I partially agree with you... legends are still part of the game...after 10 - 15 years, people will remember today's teams and say legends were part of the game 😃
I was 9 years old when this was televised and I was watching keenly when the signal dropped out completely. I never knew the results until today. I did always suspect Thommo as the fastest.
Wow yeah that would of sucked. I was 9 as well. That was fantastic era of cricket.I don’t even remember this. Stumbled across it. Pretty cool tho. Yes Thomo recons he’s even bowled 100 miles an hr/160km a few times. I believe him. He was very fast.
@@russe19642 I think it was Thommo who bowled a bouncer that went for six wides at the WACA. It hit the deck in front of the batsman and hit the sightscreen behind him.
What an era it was! All the bowlers featured in this short documentary are the fast bowling legends. Also, West Indies became known for its fast speedy quartet, but few people know that Clive Lloyd thought of recruiting intimidating fast bowlers after the fast bowling duo Dennis Lillee - Jeff Thomson intimidated West Indian batsmen during West Indies' tour of Australia in 1975-76, and the rest is history.
And he brought them in after west indies lost to India and went 1 nil down to them after a test in port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago. The pace quartet turned the series around, windies won that series 2 to 1. India and west indies played two fascinating series in the 1970's. The first one was the 1971 series, which India won 1 nil. Gavaskar scored a lot of runs in this series. What made both series so fascinating was the contrast between the pace bowling lineup of the windies and the Indian spinners. India was the only test playing nation with a spin dominated attack.
An endless debate, of course, but my two cents’ worth. Every cricketing nation has produced express bowlers, and we’ll never know who bowled the fastest delivery ever. What, in my opinion, made Jeff Thomson unique was that he bowled at express pace all day. Quite possibly Frank Tyson, Harold Larwood, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Shoab Akhtar, Alan Donald, Michael Holding, Patrick Patterson, Curtly Ambrose et al. bowled a few deliveries or an over faster than Thomson ever did. The thing about Thomson was that he bowled at express pace all day. Clive Lloyd said that he was just as quick in the last over before stumps as he was in the first over of the morning session. That’s what made him special. There have been many more intelligent fast bowlers, but none as consistently fast over days of play.
Bear in mind that Sunny never faced Thomson at his fastest either - the 1977-78 season was AFTER the shoulder injury which robbed him of several yards.
Jeff Thomson may not be the quickest. He struggled on slow pitches right through his career. And once, the West indians took over., he got the lesson of his life, for sledging and abusing the opposition. Jeff Thomson was the most expensive bowler of his generation, with an economy of 4.56 runs per over., even tail enders used to to tonk him for big sixes
@@krishSavarna-ud8qo not sure you know what you’re talking about mate. Are you also aware that Thommo got injured badly in a fielding collision in 1978 and never reached the ridiculous pace he had before then. Every batsmen of his era also faced the Windies bowlers and they all still think Thommo was still quicker. No one else has been able to replicate his action and keep that kind of pace, that includes Malinga and Tait.
It feels wrong to hear somebody criticising the likes of Imran Khan, but then you remember it’s Richie Benaud and he can say whatever he likes about cricket 😂
1979 - One player springs to mind immediately Jeff Thomson but don’t forget Harold Larwood in the 30’s and Frank Tyson in the 50’s for we will never know how fast they bowled.
Super fast bowlers - legends all - but Andy Roberts on the green at full tilt was something else. A bowler with a fast bouncer and a slow bouncer - whew - the Late Mr. Brian Close had talked about it.
yep, that was the classic era huh, late 70s early 80s, so many great players and characters in the game and one day-ers white ball coloured clothing were new and exciting etc.
My favourite quote from Clive Lloyd (and didn't we respect big Clive )...."If you face Jeff Thompson, with no helmet, and you were not scared....you are a liar"
Yes, these guys going on and on saying it was 175, 150 blah blah . See this full video th-cam.com/video/0SCu4ju9POg/w-d-xo.html 6:10 onwards. they clearly say it is measured at the time of release. 147kph is kinda average
They had high speed camera at the bowling end and one at the batting end and measured the time from end to end then got the average speed. That’s why you can see the timer and the checkerboard from side on. The camera pointing at the bowler is doing what cameras do not measuring speed. Today it’s measured by a radar gun which assume picks up the ball at peak speed but unsure what point that is.
@@AMSOZ-SS The use of radar guns in cricket started about a full season after they were first used in MLB (1978?). The measurement is generally taken at a point soon after release. These older tests were first performed in Perth WA by UWA Mechanical Engineering dept. You have to remember that the older measurement is done from the side and between two points (level with the bowling and batting creases). The overall velocity therefore includes the velocity lost when contact is made with the pitch. Today's telecasts sometimes indicate the speed measured on release and also the speed on arrival at the batter.
Options to explain speeds: 1. They measured hand-speed at top of action rather than ball after it left hand (there was a slo-mo which stopped at top of action) - wrist adds 5-10kmh itself. 2. They are using the grid and analogue clock to calculate distance/time; given 90mph=40metres/second, and these guys will be through their action in a second, a tiny error in the clock, grid interpretation or if the ball is crossing grid at an angle will change the speed. You also have the parallax of the camera which could affect the speed positively or negatively. I agree with many others these speeds seem low; visually they look quicker. There is a POV video of And Gilchrist facing Brett Lee at 88mph+ and these guys look at least as sharp from the batting end camera
I think the best test would be high speed camera judging hand release to contact on the ground - this older style I’d rate as a better test than nowadays -all these speed gun machines give wild results now and then - I don’t trust they pick up the ball out of the hand.
hello. i have actually emailed the vice president of photosonics on exactly how the speed is being calculated here. he said the film is run through a computer,the computer calibrates the clock in the film by how many frames it takes to spin one rev.... the camera is accurate to within 0.005% using special servo drives. afte the film is developed and run through the computer the ball is timed from release until it leaves the frame.
@@AnirudhSingh-gq7mpif that’s the case, one can add 15+ kmph to the speeds to compare them to today. So Thomson timed here at 141 would today be timed at 156. Imran timed at 139 would be 154. And so on. Thomson’s top speed delivery of 147 would be well over 160-162 by today’s timing. This also matches well with the batsman’s experience. Thomson, Holding, Roberts, Imran, Lillee, Pascoe, Willis… were all express quick. Definitely in the same range as Brett Lee, Shoaib Akthar, Shaun Tait in the more recent era.
Since the horizontal component of velocity is being measured it's best to bowl full (yorker length) and straight to record the highest speed. Most of the bowlers are wasting their efforts by bowling bouncers especially Andy Roberts.
And Thommo was half pissed and had to borrow some shoes and whites for the competition. He was having a few beers with Kerry Packers and after six beers, Kerry asked Thommo why he wasn't at the fastest bowler competition. The rest is history.
IMRAN KHAN was my favourite of all times, not only was he a fast bowler, a great all rounder but the best Captain out of all these great Cricketers , they were all legends .
Imran Khan s bowling action was perfect with high jump after him holding, later on Imran Khan became fast in 80s era before injury, he bowled 140 to 147 , and started new art reverse swing introduce to the world,
@@mattcorcoran7082 Maybe, but it never affected his bowling. I read a piece about another former player, Bill Edrich who regularly got pissed before a test match and often turned up at the ground still in his dinner jacket from the previous night's party.
Truly impressed with the action n results of Imran Khan, one can clearly see that he was in the process of changing his action n bowling style i.e from a medium pacer to a genuine fast bowler n yet he came 2nd!!!
Those saying the ball was recorded at the batsman's end are wrong. Those saying the ball was recorded out of the hand are also wrong. Modern measurments track the speed of the ball the instant it leaves the hand, the measurment observed here is the distance of the grid (perhaps a couple of feet) over which time the ball will slow down slightly. The numbers these bowlers would be bowling with modern measurments would be marginally faster. Another note is that this competition was held on a 40 degree day.
@@ude3333 I didn't say "two feet", the measurement of the ball speed is measured over the distance between the release point and the edge of the frame, that appears to be around 2-3 feet.
Remember,speed in those days were calculated when the ball reached the batsmen it means that speed of the ball when it reached the batsmen was considered actual speed,but when shoib and bretlee started to bowl from then onwards bowls sperd started to be measured when it left the bowlers hand.So as per todays standards all of them were bowling above 150 km/h regularly and jeff thompsons 147 was above 160.
I don't think that was the way they measured in this competition...notice the square grid in background...they calculate speed by simple distance travelled divided by time taken...
Hum andhe hain kya jab shoaib aur brett lee bowl chorte the dekh k pata lag jata tha 150 k speed daal rahen hain same with waqar younis also agar speedo meter naa bhi available ho toh tab bhi naked eye se pata lag jata tha
This is not true. The grid at the back is what they used to calculate the speeds so it was in fact taken from the bowlers hand and not when it reached the other end. That would have been too complicated to do back then.
Under rated great Imran khan by saying he is fast medium and sometimes fast..and Imran khan superseded to most of them like Andy Roberts and Dennis Lillie by speed and accuracy just behind Michael Holding and Jeff Thompson. Anyway they were all great legends, belongs to golden era of cricket. It was like a real clash of the titans.
Thanks for this. Remember this as a little kid. Be interesting to see it done with modern tech taken back with a time machine lol. Comparing eras is something that can't be done.
I think they can measure (to a point) with old footage. They need to work out angles and camera positions of the day, but they measure the distance travelled between two frames to calculate. I always thought they measured speed these days with radar but they actually use the DRS ball tracking to calculate, apparently it is far more accurate and faster.
@creativity2598 Are you for reel ? There were fragments of Mike Gatting's nasel bone tissue in-bedded in the ball after Marshall hit him in the face at Sabina Park !! Marshall also took his 376 Test wickets at 20.94. He was also fit and could bowl all day unlike Shoab
I was negative 11 when this was done, but I just appreciate a good spectacle. It's actually pretty impressive how they got the high speed this clean more than 40 years ago. Same goes for time the time of Bradman. A lot of foresight from the camera operators and technicians who made it happen. Although we probably won't know them by name, we can still appreciate their work nearly a century on. P.S. Jeff Thompson mentioned how he cleaned up by bowling full tosses when everyone else was bowling bouncers (in order to be faster). The guy wasn't just a talented athlete but also quite wiley! th-cam.com/video/khpB7ZarKgc/w-d-xo.html Cheers!
Jeff Thompson was in an another league altogether. He could have killed batsmen instantly with those speeds especially as they didn't have helmets in those days. That's downright lethal ...
This is great. Unfortunately, we'll never know for sure who THE fastest bowler ever was, to me it seems there's a certain level that can occasionally be reached, but we'll never know for sure. Geoff Boycott said that Holding was the fastest he'd faced, and that he felt he had more in him if he wanted it (scary thought). He didn't face Thomson in the mid-1970s though. Benaud swore the fastest bowling he ever saw was Frank Tyson in Australia in 1954/55. Alan McGilvray was convinced Eddie Gilbert was the fastest he'd ever seen (and faced). Fascinating to wonder how quick they all would be captured with modern equipment.
Bowlers have different days when they are in a riddim and bowled fast. It is hard to put 5 or 6 fast Bowlers to run up and bowl their fastest. Most times a bowler needs some motivation.
Yep exactly, pretty much all these bowlers have clocked 155+ and that was in an actual game against a batsman. You can’t expect usain bolt to even go sub 10 during practice or friendly competition cause there’s no motivation or drive in practice unlike a competition
I was born more than thirty years after this event but i’ve always taken it as evidence that thommo was the quickest bowler of all time. Even after a shoulder injury that teammates said took 5kmh off his pace he was still the fastest bowler in the world. I have no doubt that he was pushing 165 in his prime in 1974
My Respect for Shoaib Akhtar just went up... Like no disrespect to these legends.... But how scary Akhtar must have been with 161.3 Km/h being his highest he used to bowl consistently at over 150+. What a beast of bowler he was
Lee has far more 150 plus deliveries recorded than soaib…even he reached 160 plus 4 times which is more than soaib….yes soaib was more furious because he wanted to kill batsmen where on the other hand lee was focused on the good lengths and the Yorkers only.
Methods used to measure speed are different. Shoaib's speed was measured only at the time of release. But in this video they measure speed based on time taken by ball to reach other end. And we all know that speed drops considerably once you hit the deck
Thomson bowled in this event after his shoulder injury. He was waaaaaay quicker prior to the shoulder injury after a collision on field with Alan Turner.
I am surprised so many of these fast bowlers didn't realize that bowling shortish takes a yard or two off the measured pace, because the pace is measured along the pitch alone, and not in the perpendicular direction. Only Jeff Thomson seems to have understood this, bowling full tosses.
This would be true if they were using a radar. They're not. You see the grid at the back? They're using that to work out the speed of the ball as it leaves the bowler's hand.
It was always known that Thommo was the fastest of his era. He was a top Javelin thrower that is why he had such a slingee action. In my 40 years of watching top level cricket only Shoaib A and Brett Lee have clocked as fast. Special mention to Waqar who was super quick for a smaller guy.
Waqar Younis was officially timed at 153kph after his injuries. I heard that he was recorded around 157kph before he got injured, but it was not officially verified so it remains speculation. Regardless Waqar was a true freak in his own regard. Can you name any other bowler who could reverse swing the ball like he did at 150+ with lethal accuracy on the stumps, like he did during the 1990s?
The funniest thing is how they recount everyone's average speed and highest speed at the end - except for Sarfraz. What on earth was he doing there? Medium pacer.
A fired up Sylvester Clarke would have been up there no question! Ask Alan Kourie? Here's a clip from Wiki.. "Alan Kourie recalls that Clarke, during the unofficial West Indies 1983 rebel tour, recorded speeds between 98 mph and 101 mph by two South African police officers testing out a new automobile speed radar gun who were present at Johannesburg ground."
We hear bs stories like those coppers all the time....who is to say that the alleged radar gun had been calibrated correctly to a standard and / or was in calibration. In any case the West Indies so called rebels played in the World Series years 1977 to 1979.
Methods used to measure speed are different. Shoaib's speed was measured only at the time of release. But in this video they measure speed based on time taken by ball to reach other end. And we all know that speed drops considerably once you hit the deck
Yes but Michael Holding was tested using very similar equipment and methods to current ones in 1980 by an Aussie Uni and he topped out at around 138km. I watched a lot of Garth Le Roux and Croft in the 80s and these speeds look bang on the mark.
Lillee and Thompson were my idols and quite young I could imitate their actions quite well. My dad took super 8. I adapted the Lillee style to use because it was more consistent for me and I could hit the seam, but I felt the "Tommo" was faster. As a physio I now know that's because you create a lot more leverage across the left knee, which more easily obtains terminal extension and has less forward flexion force to overcome - faster for longer. When I got to high school and learned javelin I realised that that was Thompson's technique. I still dont understand why conventional and Thompson's javelin stye aren't both taught to youngsters, so they may choose what works for them. Even if only 10% can master javelin style, they will have a lot of success.
To my untrained eye, Thomson's style looks like a recipe for shoulder and other injuries? And perhaps that's why youngsters are encouraged to stay away from that technique?
This is awesome. The fact that Thommo also won accuracy shows if you want to be really quick you need to pitch it right up. The guys bowling short were throwing away speed.
Yeah it's injury risk, no administration is going to let their nation's fastest bowler risk a potentially permanent injury by going all out just for bragging rights. It would be interesting if they could gather data during matches to have an annual fastest bowler or fastest of the world cup award. They can put a camera directly above the bowler with spider cam these days I would think that would let you get extremely accurate measurement without needing the bowlers to bowl just for the sake of being measured.
Mesurements were carried out at 90Deg. to the two creases near to the boundary. Testing was done in Perth WA as part of studies performed by UWA. There were no devices that measured linearly in 1979.
@@flamingfrancis for this competition, or for games? Surely in this one the grid parallel to the crease, plus the frame rate is what calculates the speed? Ie distance over time?
Did anyone else have the Brett Lee fast bowling VHS as a kid like me? It also included the results of this competition and an interview with Jeff. He said he wasn't even well during this competition.
Fail to see why so many are finding fault with the outcome. Thommo was in a bar when he got the news about the 'shoot-out'. He hadn't played in 6 months as he has said on many occasions in interviews, Channel 7(?) knew this but encouraged him anyway. The others were all match fit, playing or at least training for a 'season' coming up. They all had the same rules and conditions. They knew the rules... no real warm-ups as if playing in a match and having had several overs to get rhythm. The comments from batsmen and commentators of the time talking about Thommo, pretty much backed up the truth he was the fastest. Lloyd, Richards, Bumble ( David LLoyd) Lawrence Rowe, Dujon, Lillee, Pascoe, Grieg and here's a direct comment from England Captain Mike Brierley said, “Broken marriages, conflicts of loyalty, the problems of everyday life fall away as one faces up to Thomson.” The accuracy prize must been sweet for him as the detractors have always said he was wild and no control. Truth is he always bowled to get the ball down to the batsmen/stumps as fast as he could so that was his style...he pretty much bowled using sheer pace, (he has said that too on many occasion, think sometimes he does play up to the image some people have of him)... whereas the others were trying to beat him ( they all knew who was the fastest) and by just bowling as fast as they could.. accuracy went. I find it funny that the relatively unfit 'Bankstown beach-bum's' average speed was still faster than any of their fastest balls !!
I believe Kerry packer asked thommo why he wasn't down there trying out . Thommo had problems with contracts with cricket Australia or something. Mr packer in true packer style told thommo i own this you get your ass down there and you'd better win, I think thommo said Mr packer had had a substantial side bet for thommo to win .packer made sure thommo was included..
@@aussiesmoko Thomo is the Chopper Reed of the cricket world. Some of what he says may be accurate but you don't let the truth get in the way of a good yarn!
In his own words, "I'd been sittin' on me arse on me back verandah all summer, drinkin' beer". Bear in mind this was also a couple of years after the collision with Alan Turner which wrecked hos shoulder and robbed him of several yards. He was still quick after that but no longer terrifying.
Shame Thommo wasn't recorded before his injury in 1976/77. Yes 1974/75 he was at his peak. Can you imagine him with raw pace before the broken collarbone. I just shuffle up and go whammo !! Might have been the quote.
I think Thommo was recorded in 1975 at 99.8 mph. The record lasted for 30 years. But I still think to this day that he bowled faster. True Aussie larrikin.
What nobody seems to realise is that during that time bowling speeds were measured calculating the time the ball took at the time it left the bowlers fingers to the point at which it reached the stumps using frames per second!Nowadays bowling speeds are measured the second the ball leaves the bowlers fingers disregarding atmospheric and aerodynamic conditions and the slowing down of the ball after hitting the pitch!So mates no one can convince me that the run of the mill bowlers clicking 143 odd kmph are faster than a Michael Holding leave alone Jeff Thomson!One more thing Imran's action hadn't evolved totally into what it was in 81 onwards when he was at least a yard quicker than this!So guys in my humble opinion these guys were the real deal!
No this is not true. You see that grid at the back? That is what they used to calculate the speed. It is a common way to calculate speed of projectiles e.g. bullets etc.
Richard Hadley is running a successful business in South India with my Malyali friend's friend. People always encircle him for autographs and stuff here. He is so fond of South India I believe.
@@2Tubist Yes, safraz did make all batsman wet their underwear - with laughter:) He was fast medium at best and had a test bowling average of just under 33 and a strike rate of just under 80! Ooooh... scary. His bowling stats against AUS? 15 matches, 52 wickets at 35.15 with a strike rate of 86.9. Calm down.
I took photos at a Windies vs Australia melbourne test in 75, At 1/500th sec the ball was spherical for Lillee, and smudged ,indicating greater speed, for Thommo.Thompson at his fearsome best, player of the match that test.
I recalled Clive Lloyd taking a big step back and to leg when Thommo was at his most fearsome in that game. He must have been terrifying if Clive Lloyd took a backward step.
@@sayedrouf6744 old school film/analogue camera; Nikon F2 Photomic with a 500mm telephoto lens, film- Kodak Tri-X ASA 400. exposure 1/500 th of a second.
I can't help thinking that if they had a batsman at the other end, it could have made them all bowl just a little bit faster! If each bowler had been allowed to choose their most hated batsman to bowl to (or at!), then it would have made things more interesting. I also think that bowling a full over, rather than individual deliveries would have helped the bowlers with rhythmn and accuracy.
I believe to add 5 to 7 kmph speed to measured speed due to technical limitations those days, with today's measuring techniques their speeds would have been 5-7 kmph more....hats off to all legends.
No it is accurate measuring. The speed in this era that you see is shown from release until first bounce. The speed back in the days is shown from release until reaching the wickets. So they were bowling approx 152kph on average on the meters used now
@@foodieranger9652 pulling figures out of your ass ain't doing it for me i'm afraid. The true answer is, we will never know. Seeing as Thomson was recorded in the 70's bowling a ball at 100 mph, by your calculations it was even faster. but... it all depends where the ball pitched...
@@foodieranger9652 I agree, I think in this competition they were quoting the average speed of the ball not the speed out of the hand. I can remember reading in a newspaper just after this competition that Imran's fastest ball was timed at 154kph.
@@jugheadsrule Imran between 1980 to 1988 was sharp 145 km/h pretty much all day...This was a disputed competition in my opinion..1975 cameras were more accurate
Amazing Ritchie mentioned Larwood it is about the same time from now than we he bowled in the thirties - as it was in this broadcast we thought that was ancient - but this doesn't seem that long ago - go figure!!
are they measuring out of the hand or measuring at the batsman's end?? Judging by the square grid being shown they are measuring after release and not after the ball has bounced. But the speeds recorded here are not as fast as I would expect these guys to have and would make me think that indeed these are measured at the batsman's end rather than at the point of release (which is the usual case today)
@@rufustatham-thompson1385 Jeff Thomson says a lot of bullshit. The grid is right there for all to see. It's been measured at the bowlers end (i.e. out of the hand).
Facing them was like standing🧍 before a battery of shooters. Even the batsmans country men shivered. Their runup & the ball traversing the length of pitch & the long journey to keepers.
What if such competitions are held now and the same equipment for testing the speed of the current bowlers. Some confusion or myth can be cleared. Also I would like to add another point the 15 degree elbow flexion was not implemented back then . Which seems like they may not be so fast & furious but were genuine pacers with clean undisputed action. Because the flexion gives a clear advantage in terms of bounce swing and pace. Lee ,Tait and akthar cleary have some flexion in their actions. Where as Starc Johnson Bond Milne fidel Edwards and some bowlers who clocked over 150 have very less or sometimes negligible amount of flexion.
Best? Lillee also took 67 wickets in World Series cricket (probably higher standard than test cricket, and he was the top wicket-taker), which would put him on 422 when added to his “official” 355 test wickets.
@@aliasgarasgie Kapil made his debut in 1978, I guess too early by 1979 to be invited here. Holding made debut in 75 series, so playing for 4 years by then.
Kapil after 1980 was a medium pacer,barely hitting 125-130 range, the quickest in India then was ta Sekhar and before in the 70s salgaonkar, neither played test cricket sadly.
@@TAKLUFC yeah right. 434 wickets, more than half of them being from the top order and 250 of them in 63 tests against full-strength teams from England, Pakistan, West Indies and Australia compared to a guy who didn't even cross 200. Can't be taken into the same bracket in any sense.
Yeah, they only got 8 balls as well. Thommo was measured in 1975 at close to 160kph and who knows how fast he actually bowled when he had a full head of steam up?
It was a golden era in the world of cricket -- non commercial, pure gamesmanship and legends were part of the game.
I partially agree with you... legends are still part of the game...after 10 - 15 years, people will remember today's teams and say legends were part of the game 😃
What are you saying without commercial cricket was never played there were sponsor
Always commercial.
Kerry Packer "Non Commercial? Hold my beer mate"
Yes, lots of bookies. Good that cricket was non commercial
I was 9 years old when this was televised and I was watching keenly when the signal dropped out completely. I never knew the results until today. I did always suspect Thommo as the fastest.
Wow yeah that would of sucked. I was 9 as well. That was fantastic era of cricket.I don’t even remember this. Stumbled across it. Pretty cool tho. Yes Thomo recons he’s even bowled 100 miles an hr/160km a few times. I believe him. He was very fast.
I was probably 15, world series cricket was at its peak and remember watching this and remembered he was the most accurate as well
@@russe19642 I think it was Thommo who bowled a bouncer that went for six wides at the WACA. It hit the deck in front of the batsman and hit the sightscreen behind him.
🤣🤣
43 years later you got the answer
I remember this ! Australia was a straightforward place to live back then.
What an era it was! All the bowlers featured in this short documentary are the fast bowling legends. Also, West Indies became known for its fast speedy quartet, but few people know that Clive Lloyd thought of recruiting intimidating fast bowlers after the fast bowling duo Dennis Lillee - Jeff Thomson intimidated West Indian batsmen during West Indies' tour of Australia in 1975-76, and the rest is history.
And he brought them in after west indies lost to India and went 1 nil down to them after a test in port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago. The pace quartet turned the series around, windies won that series 2 to 1. India and west indies played two fascinating series in the 1970's. The first one was the 1971 series, which India won 1 nil. Gavaskar scored a lot of runs in this series. What made both series so fascinating was the contrast between the pace bowling lineup of the windies and the Indian spinners. India was the only test playing nation with a spin dominated attack.
@@vijayiyer8518More specifically, they had a number of spinners in their lineup and failed to defend 405 runs or something against India
No my friend it's the most well known story in cricket
An endless debate, of course, but my two cents’ worth. Every cricketing nation has produced express bowlers, and we’ll never know who bowled the fastest delivery ever. What, in my opinion, made Jeff Thomson unique was that he bowled at express pace all day. Quite possibly Frank Tyson, Harold Larwood, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Shoab Akhtar, Alan Donald, Michael Holding, Patrick Patterson, Curtly Ambrose et al. bowled a few deliveries or an over faster than Thomson ever did. The thing about Thomson was that he bowled at express pace all day. Clive Lloyd said that he was just as quick in the last over before stumps as he was in the first over of the morning session. That’s what made him special. There have been many more intelligent fast bowlers, but none as consistently fast over days of play.
Also waqour younis..
Kapil dev was only a medium pace bowler and not even fast medium let alone real fast!
Kapil Dev was at best medium fast.
Thommo was measured at 160, there's no way some of these names, maybe all, ever reached that pace.
Makes sense , because it appeared Thomo's action gave him the pace. Bumra is one of the current bowlers who falls into such a category.
The fact that Sunny Gavaskar says Thomson was noticeably faster than Michael Holding or anyone else says a lot for me.
That goes for me too. Nobody was quicker than Thommo during the 70s.
Bear in mind that Sunny never faced Thomson at his fastest either - the 1977-78 season was AFTER the shoulder injury which robbed him of several yards.
@@rickydumas9994 What exactly is a yard when referring to pace? Is it 2mph, 4mph or what?
Jeff Thomson may not be the quickest. He struggled on slow pitches right through his career. And once, the West indians took over., he got the lesson of his life, for sledging and abusing the opposition. Jeff Thomson was the most expensive bowler of his generation, with an economy of 4.56 runs per over., even tail enders used to to tonk him for big sixes
@@krishSavarna-ud8qo not sure you know what you’re talking about mate.
Are you also aware that Thommo got injured badly in a fielding collision in 1978 and never reached the ridiculous pace he had before then.
Every batsmen of his era also faced the Windies bowlers and they all still think Thommo was still quicker.
No one else has been able to replicate his action and keep that kind of pace, that includes Malinga and Tait.
Remember watching this as a kid, brings back memories of a golden era of cricket.
English losing 23 world cu
It feels wrong to hear somebody criticising the likes of Imran Khan, but then you remember it’s Richie Benaud and he can say whatever he likes about cricket 😂
Benaud had the golden pass and the carte blanche to say as he pleased.
This takes me back to the golden era when I wasn't around. What a diamond of an upload!
I remember watching this one when I was a kid.Len Pascoe was one of my favourites along with Jeff Thompson,the world's fastest.Fond memories.
I remember watching this as an old man
Now I am a young one
@@drnaveedyazdani1619 Ah! Reincarnation, good for you! 🙂
1979 - One player springs to mind immediately Jeff Thomson but don’t forget Harold Larwood in the 30’s and Frank Tyson in the 50’s for we will never know how fast they bowled.
I believe that Tyson was the fastest. Around late 160s to early 170s.
@@AnirudhSingh-gq7mp bro how can he be that fast ? IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR A HUMAN TO BOWL AT SUCH SPEED
Super fast bowlers - legends all - but Andy Roberts on the green at full tilt was something else. A bowler with a fast bouncer and a slow bouncer - whew - the Late Mr. Brian Close had talked about it.
i still maintain he was the greatest WI bowler of them all
@Tech SUPPORT I'm not dissing Marshall at all. He was definitely one of the best. I guess it's too hard to really seperate them when they're that good
Such an absolute gift. Thank you!!!
Now those were the good old days of cricket..... Long gone now
yep, that was the classic era huh, late 70s early 80s, so many great players and characters in the game and one day-ers white ball coloured clothing were new and exciting etc.
I remember watching this on television at the time, thanks for posting 👍
When was this posted?
My favourite quote from Clive Lloyd (and didn't we respect big Clive )...."If you face Jeff Thompson, with no helmet, and you were not scared....you are a liar"
Lloyd never said that. What he did say was that Thompson's cousin , Jeff Thomson was the quickest he had ever faced.
Facing such express pace without helmets ...those Batmen had some real big Balls !!
200% Agree n Brave Hearts Too
I've faced a bowler who played for Middlesex colts.He was over 80mph
That felt very quick!😫😫
No they were crazy!!!!
Balls had protection:)
@@anujsarin17 🤣🤣
Remember watching this, the whole family was glued to the TV !!
They were all legendary bowlers who gave us sheer entertainment.
With camera setup clearly on bowling end and measuring release speed i still see comments saying speed was measured at batsmen end. 👏.
Yes, these guys going on and on saying it was 175, 150 blah blah
. See this full video th-cam.com/video/0SCu4ju9POg/w-d-xo.html 6:10 onwards. they clearly say it is measured at the time of release. 147kph is kinda average
Yeah some people are just dumb
They had high speed camera at the bowling end and one at the batting end and measured the time from end to end then got the average speed. That’s why you can see the timer and the checkerboard from side on. The camera pointing at the bowler is doing what cameras do not measuring speed.
Today it’s measured by a radar gun which assume picks up the ball at peak speed but unsure what point that is.
Exactly
@@AMSOZ-SS The use of radar guns in cricket started about a full season after they were first used in MLB (1978?). The measurement is generally taken at a point soon after release. These older tests were first performed in Perth WA by UWA Mechanical Engineering dept.
You have to remember that the older measurement is done from the side and between two points (level with the bowling and batting creases). The overall velocity therefore includes the velocity lost when contact is made with the pitch. Today's telecasts sometimes indicate the speed measured on release and also the speed on arrival at the batter.
Options to explain speeds:
1. They measured hand-speed at top of action rather than ball after it left hand (there was a slo-mo which stopped at top of action) - wrist adds 5-10kmh itself.
2. They are using the grid and analogue clock to calculate distance/time; given 90mph=40metres/second, and these guys will be through their action in a second, a tiny error in the clock, grid interpretation or if the ball is crossing grid at an angle will change the speed. You also have the parallax of the camera which could affect the speed positively or negatively.
I agree with many others these speeds seem low; visually they look quicker. There is a POV video of And Gilchrist facing Brett Lee at 88mph+ and these guys look at least as sharp from the batting end camera
I think the best test would be high speed camera judging hand release to contact on the ground - this older style I’d rate as a better test than nowadays -all these speed gun machines give wild results now and then - I don’t trust they pick up the ball out of the hand.
hello. i have actually emailed the vice president of photosonics on exactly how the speed is being calculated here. he said the film is run through a computer,the computer calibrates the clock in the film by how many frames it takes to spin one rev.... the camera is accurate to within 0.005% using special servo drives. afte the film is developed and run through the computer the ball is timed from release until it leaves the frame.
@@HeathGallagher-h5h Correct, it is ball speed and not hand speed as OP is saying.
Actually they measured speed at batting end.
@@AnirudhSingh-gq7mpif that’s the case, one can add 15+ kmph to the speeds to compare them to today.
So Thomson timed here at 141 would today be timed at 156. Imran timed at 139 would be 154. And so on.
Thomson’s top speed delivery of 147 would be well over 160-162 by today’s timing.
This also matches well with the batsman’s experience. Thomson, Holding, Roberts, Imran, Lillee, Pascoe, Willis… were all express quick. Definitely in the same range as Brett Lee, Shoaib Akthar, Shaun Tait in the more recent era.
Richie - that maaaarvelous flowing action
Since the horizontal component of velocity is being measured it's best to bowl full (yorker length) and straight to record the highest speed. Most of the bowlers are wasting their efforts by bowling bouncers especially Andy Roberts.
Ya ground eats lot of pace.
@@anonymous4531 incorrect,its being measured out of the hand.
Final Standings After 8 balls:
By Top Speed:
1. Jeff Thomson: 147.9 Average: 142.0
2. Michael Holding: 141.3 Average: 135.3
3. Imran Khan: 139.7 Average: 138.3
4. Colin Croft: 139.2 Average: 134.7
5. Andy Roberts: 138.6 Average: 135.3
6. Dennis Lillee: 136.4 Average: 132.5
7. Garth Leroux: 135.9 Average: 132.4
8. Wayne Daniel: 133.5 Average: 128.2
9. Len Pascoe: 131.6 Average: 127.7
10. Richard Hadlee: 129.8 Average: 128.1
By Average Speed:
1. Jeff Thomson: 147.9 Average: 142.0
2. Imran Khan: 139.7 Average: 138.3
3. Michael Holding: 141.3 Average: 135.3
4. Andy Roberts: 138.6 Average: 135.3
5. Colin Croft: 139.2 Average: 134.7
6. Dennis Lillee: 136.4 Average: 132.5
7. Garth Leroux: 135.9 Average: 132.4
8. Wayne Daniel: 133.5 Average: 128.2
9. Richard Hadlee: 129.8 Average: 128.1
10. Len Pascoe: 131.6 Average: 127.7
By Accuracy:
1. Jeff Thomson: 5
2. Garth Leroux: 4
3. Sarfraz Nawaz : 4
4. Mike Proctor: 3
5. Wayne Daniel: 2
6. Dennis Lillee: 1
Michelle stark too lad
And Thommo was half pissed and had to borrow some shoes and whites for the competition. He was having a few beers with Kerry Packers and after six beers, Kerry asked Thommo why he wasn't at the fastest bowler competition. The rest is history.
So, Dennis Lillee was marginally slower than Shardul Thakur. LOL.
And all old players still continue to say they were faster than Bret Lee, Shane bond or akthar.. who can bowl around 155..
Shaun Tate AVE 250!!
IMRAN KHAN was my favourite of all times, not only was he a fast bowler, a great all rounder but the best Captain out of all these great Cricketers , they were all legends .
Plus his ex-Mrs was HOT! 😁
You need a psychiatrist along with Imran
Ball tamperer
@@aryanwarrior6233typical indian
@@cryptonews5943 accpt d truth bro cheaters like imran have tainted d game of cricket
Imran Khan s bowling action was perfect with high jump after him holding, later on Imran Khan became fast in 80s era before injury, he bowled 140 to 147 , and started new art reverse swing introduce to the world,
Thommo was drunk when they filmed this. He wasn’t going to compete but Kerry Packer made him go out there. He wasn’t wearing his own gear.
From what I have heard he tended to get smashed the eve before bowling as the discomfort of a hangover made him bowl his quickest.
@@AlunThomas-mp5qo or he was an alcoholic
@@mattcorcoran7082 Maybe, but it never affected his bowling. I read a piece about another former player, Bill Edrich who regularly got pissed before a test match and often turned up at the ground still in his dinner jacket from the previous night's party.
Funny how he had his shirt off as well, you'd never see that these days. Bet he was smashing cans between balls
@@mattcorcoran7082 So many sports professionals had an alcohol problem in the 70s and 80s, he was far from unusual.
RB referred to Holding as a former champion athlete, but Holding himself said that they mixed him up with another guy and he wasn't!
Truly impressed with the action n results of Imran Khan, one can clearly see that he was in the process of changing his action n bowling style i.e from a medium pacer to a genuine fast bowler n yet he came 2nd!!!
Those saying the ball was recorded at the batsman's end are wrong. Those saying the ball was recorded out of the hand are also wrong. Modern measurments track the speed of the ball the instant it leaves the hand, the measurment observed here is the distance of the grid (perhaps a couple of feet) over which time the ball will slow down slightly. The numbers these bowlers would be bowling with modern measurments would be marginally faster.
Another note is that this competition was held on a 40 degree day.
Yeah, I suspect add 15kmh to match modern measurements
Where did you get the "two feet" part from?
@@ude3333 I didn't say "two feet", the measurement of the ball speed is measured over the distance between the release point and the edge of the frame, that appears to be around 2-3 feet.
@@ethybubs I dont think thats the case. Because the video doesn't explain it properly. so thats only an assumption.
@@ude3333 It's just obviously how they're measuring it. That's the point of the grid and the clock.
Awesome video thanks 👍
Imagine how India's Sunil Gavaskar stood up to them and scored tons of runs! Most courageous indeed.
and that too without wearing a helmet most of the times
No doubt but all deliveries wont be that quick.
Yeah but he played mainly on dead, dusty Indian pitches that nullified the fast bowlers.
@@theunquietdead8138 check his runs in West Indies
No bowler from India?
thank you Richie!
Remember,speed in those days were calculated when the ball reached the batsmen it means that speed of the ball when it reached the batsmen was considered actual speed,but when shoib and bretlee started to bowl from then onwards bowls sperd started to be measured when it left the bowlers hand.So as per todays standards all of them were bowling above 150 km/h regularly and jeff thompsons 147 was above 160.
I don't think that was the way they measured in this competition...notice the square grid in background...they calculate speed by simple distance travelled divided by time taken...
Hum andhe hain kya jab shoaib aur brett lee bowl chorte the dekh k pata lag jata tha 150 k speed daal rahen hain same with waqar younis also agar speedo meter naa bhi available ho toh tab bhi naked eye se pata lag jata tha
@@ayushsinghchauhan22 yeh more calculated than like towards speed cameras
This is not true. The grid at the back is what they used to calculate the speeds so it was in fact taken from the bowlers hand and not when it reached the other end. That would have been too complicated to do back then.
Rubbish, according to blowhard Australians probably 300km
Which brand of sundial did they use to calculate Sarfraz's velocity?
Under rated great Imran khan by saying he is fast medium and sometimes fast..and Imran khan superseded to most of them like Andy Roberts and Dennis Lillie by speed and accuracy just behind Michael Holding and Jeff Thompson.
Anyway they were all great legends, belongs to golden era of cricket.
It was like a real clash of the titans.
Hes the only one id wantto face. He was fast medium.
Thanks for this. Remember this as a little kid. Be interesting to see it done with modern tech taken back with a time machine lol. Comparing eras is something that can't be done.
I think they can measure (to a point) with old footage. They need to work out angles and camera positions of the day, but they measure the distance travelled between two frames to calculate. I always thought they measured speed these days with radar but they actually use the DRS ball tracking to calculate, apparently it is far more accurate and faster.
The most graceful and deadly fastest bowler of all time Malcolm Marshall.
Shoaib akhtar laughing in the corner 😂
@creativity2598 Don't think so pal he might have been quicker but was not in the same league as Marshall !!
@@liamfitzgerald8557 Marshall was cute in front of Shoaib's bouncer's
@creativity2598 Are you for reel ? There were fragments of Mike Gatting's nasel bone tissue in-bedded in the ball after Marshall hit him in the face at Sabina Park !! Marshall also took his 376 Test wickets at 20.94. He was also fit and could bowl all day unlike Shoab
@@liamfitzgerald8557 Marshall is nowhere close records speak for themselves
WOW. That's Amazing to see these legends in action.👍
I was negative 11 when this was done, but I just appreciate a good spectacle. It's actually pretty impressive how they got the high speed this clean more than 40 years ago. Same goes for time the time of Bradman. A lot of foresight from the camera operators and technicians who made it happen. Although we probably won't know them by name, we can still appreciate their work nearly a century on.
P.S. Jeff Thompson mentioned how he cleaned up by bowling full tosses when everyone else was bowling bouncers (in order to be faster). The guy wasn't just a talented athlete but also quite wiley!
th-cam.com/video/khpB7ZarKgc/w-d-xo.html
Cheers!
Jeff Thompson was in an another league altogether. He could have killed batsmen instantly with those speeds especially as they didn't have helmets in those days. That's downright lethal ...
This is great. Unfortunately, we'll never know for sure who THE fastest bowler ever was, to me it seems there's a certain level that can occasionally be reached, but we'll never know for sure. Geoff Boycott said that Holding was the fastest he'd faced, and that he felt he had more in him if he wanted it (scary thought). He didn't face Thomson in the mid-1970s though. Benaud swore the fastest bowling he ever saw was Frank Tyson in Australia in 1954/55. Alan McGilvray was convinced Eddie Gilbert was the fastest he'd ever seen (and faced). Fascinating to wonder how quick they all would be captured with modern equipment.
Bowlers have different days when they are in a riddim and bowled fast. It is hard to put 5 or 6 fast Bowlers to run up and bowl their fastest. Most times a bowler needs some motivation.
Exactly.. having a batsman at the other end to knock his head off gives the motivation for me to bowl faster
Yep exactly, pretty much all these bowlers have clocked 155+ and that was in an actual game against a batsman. You can’t expect usain bolt to even go sub 10 during practice or friendly competition cause there’s no motivation or drive in practice unlike a competition
$10,000 is enough motivation 😂
riddim loool
Playing any sport is motivation enough regardless of level.
I was born more than thirty years after this event but i’ve always taken it as evidence that thommo was the quickest bowler of all time. Even after a shoulder injury that teammates said took 5kmh off his pace he was still the fastest bowler in the world. I have no doubt that he was pushing 165 in his prime in 1974
My Respect for Shoaib Akhtar just went up... Like no disrespect to these legends.... But how scary Akhtar must have been with 161.3 Km/h being his highest he used to bowl consistently at over 150+. What a beast of bowler he was
Lee has far more 150 plus deliveries recorded than soaib…even he reached 160 plus 4 times which is more than soaib….yes soaib was more furious because he wanted to kill batsmen where on the other hand lee was focused on the good lengths and the Yorkers only.
@@writamchatterjee4676Absolutely 💯
Methods used to measure speed are different. Shoaib's speed was measured only at the time of release. But in this video they measure speed based on time taken by ball to reach other end. And we all know that speed drops considerably once you hit the deck
Thomson bowled in this event after his shoulder injury. He was waaaaaay quicker prior to the shoulder injury after a collision on field with Alan Turner.
The speed Thomson bowled at in Brisbane in 1974 against England must have topped 160km/hr@@AndyTychon
I am surprised so many of these fast bowlers didn't realize that bowling shortish takes a yard or two off the measured pace, because the pace is measured along the pitch alone, and not in the perpendicular direction. Only Jeff Thomson seems to have understood this, bowling full tosses.
This would be true if they were using a radar. They're not. You see the grid at the back? They're using that to work out the speed of the ball as it leaves the bowler's hand.
Fastest ball results 11:11
Take into account the views of the wicketkeepers. Jeff Dujon once said Patrick Patterson was the fastest that he kept wicket to.
Patrick Pattetson story is really sad .
He suffered from depression and suddenly went into oblivion till.he was spotted by an Indian ,
David Williams told me the same thing.
Pattrick Patterson didn't debut at this time..
@@Jack-qn9ic talking about the real fast and patsy was.up there and vanished intp the blue
He would not have to playing for the w.i at the time. Regional and club cricket they would have crossed paths.
It was always known that Thommo was the fastest of his era. He was a top Javelin thrower that is why he had such a slingee action. In my 40 years of watching top level cricket only Shoaib A and Brett Lee have clocked as fast. Special mention to Waqar who was super quick for a smaller guy.
@Tech SUPPORT I Googled it 1.83m - 6ft. Yes taller than I thought.
Starc and Tait??
@@mjt7585 Yes, Tait has 2nd fastest delivery of 100.1 mph, Starc, I think is just behind Lee in speed ranking.
Waqar Younis was officially timed at 153kph after his injuries. I heard that he was recorded around 157kph before he got injured, but it was not officially verified so it remains speculation. Regardless Waqar was a true freak in his own regard. Can you name any other bowler who could reverse swing the ball like he did at 150+ with lethal accuracy on the stumps, like he did during the 1990s?
Waqar wasn't that quick. Quickest ball I've seen of his is around 140kph. Quick but not super quick.
Amazing video! We featured this in one of our articles. Thanks for sharing!
Thomson wasn’t even playing at the time - he borrowed someone else’s boots and clothes and still won !
The funniest thing is how they recount everyone's average speed and highest speed at the end - except for Sarfraz. What on earth was he doing there? Medium pacer.
A fired up Sylvester Clarke would have been up there no question! Ask Alan Kourie? Here's a clip from Wiki.. "Alan Kourie recalls that Clarke, during the unofficial West Indies 1983 rebel tour, recorded speeds between 98 mph and 101 mph by two South African police officers testing out a new automobile speed radar gun who were present at Johannesburg ground."
We hear bs stories like those coppers all the time....who is to say that the alleged radar gun had been calibrated correctly to a standard and / or was in calibration. In any case the West Indies so called rebels played in the World Series years 1977 to 1979.
Dennis lillee is my all time fav.
Yassssss!!!! 👌🏻
DK off the long run!!!
Why isn't this an annual event? Would be great to watch and a good why to showcase the art of fast bowling.
Methods used to measure speed are different. Shoaib's speed was measured only at the time of release. But in this video they measure speed based on time taken by ball to reach other end. And we all know that speed drops considerably once you hit the deck
Yes but Michael Holding was tested using very similar equipment and methods to current ones in 1980 by an Aussie Uni and he topped out at around 138km.
I watched a lot of Garth Le Roux and Croft in the 80s and these speeds look bang on the mark.
Great video 👍🇮🇳
Lillee and Thompson were my idols and quite young I could imitate their actions quite well. My dad took super 8. I adapted the Lillee style to use because it was more consistent for me and I could hit the seam, but I felt the "Tommo" was faster. As a physio I now know that's because you create a lot more leverage across the left knee, which more easily obtains terminal extension and has less forward flexion force to overcome - faster for longer.
When I got to high school and learned javelin I realised that that was Thompson's technique.
I still dont understand why conventional and Thompson's javelin stye aren't both taught to youngsters, so they may choose what works for them. Even if only 10% can master javelin style, they will have a lot of success.
To my untrained eye, Thomson's style looks like a recipe for shoulder and other injuries? And perhaps that's why youngsters are encouraged to stay away from that technique?
This is awesome. The fact that Thommo also won accuracy shows if you want to be really quick you need to pitch it right up. The guys bowling short were throwing away speed.
Why aren't they conducting world's fastest bowler competition nowadays?
I suppose fear of illegal actions such as the pace race involving Lee, Ahktar, et al. Just a guess though.
Cricket is no more a game of bowlers let alone fast bowlers
Probably injuries, lots of effort that goes into bowling express,
Injury risk means most players on central contracts aren’t allowed to
Yeah it's injury risk, no administration is going to let their nation's fastest bowler risk a potentially permanent injury by going all out just for bragging rights. It would be interesting if they could gather data during matches to have an annual fastest bowler or fastest of the world cup award. They can put a camera directly above the bowler with spider cam these days I would think that would let you get extremely accurate measurement without needing the bowlers to bowl just for the sake of being measured.
It takes a while to get going 🥃🥃. Cheers from Adelaide
Speed was calculated from the hand in those days too.. that’s why the screen is placed behind the bowler.
Mesurements were carried out at 90Deg. to the two creases near to the boundary. Testing was done in Perth WA as part of studies performed by UWA. There were no devices that measured linearly in 1979.
@@flamingfrancis for this competition, or for games? Surely in this one the grid parallel to the crease, plus the frame rate is what calculates the speed? Ie distance over time?
Did anyone else have the Brett Lee fast bowling VHS as a kid like me? It also included the results of this competition and an interview with Jeff. He said he wasn't even well during this competition.
Fail to see why so many are finding fault with the outcome. Thommo was in a bar when he got the news about the 'shoot-out'. He hadn't played in 6 months as he has said on many occasions in interviews, Channel 7(?) knew this but encouraged him anyway. The others were all match fit, playing or at least training for a 'season' coming up. They all had the same rules and conditions. They knew the rules... no real warm-ups as if playing in a match and having had several overs to get rhythm. The comments from batsmen and commentators of the time talking about Thommo, pretty much backed up the truth he was the fastest. Lloyd, Richards, Bumble ( David LLoyd) Lawrence Rowe, Dujon, Lillee, Pascoe, Grieg and here's a direct comment from England Captain Mike Brierley said, “Broken marriages, conflicts of loyalty, the problems of everyday life fall away as one faces up to Thomson.” The accuracy prize must been sweet for him as the detractors have always said he was wild and no control. Truth is he always bowled to get the ball down to the batsmen/stumps as fast as he could so that was his style...he pretty much bowled using sheer pace, (he has said that too on many occasion, think sometimes he does play up to the image some people have of him)... whereas the others were trying to beat him ( they all knew who was the fastest) and by just bowling as fast as they could.. accuracy went. I find it funny that the relatively unfit 'Bankstown beach-bum's' average speed was still faster than any of their fastest balls !!
I believe Kerry packer asked thommo why he wasn't down there trying out . Thommo had problems with contracts with cricket Australia or something. Mr packer in true packer style told thommo i own this you get your ass down there and you'd better win, I think thommo said Mr packer had had a substantial side bet for thommo to win .packer made sure thommo was included..
@@aussiesmoko Thomo is the Chopper Reed of the cricket world. Some of what he says may be accurate but you don't let the truth get in the way of a good yarn!
In his own words, "I'd been sittin' on me arse on me back verandah all summer, drinkin' beer".
Bear in mind this was also a couple of years after the collision with Alan Turner which wrecked hos shoulder and robbed him of several yards. He was still quick after that but no longer terrifying.
Love the wobbly, high tech soundtrack when they do the side on replay! 😀
Shame Thommo wasn't recorded before his injury in 1976/77.
Yes 1974/75 he was at his peak. Can you imagine him with raw pace before the broken collarbone.
I just shuffle up and go whammo !! Might have been the quote.
I think Thommo was recorded in 1975 at 99.8 mph. The record lasted for 30 years. But I still think to this day that he bowled faster. True Aussie larrikin.
What nobody seems to realise is that during that time bowling speeds were measured calculating the time the ball took at the time it left the bowlers fingers to the point at which it reached the stumps using frames per second!Nowadays bowling speeds are measured the second the ball leaves the bowlers fingers disregarding atmospheric and aerodynamic conditions and the slowing down of the ball after hitting the pitch!So mates no one can convince me that the run of the mill bowlers clicking 143 odd kmph are faster than a Michael Holding leave alone Jeff Thomson!One more thing Imran's action hadn't evolved totally into what it was in 81 onwards when he was at least a yard quicker than this!So guys in my humble opinion these guys were the real deal!
No this is not true. You see that grid at the back? That is what they used to calculate the speed. It is a common way to calculate speed of projectiles e.g. bullets etc.
I watched this when it first aired on TV. Thommo, fastest and most accurate.
Richard Hadley is running a successful business in South India with my Malyali friend's friend. People always encircle him for autographs and stuff here. He is so fond of South India I believe.
Love the Safraz run up 10:18 , always ran like his underwear was a fraction too tight
Yeah, with that same style he made Aussies wet their underwear back in 70s, and that was before lunch
@@2Tubist
Yes, safraz did make all batsman wet their underwear - with laughter:) He was fast medium at best and had a test bowling average of just under 33 and a strike rate of just under 80! Ooooh... scary.
His bowling stats against AUS? 15 matches, 52 wickets at 35.15 with a strike rate of 86.9.
Calm down.
Yes... At the end of the day Pace does Matters
The days when mc Donald’s would give away a World Series cricket poster with every Big Mac
Gee that was riveting. I wonder why this didn't become an annual challenge.
I took photos at a Windies vs Australia melbourne test in 75, At 1/500th sec the ball was spherical for Lillee, and smudged ,indicating greater speed, for Thommo.Thompson at his fearsome best, player of the match that test.
I recalled Clive Lloyd taking a big step back and to leg when Thommo was at his most fearsome in that game. He must have been terrifying if Clive Lloyd took a backward step.
What if it was ur hand shaking....
What does 1/500th sec mean
@@ayushsinghchauhan22 At that shutter speed, the players were all sharp the only blur on the Thommo photos was the ball.
@@sayedrouf6744 old school film/analogue camera; Nikon F2 Photomic with a 500mm telephoto lens, film- Kodak Tri-X ASA 400. exposure 1/500 th of a second.
Denis lile and four horsemen of death were something else than today's fast bowlers
i would challenge star batsman of 2021 just to stand and watch these legends bowl without their pants being wet
If it were possible, I would pay good money to see David Warner on the receiving end of these guys at their prime.
You can't say that
What makes you belive such stupid thing
I can't help thinking that if they had a batsman at the other end, it could have made them all bowl just a little bit faster! If each bowler had been allowed to choose their most hated batsman to bowl to (or at!), then it would have made things more interesting. I also think that bowling a full over, rather than individual deliveries would have helped the bowlers with rhythmn and accuracy.
I believe to add 5 to 7 kmph speed to measured speed due to technical limitations those days, with today's measuring techniques their speeds would have been 5-7 kmph more....hats off to all legends.
probably more - somehow Holding averaging 84mph doesn't seem anyhere close.
No it is accurate measuring. The speed in this era that you see is shown from release until first bounce. The speed back in the days is shown from release until reaching the wickets. So they were bowling approx 152kph on average on the meters used now
@@foodieranger9652 pulling figures out of your ass ain't doing it for me i'm afraid. The true answer is, we will never know.
Seeing as Thomson was recorded in the 70's bowling a ball at 100 mph, by your calculations it was even faster.
but...
it all depends where the ball pitched...
@@foodieranger9652 I agree, I think in this competition they were quoting the average speed of the ball not the speed out of the hand. I can remember reading in a newspaper just after this competition that Imran's fastest ball was timed at 154kph.
@@jugheadsrule Imran between 1980 to 1988 was sharp 145 km/h pretty much all day...This was a disputed competition in my opinion..1975 cameras were more accurate
Batters were brave enough to face such formidable pace attack without a helmet..
Those days Speed is measured when ball is reached to the batsmen and now a days Speed is measured when ball is delevred from hand .. .
Bowling is measured at bowling end and Thompson era it's a batting side
Wrong. The speed is measured from the bowlers end in this comp. (With the grid you see). Therefore it's from the hand.
@@pubudusenanayake6724 exactly, with high speed camera's from the time
@@thehoppo So does that mean it's measured at the batsmen? No ...
@@pubudusenanayake6724 it was measured using high speed cameras from the hand
Amazing Ritchie mentioned Larwood it is about the same time from now than we he bowled in the thirties - as it was in this broadcast we thought that was ancient - but this doesn't seem that long ago - go figure!!
Great sportsman back then.
There's a guy up from where I'm from who has a similar action to Thommo, and he is bloody quick for a park cricketer...
are they measuring out of the hand or measuring at the batsman's end?? Judging by the square grid being shown they are measuring after release and not after the ball has bounced.
But the speeds recorded here are not as fast as I would expect these guys to have and would make me think that indeed these are measured at the batsman's end rather than at the point of release (which is the usual case today)
No that is incorrect back then they measure at the point of where the batter is. Jeff Thomson said this in a interview
@@rufustatham-thompson1385 Jeff Thomson says a lot of bullshit. The grid is right there for all to see. It's been measured at the bowlers end (i.e. out of the hand).
This era was the real ERA for FAST BOWLERS 💀☠️🗿
Jeff Thomson is quickest bowler,but great Malcolm Marshall is complete bowler.
Lol.
Thommo n lillee at the end of their careers, both after horrid injuries.
The rest? Young n fresh.
Facing them was like standing🧍 before a battery of shooters. Even the batsmans country men shivered. Their runup & the ball traversing the length of pitch & the long journey to keepers.
Akhtar, Lee, Sami, Bond and Tait were pace machines! Indeed, Thomson was of their league in his peak!
This is awesome!
What if such competitions are held now and the same equipment for testing the speed of the current bowlers. Some confusion or myth can be cleared. Also I would like to add another point the 15 degree elbow flexion was not implemented back then . Which seems like they may not be so fast & furious but were genuine pacers with clean undisputed action. Because the flexion gives a clear advantage in terms of bounce swing and pace. Lee ,Tait and akthar cleary have some flexion in their actions. Where as Starc Johnson Bond Milne fidel Edwards and some bowlers who clocked over 150 have very less or sometimes negligible amount of flexion.
Pigeon too had flexion
RIP all those arguments about how fast bowlers were in 'those' days. They were just as fast or rather slower than the bowlers 'these' days!
yes just like football was slower, speed increases every generation
hahahahaha so true
Hadlee not the fastest but the best and most accurate normally.
FIXED
Where do you get that from?
@Rushi Prajapati no it is clearly out of the hand
Best? Lillee also took 67 wickets in World Series cricket (probably higher standard than test cricket, and he was the top wicket-taker), which would put him on 422 when added to his “official” 355 test wickets.
@@rufioswitch2132 Hadlee played in a worse team.
It'll be interesting to watch this competition in 2021
If sarfraz Nawaz could be brought then Kapil Dev could have been brought. Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev were almost same pace
Kapil was quick in his early days but later played on movement and accuracy
@@aliasgarasgie Kapil made his debut in 1978, I guess too early by 1979 to be invited here. Holding made debut in 75 series, so playing for 4 years by then.
Sarfraraz and Kapil...get a grip .
😂😂😂
Kapil after 1980 was a medium pacer,barely hitting 125-130 range, the quickest in India then was ta Sekhar and before in the 70s salgaonkar, neither played test cricket sadly.
@@TAKLUFC yeah right. 434 wickets, more than half of them being from the top order and 250 of them in 63 tests against full-strength teams from England, Pakistan, West Indies and Australia compared to a guy who didn't even cross 200. Can't be taken into the same bracket in any sense.
We need this now
Great competition between the great fast bowlers of the world.
So Top 3 fastest were
1. Thompson
2. Holding
3. Imran Khan
Confirms what I always thought, Thomo was lightning fast and quicker in matches when pumped up !
Yeah, they only got 8 balls as well. Thommo was measured in 1975 at close to 160kph and who knows how fast he actually bowled when he had a full head of steam up?
There is no way I would face an y of 5hese guys unless I was wearing R in a suit of armour 😅😅😅