Who is the worlds best fast bowler?

Henry wrote:How many bowlers in world cricket at the moment are 6'6 and able to bowl at 90mph+?

Morne Morkel, Steve Harmison, and......

Morkel is very promising.
I agree with Henry but Lee is now King.

Ask Junior.

Asif or Clark. I can't decide.

S F Barnes wrote:Asif or Clark. I can't decide.

Clark is good but hardly a fast bowler.

Minnesota Fats wrote:

S F Barnes wrote:Asif or Clark. I can't decide.

Clark is good but hardly a fast bowler.

Asif is okay - when he's off the "prescribed" herbal mixtures and a distance away from the nearest hypodermic!

I don't think Steve Harmison has an inherently bad action, as has been suggested earlier on this thread. On those days when he's doing it right, it's strongly reminiscent of Ambrose's, as Sky and, I think, Channel 4 before them have pointed out using split screens. And no one could say Ambrose had an ugly action.

Of course, in the last twelve moths he's looked more arms and legs than the alley outside the amputee ward, but because he's not getting his action right, not because it's a bad action, as such.

I hope that made sense.

No.

I choose Mortaza!

Winkle Spinner wrote: And no one could say Ambrose had an ugly action.
Of course, in the last twelve moths he's looked more arms and legs than the alley outside the amputee ward, but because he's not getting his action right, not because it's a bad action, as such.

Having seen both in action, I'd put Harmisson about a whole light year behind Ambrose in both quality and quantity.
Venom, accuracy, height, consistency, a viscious bouncer (on pudding wickets to boot) and a wicked yorker..... some armory.
And that was NOT describing Harmisson !!
Now if the Harmless one permutated just two of those atributes, he might raise his game sufficiently to be considered a decent understudy to the great Curtly.

I wasn't saying that Harmy's anywhere near in Ambrose's league. Only an idiot would say that.

There is no denying, though, that their bowling actions are quite similar. Both quite chest on, and the way their arms coil up before delivering are almost the same, too. Harmison's more gangling, but other than that there's not much in it.

Harmison's action was good enough to make him the world's best fast bowler for a year: it's his head that's let him down so far.

Henry wrote:How many bowlers in world cricket at the moment are 6'6 and able to bowl at 90mph+?

Morne Morkel, Steve Harmison, and......

there's an upcoming Indian bowler named Pankaj Singh. He is 6'6 and can be pretty quick. Need to see him on faster tracks more.

He isn't close to 90 mph+. Ishant and VRV are both faster than him.

From what little I saw of him, get the feeling he will come close to 90 mph on fast tracks. He is stronger for his frame than either Harmison or Ambrose. Can't say whether that is advantage or a disadvantage unless one sees more of him and he starts playing in an International series.

doremi wrote:He isn't close to 90 mph+. Ishant and VRV are both faster than him.

Ishant and VRV both bowl at around 135 kph. Sreesanth, RP Singh, Zaheer, and even Agarkar are quicker than them so their pace is a bit over hyped.

It's funny how Munaf was hyped as an express bowler, then VRV, then Ishant, then when a guy like RP Singh came onto the scene he was never mentioned for his pace yet he's consistently 5 kph quicker than those three on average.

Ishant, Munaf, VRV are all the heavy ball types, 145+ is the best one should expect from them.

But Munaf still has the capability to run through sides. Munaf and VRV will still make a good team.

RP Singh is shorter than the above three.

Yeah, their height gives illusions of great pace, but for pure speed through the air, they're 142-143 kph at best.

It's hard to fathom Munaf's dramatic drop in pace. Going from a 140-145 kph bowler to a 125-130 kph bowler in the space of a year was bizzare.

Actually, people have said that in 2004 (Before he broke into the Indian side) he was bowling at around 150 kph so the drop in pace has been a steady one.

Munaf dropped in pace and probably 'confidence' after his shoulder operation. When Greg Chappel took over, he advised Munaf to adopt the McGrath line+length. He then became obsessed with McGrath line/length theory of Chappel that he started ignoring his pace to the detriment of the Indian team. He was included in the team as a pace spearhead and he dropped his pace radically after a couple of series..sic

According to Srinath and TA Shekhar of MRF Pace Academy, Munaf should never have dropped his pace uptil the age of 28. He should have kept increasing his pace because the body of a fast bowler shapes by that age and he needs to mature with the best pace possible.

Munaf's lessened pace was much visible when he adopted the different runup. He is now changing that old runup and is now increasing his pace, he is a very successful fast bowler going by his performance against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy finals held a month before. He by himself ran through Mumbai side on Day 4 taking 4 of their best batsmen.

Ishant is also very quickly improving from his situation in the bangladesh tour. He is becoming better and he isn't reducing his pace. Considering that his body has still a bit of bulking up to do, his pace can only get better.

"When Greg Chappel took over, he advised Munaf to adopt the McGrath line+length. He then became obsessed with McGrath line/length theory of Chappel that he started ignoring his pace to the detriment of the Indian team. He was included in the team as a pace spearhead and he dropped his pace radically after a couple of series..sic"

Dont be silly. It was the fault of the senior players, the BCCI, and Indian culture in general. I believe Sourav Ganguly's mother also contributed to the problems.

Chappell didnt do a thing wrong.....

Henry wrote:
Actually, people have said that in 2004 (Before he broke into the Indian side) he was bowling at around 150 kph so the drop in pace has been a steady one.

I now remember from watching one game India XI vs World XI (under 19) that he had a distinct round-arm action then. He was very quick but didn't generate any swing. He was then 'advised' to change his round-arm action to develop swing and later that finally came through during the England series in India.

It was then that Greg Chappel was appointed as coach, that he was asked to adopt the McGrath line/length.

Another of Chappel's numerous contributions to Indian Cricket.

Steyn seems to have sneaked into the worlds top 10 and watching him against NZ you can understand why, and, he's going to get better. If Morkel improves as he should South Africa will have one hell of a pace attack, their next visit down under will definitely be worth watching. You never know, a few Aussies might decide to turn up and watch it 'live'.

Geoffrey Trueman wrote:Steyn seems to have sneaked into the worlds top 10 and watching him against NZ you can understand why, and, he's going to get better. If Morkel improves as he should South Africa will have one hell of a pace attack, their next visit down under will definitely be worth watching. You never know, a few Aussies might decide to turn up and watch it 'live'.

Word.

Oh and BTW. When Harmison's action was 'stronger' he was the spit of Ambrose. Yozzer highlighted it and displayed the evidence. Much, much more credible than some snivelling bullshot posts on here who cast their grubby, fervent w@nkstain aspersions rather than deal with the cold, hard factage.

probably between asif, bond and clark.

interestingly although there arent as many standouts fast bowlers as the 90s, the colelctive fast bowling units have improved, particularly with england, india and sri lanka.

full strength attacks:

aus: lee, johnson and clark
eng: flintoff, harmison, hoggard and anderson
ind: munaf, santh, zaheer and RP
pak: asif, gul and shoaib
NZ: bond and martin
SA: steyn, ntini, morkel, nel and pollock
SL: malinga, mahroof, fernando and vaas

the PAK and SA attacks standout imo

Tanvir will come through for Pakistan in Tests one day aswell. Sami maybe back on the rise aswell.

Not sure about Tanvir. Doesn't really have enough pace to worry batsmen once you get past his odd action, nor the nagging accuracy or seam movement of a McGrath or Asif or Clark.

As for Sami, he's like Lee, but even less clever.

I think Lee once qualified as fast along with Shoab and Harmison as well.

Lee may still qualify but others mentioned are fast medium at best. I guess the topic title was meant to include anyone in the pace department.

Malinga bowled high 130's yesterday and when he took the new ball after a few overs with the old ball late in the afternoon his pace remained at 138 though Bill Lawry insisted the new ball was coming on faster.

It will be interesting to compare the Aussie trio today.