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Was he consistently over 90 miles an hour, a la, someone like Alan Donald?

Or was he mid 80s, but could extract extreme bounce, given his height, to trouble the batsman. Someone who could bowl a heavy ball, as they say.

What do you think?

In reply to brians_da_best

Cruised at mid-80s in my opinion. But he was similar to Courtney Walsh in that he didn’t just have one gear change he had about three. When he wanted to be he was definitely 90+.

Mid 50s. Everything was CGI.

In reply to brians_da_best

Early on he was very quick. Batsmen were afraid of him. That had something to do with the bounce he got too but he was very quick. he broke a Jamaican batsman named Nigel Kennedy's arm shortly after his partner, Wayne Lewis, told him he'd be better able to cope with Ambrose since he was a left-hander.

In reply to brians_da_best

Curtly Ambrose was very quick.However he was not express like Holding or Patterson who were the fastest WI bowlers I have seen.Ambrose,however was the most accurate fast bowler I have ever seen.His economy rate at 2.31 is lower than ALL BOWLERS with 400 or more test wickets and I suspect only Lance Gibbs has a lower economy rate than him for people with 300 test wickets.Along with steep bounce that made Ambrose an extremely difficult proposition on any wicket,
On another topic the 2 most dangerous fast bowlers because of their action were Jeff Thompson and Sylvester Clarke as you did not see the ball until quite late.

In reply to brians_da_best

Curtly Ambrose was genuinely quick when he first started out. In an interview he stated he once went wicketless on a batsman friendly pitch early in his career.

He said Malcolm Marshall was furious and gave him a tongue lashing about learning to adjust to conditions.

Ambrose said after his encounter with Malcolm Marshall he realised fast bowling wasn't just about bowling fast.

He said he sat down and planned how he would get batsmen out instead of just bowling fast. So Ambrose decided to cut down his pace slightly and improve his accuracy.

All you have to do is look back to his best bowling performances and you will realize how fast he was

For Ambrose, it was not about pace....he was very smart in knowing his height was a great advantage... his greatest asset was not on pace but on focusing on the batsman movement....look at him in delivery, he is always looking at the batsman's movement at the crease and had the ability to adjust...thats greatness.

In reply to Dukes

Definitely a master of precision. Could hit the same spot multiple times in an over.

the second greatest fast bowler to have worn the maroon was not express consistantly but did not need to be his skill was phenomenal his 7 for 1 spell against australia was outrageous

I agree that Ambrose was fast when he first started. In his breakout FC season in the late 80s, he was definitely sharp.

Question: How fast was Courtney Walsh at his quickest? Was he a 90mph+ bowler? His economical approach to the wicket just made it seem that he could go on bowling forever if needed.

In reply to brians_da_best

No he was low to mid 80s could reach 90 when highly motivated

In reply to Baje

On Ambrose's last tour to England in 2000 he regularly measured 86 mph. Walsh normally came in at about 80.

Arent those guys as well as JaHo proof that you do not need to be superfast to be very effective? Yet people on this MB just seem to call for raw speed. Maybe it is just for the rush (pun intended)

In reply to VoopsandOut

Holder is between 70 and 75!!!!

In reply to Dukes

No, you joking

I think Holder is more 75-80

Even now Bravo bowls faster than Holder

That says a lot! May explain why JaHO is usually effective only in one match per series.