Do West Indies have the fastest bowlers?

[Tiger Manc]

I was watching Australia Windies highlights and saw that Tino Best clocked in at more than 150kph. I know Roach has clocked that speed and Edwards has bowled around that speed too. Would this make the Windies bowlers the fastest in world cricket right now?

[Gowza]

tino best is certainly throwing down some heat but roach despite having reached the 150kph mark doesn't do it that often and edwards i don't think has been too close to 150 for a good while now...i mean mitch johnson has reached the 150s in the past, siddle has hit that marker, probably starc and maybe pattinson have, cummins has. there really aren't any genuine out and out express bowlers atm but there are a lot of players who can hit the mark on occassion.

[Jadukor]

I think we should not look too much into the pace of one delivery but rather see which pair of bowlers can deliver fast speeds on average during the spell. I would say South Africa's Morkel and Steyn would be right up there

[Gowza]

Originally Posted by Jadukor
I think we should not look too much into the pace of one delivery but rather see which pair of bowlers can deliver fast speeds on average during the spell. I would say South Africa's Morkel and Steyn would be right up there

yep that's how i'd look at it. i think guys like johnson and starc regularly bowl mid 140s on average, not sure if there are many who average mid 140s atm, a lot can hit it, but i'd say a lot of them that can hit it average in the low 140s or high 130s. agree about steyn and morkel, they'd be contenders atm, maybe umesh yadav but he's injured.

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by Gowza
tino best is certainly throwing down some heat but roach despite having reached the 150kph mark doesn't do it that often and edwards i don't think has been too close to 150 for a good while now...i mean mitch johnson has reached the 150s in the past, siddle has hit that marker, probably starc and maybe pattinson have, cummins has. there really aren't any genuine out and out express bowlers atm but there are a lot of players who can hit the mark on occassion.

Its not like Shoaib and Lee bowled 150 all the time. They hit 145+ every match they played, but they went matches without touching 150.

With the likes of Steyn, Morkel, Anderson, Broad, Finn, Roach, Gul, Junaid, Southee, Bracewell, Brownlie, Starc, Pattinson, Cummins, and even the likes of Ishant and Yadav...there are quite decent pace bowling stocks in current day cricket.

[Gowza]

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
Its not like Shoaib and Lee bowled 150 all the time. They hit 145+ every match they played, but they went matches without touching 150.

With the likes of Steyn, Morkel, Anderson, Broad, Finn, Roach, Gul, Junaid, Southee, Bracewell, Brownlie, Starc, Pattinson, Cummins, and even the likes of Ishant and Yadav...there are quite decent pace bowling stocks in current day cricket.

it's true but what shoaib and lee did do is they hit the 150+ more often than other bowlers. they could bowls spells where they consistently hit 150 and that's something that doesn't really happen in current cricket as often imo, though tino is giving it a crack.

i'm not arguing quailty, pace stocks atm are pretty decent, especially when you lok at the depth of australia's stocks, and i'll also say i reckon there are more pacers in today's cricket that bowler faster more consistently and can hit the higher numbers but i do think lee and shoaib did it on a more regular basis. for example guys like siddle and johnson, starc etc, they can do it but it's pretty rare, they may hit it a handful of times through the whole summer whereas lee and shoaib were doing it most matches and usually more than a handful of times a match.

[BengaliPagol]

Tino Best was really fearless with his bowling.

[Jadukor]

Originally Posted by Gowza
it's true but what shoaib and lee did do is they hit the 150+ more often than other bowlers. they could bowls spells where they consistently hit 150 and that's something that doesn't really happen in current cricket as often imo, though tino is giving it a crack.

i'm not arguing quailty, pace stocks atm are pretty decent, especially when you lok at the depth of australia's stocks, and i'll also say i reckon there are more pacers in today's cricket that bowler faster more consistently and can hit the higher numbers but i do think lee and shoaib did it on a more regular basis. for example guys like siddle and johnson, starc etc, they can do it but it's pretty rare, they may hit it a handful of times through the whole summer whereas lee and shoaib were doing it most matches and usually more than a handful of times a match.

Even though there are quite a few fast bowlers around right now but i don't get the same thrill watching these guys as i did watching Wasim, Waqar, Mcgrath, Donald, Bond, Shoaib, Lee, Ambrose, Walsh etc. In recent memory, Kevin Petersen vs Australian attack in 2005 ashes, and the duel of Tendulkar vs Steyn in India's tour of South Africa comes to memory as a real duel between bat and ball. I don't know if i am simply being old or the bowling (apart from SA) has become more generic and lacking in craftsmanship these days. It seems that players of the calibre of Clarke and Amla have no real competition from the bowlers where as we had many batters of similar caliber or higher during the late nineties who didn't find run scoring this easy.

Maybe i am just being old

[BengaliPagol]

There is a reason why Australia uncover pacers. They pretty much only judge how good you are on the speed of your deliveries. The faster you bowl the chances of you playing high class cricket are better than a medium pacer.

[Gowza]

Originally Posted by Jadukor
Even though there are quite a few fast bowlers around right now but i don't get the same thrill watching these guys as i did watching Wasim, Waqar, Mcgrath, Donald, Bond, Shoaib, Lee, Ambrose, Walsh etc. In recent memory, Kevin Petersen vs Australian attack in 2005 ashes, and the duel of Tendulkar vs Steyn in India's tour of South Africa comes to memory as a real duel between bat and ball. I don't know if i am simply being old or the bowling (apart from SA) has become more generic and lacking in craftsmanship these days. It seems that players of the calibre of Clarke and Amla have no real competition from the bowlers where as we had many batters of similar caliber or higher during the late nineties who didn't find run scoring this easy.

Maybe i am just being old

yes agree, though some of starcs recent stuff reminded me a bit of waqar, bowling some fast inswingers.

[jeesh]

Originally Posted by Jadukor
Even though there are quite a few fast bowlers around right now but i don't get the same thrill watching these guys as i did watching Wasim, Waqar, Mcgrath, Donald, Bond, Shoaib, Lee, Ambrose, Walsh etc. In recent memory, Kevin Petersen vs Australian attack in 2005 ashes, and the duel of Tendulkar vs Steyn in India's tour of South Africa comes to memory as a real duel between bat and ball. I don't know if i am simply being old or the bowling (apart from SA) has become more generic and lacking in craftsmanship these days. It seems that players of the calibre of Clarke and Amla have no real competition from the bowlers where as we had many batters of similar caliber or higher during the late nineties who didn't find run scoring this easy.

Maybe i am just being old

No its not just you. I feel sorry for all the young cricket followers. Those who started watching in the 90's saw the best bowlers, batsmen, spinners. I used to support Australia in the late 90's and early 2000's. Loved watching McGrath and Lee. And now they open with McKay!