al Furqaan
March 9, 2009, 11:15 AM
...from cricinfo.
dale steyn is officially listed as "right arm fast". i'm not disputing that at all, steyn is legitimately express without doubt. there is article about article, that cricinfo publishes about dale steyn..."steyn killed australia, and he bowls 150 k" and then "steyn is preparing for the aussie tour, and he bowls 150 k" and then "steyn wrestled an aliggator, and he bowls 150 k". remember that quote about steyn only bowling 140 k against bangladesh, cuz we don't require his full pace? i think tamim put a good licking to that theory, hahah...so i guess steyn's 150+ thunderbolts are reserved for australia and india, huh?
but what about mitchell johnson?
cricinfo has MJ at "left arm fast medium" which is also the tag of chaminda vaas. now vaas bowls at around 120 k, at his quickest, and the LFM designation is from his prime when vaas probably was able to hit 135 k and hit 130 regularly.
but in the current SA-AUS test, lets compare the speeds of Johnson and Steyn in their first innings spells, according to CI's own commentary...
Steyn - 140.4, 144.7, 143.8, 143.2, 143.7,141.1, 141.9, 141, 146.2, 144.3, 145.9, 142.5
Johnson - 150.9, 147.3, 150.7, 146.2, 148.7, 147.2
Now, CI usually has a habit of showing the faster speeds clocked by the bowler, in addition to some of the slower ones. Hence, given a nice sample size like we have above, the speeds should be fairly indicative of how fast the guys were really bowling.
Steyn average pace = 143.2 kph
Johnson average pace = 148.5 kph
steyn didn't touch 150 even once...if he had, CI would definitely have mentioned it. in fact, the closest he got was 146.2 a full 4 ks under 150. by contrast, johnson's slowest displayed speed was equal to steyn's fastest.
so who is the real fast medium?
dale steyn is officially listed as "right arm fast". i'm not disputing that at all, steyn is legitimately express without doubt. there is article about article, that cricinfo publishes about dale steyn..."steyn killed australia, and he bowls 150 k" and then "steyn is preparing for the aussie tour, and he bowls 150 k" and then "steyn wrestled an aliggator, and he bowls 150 k". remember that quote about steyn only bowling 140 k against bangladesh, cuz we don't require his full pace? i think tamim put a good licking to that theory, hahah...so i guess steyn's 150+ thunderbolts are reserved for australia and india, huh?
but what about mitchell johnson?
cricinfo has MJ at "left arm fast medium" which is also the tag of chaminda vaas. now vaas bowls at around 120 k, at his quickest, and the LFM designation is from his prime when vaas probably was able to hit 135 k and hit 130 regularly.
but in the current SA-AUS test, lets compare the speeds of Johnson and Steyn in their first innings spells, according to CI's own commentary...
Steyn - 140.4, 144.7, 143.8, 143.2, 143.7,141.1, 141.9, 141, 146.2, 144.3, 145.9, 142.5
Johnson - 150.9, 147.3, 150.7, 146.2, 148.7, 147.2
Now, CI usually has a habit of showing the faster speeds clocked by the bowler, in addition to some of the slower ones. Hence, given a nice sample size like we have above, the speeds should be fairly indicative of how fast the guys were really bowling.
Steyn average pace = 143.2 kph
Johnson average pace = 148.5 kph
steyn didn't touch 150 even once...if he had, CI would definitely have mentioned it. in fact, the closest he got was 146.2 a full 4 ks under 150. by contrast, johnson's slowest displayed speed was equal to steyn's fastest.
so who is the real fast medium?