 year old as a ‘fast man’ of the future. However this performance seemingly could not be either sustained or repeated. Over the next 22 months, Nantie battled with poor form and injury which kept his speeds down mostly to the 130s(kph) and low 140s(kph). By now many had dismissed Nantie’s 151kph as a rogue fast ball or as a speed gun glitch however this was not the case.
On the 26th of October 2001 verses Kenya, Hayward bowled a shock 152kph to the hapless Kenyans in a one day international in South Africa, shock to some but not to others. You see, sources close to the South African team had rumoured that the big fellow’s pace had returned and he was finally ready to terrorize the world’s batsmen once more.
Just four days later Hayward bowled a spell to Sachin Tendulkar which had the ‘Little Master’ in all sorts of trouble. The burly South African was clocking up speeds in excess of 150kph and eventually Sachin played on to his stumps to a 146kph delivery which was just too quick to handle. Nantie was back. In the first Test verses India Hayward bowled the ball that would indelibly stamp him into express bowlings ‘big three’. Having now bowled many balls over the 150kph benchmark, Nantie produced a 154.4kph blinder. His fastest ever delivery and faster than Brett Lee had bowled in 18 months. Look out Shoaib and Lee because with this one ball in the mid 150s(kph) Hayward had arrived in a big way. Not only as a threat to Shoab’s crown and Brett Lee’s number two ranking but he had joined the leaders in the three way race to bust through the 100-miles per hour (160.9kph) barrier.
The Australian Summer was kicking off with the three test series against New Zealand. In the first Two Tests Lee bowled fastest balls measuring 149.6kph and 146.9 respectively. But it was in the 3rd Test where Lee rejoined the ‘pace race’ and reaffirmed his place as the second fastest bowler going around. Brett Lee bowled 3 standout balls in the match, two of them measuring 153kph and one touching in at 154.5kph. That was faster than he had bowled in Australia since his debut season in 99/2000, only 1.5kph from his fastest ever ball and more importantly 0.1kph faster than Hayward’s personal best set the previous month.
The South African squad had now arrived in Perth and the status of being Test Crickets World Champions was up for grabs. At the same time, a smaller scale showdown between the worlds second and third fastest bowlers was to become a sideshow to this main event.
In the first Test in Adelaide, Hayward shocked both commentators and fans alike with his newfound pace. Was this the same guy who was bowling barely above135kph in the two matches at Colonial Stadium the previous year? The paceman who was 15kph slower than Brett Lee in the one-dayer in April 2000? It was, and now Nantie was bowling in the high 140s and up to 149.6kph.
Tail-end warfare ensued as the two blonde pacemen traded body blows. Nantie bowled 17 high speed bouncers to the Australian Tail. Lee retaliated by bowling the same amount of bouncers up to speeds of around 149.8kph but in a more concentrated time frame. Lee was brutal, twice striking Makhaya Ntini flush on the helmet and nearly taking Haywards head off with deadly ‘bodyline’ style deliveries at just a tick under 150kph.
In the aftermath of the first Test it was evident to Lee and others that Haywards speed was right up there, and Lee seemed none too impressed with someone other than his mate Shoaib muscling in on the action as the worlds fastest bowlers. Many in the media seemed to turn on their ‘golden boy’ Lee for his paying too much attention to the personal battle with Hayward and company and not obtaining the real objective of taking wickets.
The injection of Alan Donald to the mix and the personal battle raging between two of the worlds fastest bowlers had now almost taken centre stage from the main event.
In the second Test Brett Lee was back in the express lane again, bowling in the high 140s on occasion and breaking the 150kph barrier. But having expected that Hayward had spent his best punch in the first Test, Lee could not have predicted the kinds of speeds which Nantie was about to produce.
Come the Australian innings and Shaun Pollock seemed to hold Hayward back. When the South African captain finally let Nantie loose for a long spell he came out swinging. Hayward notched up speeds of 150.2kph and 150.1kph twice in a torrid spell which had one of the best batsmen in the world hopping around once more. He was in the 150kph zone for the first time on Australian soil, but one ball in the middle of the spell was of special significance.
Hayward bowled a ball to Steve Waugh which came in at 154.3kph, just 0.2kph under Lee’s fastest ball of the Australia Summer and only 0.1kph below Nantie’s quickest ever. Of particular note was that the ball was bowled to Steve Waugh and that Waugh came within a whisker of playing on as did Sachin Tendulkar. Hayward was capable of bowling a jaffa, the almost unplayable delivery, one so fast that it would stretch the limit of human reflexes to the fullest.
When the South Africans came out to bat in their second innings Brett Lee was ready. In a display of sustained aggression from the paceman he bowled nearly every ball in the mid to high 140s and ended the innings averaging around 145kph. Brett Lee tore the heart out of the South African top order. In victory however one fact would not escape this bastion of speed. That he had not exceeded 150kph in that final burst and that another performance like the earlier one from Hayward would see the rapid South African come away from the Test series in the number two position in the race for pace.
Injury robbed the masses of a further head to head clash between the two speedsters as Hayward was sent home to recover from damaged ankles. It was a shock to the cricketing public that Hayward was carrying an injury. How fast would he have bowled if he had been fully fit?
Without Nantie to drive him further, Lee stopped the gun at the 150.5kph mark in the second innings of the third test. But a new challenger was yet to emerge.
Since the ‘99 World Cup, Shoaib, Lee and now Hayward had been the only bowlers in the world to launch the ball at speeds in excess of 150kph. They were now the only three ‘Express Pacemen’ in the world. But not for long.
During the One Day International Tri-series to follow, Shane Bond of New Zealand was to emerge from the pack. The tall clean cut Policeman had been pushing the weights in order to increase his speed/strength and the results were evident to all. Bonds broad shoulders and bulging pecks were a physical evidence of the work he had done but his bowling speeds were just as noticeable.
In Bond’s first two Tests, he notched up top speeds of 142.3kph and 146.2kph, and then headed home to terrorize the hapless Bangladeshi’s. His fastest spells in New Zealand yielded speeds of around 142kph but he returned to Australia as a fully fledged and confident speedster.
Bond not only proved to be the best bowler of the tri-series series to follow in Australia. But he often pushed Lee for the title of the fastest.
Brett Lee’s fastest ball of the Summer came on the 11th of January 2002 against New Zealand, the ball registering 154.6kph. Just 0.1kph faster than the ball in Perth and once again, his fastest since the 156kph balls in April 2000.
During The tri-series, Bond seemed to save his fastest and best balls for the Australians. On the 11th of January 2002 he notched up 147.6kph, followed by 148.2kph on the 17th of January. But on the 26th of the same month, Bond joined the ‘Big Three’ in the 150kph club. During one of the most devastating spells you’re likely to see in One Day Cricket, Shane Bond bowled over Adam Gilchrist with a 151.2kph rip-snorter of a yorker. Now their were four, just how much faster could Shane Bond get?
Injury has cruelly robbed us temporarily of finding out, but at the time of writing Bond is bowling in the nets and is preparing for another all out assault on the batsmen of the world.
Although Nantie Hayward’s ankle injury had cut short his Australian summer, it actually gave a boost to another young paceman as Makhaya Ntini took over the reigns as the number one South African Fast-man. Ntini aspired to join the express pacemans club and was constantly up around the high 140s(kph). During the One dayers in Australia, the cricketing public found it hard to fathom that this inspired athlete was the same black paceman who was bowling in the mid to high 130s(kph) during the test matches and was duly punished for his lack of rhythm and direction. Ntini reached a pace peak in Australia towards the end of his tour clocking up 149.7kph. And joined the likes of Bond, Shoaib, Lee and Hayward just a few weeks later. Back home in South Africa he released a 151.4kph projectile on the 22nd of February 2002.
In just a few short months, the exclusive club of two had grown to 5 and still there was another to come.
The divide that had existed since December 1999 between Lee, Shoaib and the rest of the world was narrowing. How would the pace pair react? The ball for the moment lay at the feet of Brett Lee as Shoaib had been cooling his heels for some time and when his chance had come, a speed gun was not present.
On the first day of the second test in South Africa, Lee blew away these newcomers with a 157.4kph rocket. The ball in question was called a “no ball” but this does not affect the speed of the ball’s release and thus the speed was to stand as the new bench mark. Lee also bowled a legal ball recorded at 157.3kph by the EDH company’s speed recording devices and one in the 3rd Test came in at 156.2kph. He had now emerged from Shoaib Akhtar’s shadow and stood as the undisputed fastest bowler in the world and the fastest recorded bowler in modern times. His two fastest balls had eclipsed Shoaibs 157.2kph, recorded the previous June against Australia and Lee was now number one. But whilst Lee should have been basking in the glory of his fastest ever ball, the media as a whole chose to concentrate on some off-hand remark by wicket keeper and Australian team mate Adam Gilchrist.
Gilly had chosen to rain on Lee’s parade when he called into question the accuracy of the EDH speed guns. What Gilchrist failed to acknowledge was that the EDH guns actually track the ball through the air giving an actual ball velocity at the time of release by the bowler and not when the ball smacks into his gloves some 40 or more metres away. This fastest ball of modern times was released at a speed of 157.4kph, it was a short pitched ball so a greater amount of kinetic energy is taken from the ball when it collides with the pitch. Such things as friction with the pitch, the ball being compressed out of shape, the noise of the ball striking the pitch and the extra distance the ball has to travel through the air (which also reacts on the ball) to reach the keeper, rob the ball of velocity. Thus a short pitched delivery on a slow pitch will take longer to reach the keeper and will reach him at a lower velocity than a yorker released at the same speed.
No matter what the media chose to focus on, Lee was once again the worlds fastest bowler and the general consensus was that his new mark of 157.4kph would stand for some time and would sort out the men from the boys .
The One Day Internationals which followed the Test series saw perennial speedster Jason Gillespie belatedly enter the domain of the worlds fastest. Before his horror accident when bowling speeds were scarce, the 6’6 tall Gillespie was most definitely an ‘express bowler’ of a rare breed. But following his broken leg and damaged wrist from his horror collision with Steve Waugh, Gillespie was yet to reach those dizzy heights again. With his shorter run up and more economical action Gillespie had recorded 149+kph in Australia (149.7kph), India (149.1kph), England (149.5kph) and also in South Africa but now it was his turn to annihilate the 150kph mark once and for all. In the 5th and 6th One dayers Gillespie returned speeds of 151kph and 153.9kph respectively. And then their were six.
How would Shoaib react to these recent events? How would he be feeling? He had recently faced the wrath of the umpires once again due to ignorance of his phenomenal range of flexibility and was forced out of the game for a time. His fastest bowler crown had just been relinquished to his nemesis Brett Lee and a new crop of speedsters had emerged to challenge for the title of the world’s fastest.
Shoaib had longed to make this title his own once more and his desire to be number one and break the 100 miles-per-hour mark was beyond question. In an interview with George Dobell for The Cricketer in December of 2000, Shoaib had this to say -
" God made me a supreme athlete. I cannot compromise that. I have a mission to cross the 100mph barrier. God gave me that mission. I will break the barrier forever. People say I’ll never be the same again, but that’s rubbish. I’ll prove how good I am. If I can burn brightly for a short time, perhaps 10 years, that will be enough. I don’t want to save myself for an extra five years of being ordinary. I want to set records that will never be broken. I want to leave cricket like a king. Pride is important to me. I will only play if I can do so with pride. Would you ask Michael Johnson to run a marathon? He has the muscles for sprinting, it’s the same for me. God made me a fast bowler."
Some may call this boastful, but it is not. It stems from a supreme belief in his god given talent. No doubt the events of the past few months had hurt Shoaib, after all he is only a man and with the guns in operation during the forthcoming Sharjah Tournament and the three One dayers against New Zealand to follow, what lies beneath his burly exterior was sure to be tested.
Shoaib burst out of the blocks in Sharjah, answering the critics with super-fast balls. In his first two matches he was timed at speeds of 156.2kph and 154.9kph. Already he had blown away the newcomers and Brett Lee was in his sights. The 156.2kph delivery was Shoaib’s second fastest delivery in international cricket. Shoaib was back, and back with a vengeance.
On the 12th or April 2002, Shoaib was to shock the world with his new found pace. Bowling with pace like fire, The Rawlpini Express clocked in at 159.5kph and with another ball of 157.4kph just for good measure. Shoaib had just blasted Lee’s 157.4kph out of the water in an inspired burst and he was well on the way to fulfilling his “mission” of surpassing the 100 miles-per-hour mark. Realising the adverse affect that the wrong sort of responses may cause, Shoaib chose his words wisely. When questioned on his incredible speed, he said -
“I am happy and delighted with this effort. But it was not my mind to try to break any speed barrier. In fact I would have liked to do better for the team,” Said Shoaib. “If my bowling can contribute to the team I am happy. But obviously as a fast bowler it is a matter of pride for me. But I have no intentions of trying to go after the 100 mph barrier,” he added.
No doubt this was a mere decoy from what Shoaib had close to the forefront of his mind.
On the 17th of April Shoaib proved that his fast times were no fluke, recording speeds of 159kph and 158.4kph. Shoaib was not only carving up the speed records but taking plenty of wickets with his devastating spells. He was now the fastest bowler in the world but during the April One Day Internationals, Shoaib also had endeared himself to the Pakistani people once again and many now rate him as the best ‘One Day’ bowler in the world.
In the first of three One Day Internationals against New Zealand, the show which Soaib put on can only be described as phenomenal. Shoaib took 6 wickets for 16 runs, clean bowling four New Zealand batsmen and breaking a stump in two when Andre Adams had trouble connecting with the ball. Just as well it didn’t test his box. Shoaib had done it again as he sent a missile down at 159.9kph. He was a mere 1.1kph shy of bursting through the 100 miles-per hour barrier (160.9344kph) and half a kph or so away from Jeff Thomsons world record 160.45kph set during the 1975 Perth Test. Brett Lee could do no more than sit back and watch just how fast Shoaib was to go in the last two One Dayers against New Zealand in Pakistan. Lee no doubt would have been hoping that he would get another crack at being first to cross the elusive mark.
In the second of the three match series Shoaib returned home to record the relatively disappointing top speed of 156.7kph. Disappointing only because of his recent feats and because of the fact that this time Shoaib had publicly stated once again that he was going to go after the mark with certain specified balls in front of his home crowd in Rawlpindi.
During the third and final One Dayer, Shoaib was to finally go where no man had gone before him in recorded history. On the 27th of April 2002 Shoaib Akhtar burst through the 100 miles-per hour(160.9344kph) barrier with a ball registering 161kph on a speed gun operated in the ground by a sponser. The radar was run by the high tech firm Cybernet. The T.V sponsors radar was inoperative at the time an this caused much confusion as to whether the time would stand. But it wouldn’t be Shoaib without a bit of controversy, would it? Shoaib also clocked 160kph on the Cybernet device and 159.8kph on the TV broadcaster’s device when it was operational. The 161kph ball was the sixth ball of Shoaib’s second over whilst Craig McMillan was facing.
Shoaib is now the “Hundred Miles Per Hour Man”, he is the ‘Fastest bowler in the World’, he is the ‘Fastest Bowler in Recorded History’ and the first bowler to officially break the 100mph barrier. Nothing can take that away from him. According to Shoaib, he is fit and their is no reason why he can’t be bowling 100 miles-per-hour in every match.
Shoaib’s friend Brett Lee was quick to congratulate him when he said - “He’s a fantastic guy and I’m really proud of him,” said Lee "It would be nice one day to achieve that but I’m just glad someone’s done it because it’s sort of the holy grail of cricket to try and achieve that, and now it’s been done.”
But he didn’t rule out surpassing Shoaib’s record when he said “I’m maturing as a fast bowler, I’m 25 years of age now and a fast bowler doesn’t really reach his peak until 26 or 27”. Lee said, “I’m getting a little bit stronger, so hopefully I can keep bowling faster and faster”.
Shoaib is now the undisputed world champion of speed. Whether he is the fastest bowler in history is another matter entirely and that title would most likely fall to Jeff Thomson. Thommo’s speed was measured on only one day of a single test match in 1975, his fastest ball on that day was 160.45kph. Those high speed cameras are still the most accurate way of measuring bowling speeds and would be in operation today if not for the delay in receiving the results. In 1976, he was recorded by conventional radar in a fast bowling competition at 160.57kph and later on in his career in 1979 when injury had well and truly taken its toll he was still the fastest with a speed of 147.9kph from a single 8 ball over. Thommo almost definitely bowled faster still and may well have bowled singular balls around the high 160s(kph) but we’ll never know.
What we do know is that these past few weeks we have been able to witness the most inspired exhibition of fast bowling that many of us have ever seen. The scene is now set for a showdown of epic proportions as the worlds two fastest bowlers go head-to-head in just a few weeks time, early June 2002. For the first time since the 1999/2000 season in Australia these bastions of speed will face off fit and ready to perform. During that season just 0.1kph separated Lee’s fastest (154.8kph) from Shoaib‘s (154.7kph). Make no mistake, these two men will be going flat out to beat each other. It’s enough to whet the appetite of even the most ardent of cricket’s purists.
Link to Bowling Speeds http://www-aus.cricket.org/link_to_database/STATS/FC/BOWLING/BOWLING_SPEEDS.html