Speed Gun - all it's cracked up to be?

Sky have just shown a graphic, which purports to show Harmy's fastest ball in SA's first innings as 86 mph, yet I would swear that, according to the 1st innings highlights he bowled balls at 90+mph at aound the time he took his 2 in 2.

93mph the Yorker that got Amla, 1st inns.

JKLever wrote:93mph the Yorker that got Amla, 1st inns.

Could be human error I suppose, but you'd have to think that, it's a case of press the right button and the info. should be there.

I'm not convinced the speed guns are that accurate - more of a gimmick for the crowd.

Will go back to the speed gun for the 20/20 quarter final last month which had Gough at 90.7mph FFS!

Wasn't just a one-off blip either, several balls came up as 88mph, 89mph. How can Gough be faster now than he was 10 years ago - something is wrong somewhere?!

The speed gun picks up the white ball as travelling a good 2-3 mph quicker for all bowlers compared to what they clock with the red ball.

Good fun I suppose, and probably gives you some idea of a comparison between bowlers on any given day, but beyond that I'm not all that convinced.

Crank it up, throw it away.

I'd love to have a bowl against a speed gun though, see how fast it says I am bowling...!

You could crank it up, to show you you were bowling faster than Dazzler.

It's not that accurate, but it's a good general guide.

I remember when FIGJAM bowled the alleged 100mph ball in the 2003 WC - the England batsman (Fairbrother maybe) played it comfortably to midwicket.

It was Nick Knight.

Thanks.

And the show pony celebrated like it was actually worth anything.

Basil wrote:Sky have just shown a graphic, which purports to show Harmy's fastest ball in SA's first innings as 86 mph, yet I would swear that, according to the 1st innings highlights he bowled balls at 90+mph at aound the time he took his 2 in 2.

TMS reported the to-Amla fantastic ball as over 90.

JKLever wrote:And the show pony celebrated like it was actually worth anything.

well we're talking about it over 5 yrs on...!

Shoaib to Fleming in the 1999 semi was probably the fastest ball that i have ever seen(it was clocked around 95 mph)

you don't need to look at the speed gun to tell if the guy is bowling fast or not

Turn Crank it up.



You can also ask the batsman ..

Over a period of time, I think the speed gun gives you a general sense as to how fast a guy is bowling. But all of the fastest balls do seem to be recorded in the shorter forms of the game. I guess it's something to do with the bowlers knowing they only have 10/4 overs to bowl in the day.

I think the white ball just gets clocked at higher speeds than a red ball travelling at the same velocity for some reason.

I can't believe that a quick bowler wouldn't be more motivated, and not have the adrenalin coursing through their veins more freely in the midst of a key moment of a tight, crucial Test match than they do in some ten-a-penny JAMODI.

There was a Bung delivery once clocked at the Gabba, in a Test IIRC, at 164km/h. It went unnoticed by the commentators, and I don't think anyone said anything until it turned up on a DVD of highlihts.

It was then dismissed as 'technical error'.

Given that HawkEye tracks the ball the length of the pitch, I believe it can be used to give a much more accurate analysis of delivery speed.

Big_Bad_Bob wrote:I think the white ball just gets clocked at higher speeds than a red ball travelling at the same velocity for some reason.

I can't believe that a quick bowler wouldn't be more motivated, and not have the adrenalin coursing through their veins more freely in the midst of a key moment of a tight, crucial Test match than they do in some ten-a-penny JAMODI.

True but a test match is usally only 'on the line' in maybe days 3,4 or 5 no way a bowler can be as fresh, as in a l'td overs international.

Big_Bad_Bob wrote:I think the white ball just gets clocked at higher speeds than a red ball travelling at the same velocity for some reason.

I shall have the ute painted red and test your theory as soon as possible.
You WILL pay the speeding fine, won't you . . . ?