The PlanetCricket View: Fast Bowling ? The Way Forward

[PlanetCricket]

Article by Aditya -

Fast Bowling is an art that requires extremely high level of fitness. In the 1970?s and 80?s, hardly anyone would argue about the quality of the fast bowling of that era. Not only those bowlers bowled fast, they bowled their hearts out. They knew that bowling fast is one thing and bowling in the right areas and getting wickets is another. Seeing fast bowling is a delight but when the fast bowler doesn?t get his line or length right, it isn?t such a pretty scene then.

It?s a pity that these days there aren?t as many fast bowlers as one would like to see. That might also have to do a bit with the quality of the pitch that are prepared these days but that is a whole different topic. Is this art of fast bowling still the same? Might ask a true fast bowling fan! Considering the fact that these days, the amount of cricket that is played is immense and so it?s pretty easy to understand that the fitness of a fast bowler is bound to be low at times.



Now, being a fast bowler requires great level of fitness and playing so much cricket doesn?t really help. Is this where ICC and cricket boards should be a little concerned these days? Surely, with so many cricket leagues and international matches happening, fast bowlers do need some rest and a fast bowler these days needs to be very honest with his team and more importantly, with himself. These days, there are many bowlers who at the time when they started playing cricket at international level, bowled at a great pace but now it?s just isn?t the same. In order to survive at the higher level, they had to lower down their pace.

This does extend their career but a fast bowler is finished even before his career had started. Fast bowling is an art that is lovely to see in cricket. Those fast bouncers, unplayable yorkers, in swinging deliveries taking the stumps for a walk along with them, is simply very hard to be described! These scenes are a delight to watch for any cricket fan, no matter to which country they belong.

The question that now rises is, with so much cricket being played, how will this art of fast bowling continue in future. The answer is pretty straight forward, the boards need to think about their fast bowlers and give them the required rest that they want after playing so much cricket in an year because as any other fast bowling fan like me would say, may the future of cricket see much more great fast bowlers rising and the game of cricket continue to be exciting, not just for the batsmen but also for the bowlers.



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[Ahmad Shah]

Loved the article

 

[6ry4nj]

Cricinfo has one or two authenticated instances of bowlers bowling 160kmh balls in actual play. One of those - Shoaib Akhtar - is only recently retired. Yet today we practically have to recheck our equipment if it registers a ball above 150.

What has made such a difference? Were the 160kmh balls freak exceptions, or did bowlers in the recent past really maintain 150-plus pace for entire spells?

It's true that fast bowlers have always been plagued by injury layoffs, and often these are career-threatening. So is the retreat from express pace the result of some risk-reward analysis?

Can accuracy, seam position etc. be maintained at express pace? In summary, how much benefit does a bowler in the 150s obtain relative to a "modern" fast bowler who averages mid-140s (and not many even do that, do they?) Is quality of bowling being lost along with velocity?

 

[Aislabie]

Hmmm... Steve Finn and Dale Steyn seem to be the quickest around at the minute.

 

[sifter132]

Talking about speeds...it's interesting. eg. I don't remember Brett Lee ever bowling a spell averaging in the high 150s. Sometimes a random ball or 2 would creep up there, but at his fastest he seemed to bowl in low 150s - average speed I'm talking here.

But back then that kind of pace was rare. I think these days 140+ is way more common. I mean at the moment it seems you can't get picked for Australia unless you can bowl 140+: Siddle, Pattinson, Hilfenhaus, Cummins, Starc, Harris, Johnson even Bollinger can all beat that mark. So I'd say the average speeds are faster than 10 years ago, just we don't have that super express bowler at the moment in world cricket.

 

[SaiSrini]

There has been too much emphasis these days on speed. 140+ is all good but if you dont get it in the right areas, it will disappear faster to the boundary. I agree that bowling in the early 120's is not good for a fast bowler, but somewhere in the 130's with good line/length and variation can trouble any batsman in the world.