Top 5 fastest bowlers in cricket history
Cricket is third most watched major team sport in the behind Football and Rugby and cricket is at its best when a fast bowler running in at full speed and terrorizing batsmen.
Although the sight of bowlers troubling batsmen is far and few between these day as cricket has evolved with addition of shorter format like T20 where Batsman dominate bowlers. We take a look at some of the fastest bowlers in history of cricket.
Shoaib Akhtar – 161.3 km/h (vs England (2003, Newlands)
There are fastest bowlers and then there is Shoaib Akhtar, he consistently bowled over 150 km/h in his career albeit short one and reached a world record speed during World Cup 2003 against England when his produced a 161.3 km/h speed of a bowl to Englah d knick Knight. He becomes the first bowler to reach speed of 100 miles an hour in official ICC match.
Bret Lee – 161.1 km/h (vs New Zealand (2005, Napier)
Along with Shoaib Akhtar, Australian fast bowler Brett Lee was at the peak of his powers during his career and he terrorized batsman all over the cricketing world reaching over 150 km/h consistently. He became the second bowler in history to record a 100 miles per speed during 2005 ODI game against New Zealand when he recorded 161.1 km/h (100.1 miles/ph). Reaching one off top speed is one thing, but what made Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee the fastest bowlers was the fact they could consistently produce speeds of around 150 km/h during their careers unlike the other names in list.
Shaun Tait – 161.1 km/h (vs England (2010, Lord’s)
Another Australia name in the list is Shaun Tait, whose career was short lived but was fun while it lasted. He was not your average tall bowler with orthodox round arm bowling action but he could really hit the deck hard with his pacy and skiddy bowling line and length. He recorded 160.7 km/h bowling speed against Pakistan in the ODI game in Australia.
Jeffrey Thompson – 160.6 km/h
(Recorded 160 km/h in the ‘1976 fast bowling study conducted at WACA Ground)
Now this can be controversial because it’s hard to believe there was precise enough instrument to record bowling speeds in 1976 but he was definitely the fastest bowlers of his era. Apparently he recorded the fastest bowling speed in world cricket of 160.6 km/h in the nets back in 1976 when a fast bowling study was conducted.
Many batsman of Thompson era believe that he was faster that Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar. Jeffrey Thompson himself believe that he was the fastest ever and some of his deliveries were way faster than 160km/h.
Andy Roberts – 159.5 km/h (vs Australia (1975, WACA)
Tall West Indies bowler in the golden generation of West Indies cricket Andy Roberts was part of a formidable West Indies bowling units. They were all fast but Andy Roberts stood out with his speed and many batsman of his generation regard him one of the fastest they have ever faced. His fastest bowl is recorded at the speed of 159.5 km/h which 99.11 miles/h.
