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I watch a lot of test cricket and I don't recall anyone ever consistently hitting 90mph much less 95mph with no dip. I think this spell is flying under the radar because he didn't take any wickets, but he beat the bat like 20 times. Do we have to go all the way back to Shaoib Akhtar ?

In reply to 1Desiabnu

He had a 97 mph.

In reply to 1Desiabnu

Read about it ,did not see it..but Wood is FAST.

In reply to Curtis

Jesus, not since Mitchell Johnson on some spicy wickets have I seen this kind of bowling. Can you imagine him playing in australia? He would no doubt break the 100mph barrier.

In reply to Curtis

97.1
Don't leave out that .1

In reply to 1Desiabnu

I think when OT just came on the scene, he was clocking 90 consistently!

In reply to hubert

I was genuinely afraid for the batsmen. Kudos to the Dominican boys for the way the handled it. Hodge in particular had to just laugh his way through it. You could tell he was nervous and had never seen anything nearly as terrifying.

Incidentally, I didn't catch much of the Eng innings but the one spell I saw Shamar was in the 135k range which is a far cry from where he was in Australia. Was the dropoff consistent all series?

The 1st time I ever feared for a sportsman's life was Malcolm Denzil Marshall around the wicket to Sunil Gavaskar at Sabina.
If there's a single Wood Spell faster than that spell I have not seen it and I watched today!

In reply to XDFIX

Is anyone working with Thomas? Such a waste of a god given talent.

In reply to Brerzerk

Don't doubt it, but that was sabina though! Too bad we didn't have speed gun back in those days.

In reply to 1Desiabnu

what BS you exuding

In reply to bird

Please educate me and point me to a faster one.

In reply to 1Desiabnu

I'm pretty sure Jeff Thompson an Mikey Holding was faster esp that spell in Barbados where Mikey sent Boycott's stump cartwheeling but they didn't have the technology like now to measure but i suspect there is still way they could do it from footage.

In reply to CCW

I know he was clocked faster, but when the had the fastest bowler competition in 1979, he won it with a fastest ball of 148kph. To put that into perspective, Mark's average speed today was higher than that.

In reply to 1Desiabnu

I don't know if it was the fastest, but the most rapid and ferocious spell I ever saw was Walsh bowling to Atherton at Sabina 1994.

It was fast, hostile, and Athers was jumping, ducking, and weaving all over the place until he finally succumbed. Took a few nasty blows to the head too.

A snippet from that spell.

In reply to SnoopDog

Wasn't that the abandoned test

In reply to doosra

No. The abandoned Test was in 1998.

This was the Eng tour to WI in 1994.

In reply to SnoopDog

That was a horrible tour for them
Have they ever dominated in the Caribbean ever

In reply to doosra

Yeah, that 1994 tour was where Curtly demolished them for 46 all out with that famous spell at QPO.

They still won a Test on that tour in Bim breaking a 30 year record at that ground.

Not sure if Eng ever whitewashed WI in the Caribbean. Maybe the stats guys could chime in.

In reply to SnoopDog

Yea I think stewart got 2 100s in that test

In reply to SnoopDog

2003 they beat us 3-0 here, but I think that's it in terms of winning in WI the past half century.

In reply to 1Desiabnu

I don't remember that series
Was it around the time of the digicel cw issue ?

HODGE ON WOOD

Got to like this guy

In reply to 1Desiabnu

So the RAUL PINDI express dont count??

Didnt he hit the 100 marker?

In reply to doosra

Nope we had everyone, but for some reason Harmison was unplayable.

In reply to 1Desiabnu

Lawrence Rowe is convinced Mikey bowled a faster spell than Boycott '81. It was during Packer.
As told by Yagga all four slips was saying if there's an edge pray god it goes to Murray (gloves)
because they feared for their hands. said they were more than a pitch distance away from the batsman

In reply to 1Desiabnu

Ah that was the Harmy coming....47 etc...Harmy was fast and furious

That was some serious heat that Mark Wood brought today, he bowled accurately at great pace. I have often seen bowlers bowling genuinely quick but that spell was one of the fastest I have ever seen.

In the fairly recent era, when speed guns are at most test grounds, I have seen 97mph touched a few times. Jermaine Lawson, Fidel Edwards, Shoiab Akhtar, Shaun Tait, Lee, Donald and now, Wood...I am sure a few others have hit the mark too but from my own memory and matches I witnessed, they are among the quickest of this modern era. Wasim, Waqar, any number of West Indian greats and a few Aussie slingers too, all have pushed the speed gun but one man stands out alone...

I saw Patrick Patterson bowl live...NOBODY bowled as fast as him, do not even listen to anybody who tells you otherwise. The quote by Tony Cozier that he saw Patterson at Port-of-Spain bowling "as fast as a man can bowl", is not commentator exuberance, it is genuine. I met him after the day I saw him bowl live too...and he was a lovely young guy, very friendly and pleasant...but then, I was not holding a bat at 22 yards!

In reply to 1Desiabnu

Wood certainly produced a fiery spell. However, over the years there have been some speed merchants who were also very quick. Three bowlers come to mind who haven't been mentioned yet. Wes Hall, Dennis Lillee and Shane Bond. All three had frightening pace.

In reply to 1Desiabnu

I saw an interview sometime ago with an England opener who said the only time he feared for his
life was against Patrick Patterson. Can't remember if it was Gooch or Atherton.
Patto was frighteningly fast and intimidating with that left foot almost in batsman's face to start with.

Roy Gilchrist was very quick too but the fastest delivery I think I saw was Shoaib Aktar in a WC
game in England when the ball hit Sherwin Campbell's bat and went to third man for four while he
in the act of addressing the ball.

Don't think anyone bowled quicker than the man from Pakistan. He was terrifying coming off that long approach too.

Andy Roberts, one of the four fierce pacers of the West Indies during the 1970s and 80s, bowled at 159.5 kmph against Australia in 1975.

In reply to 1Desiabnu

fastest spell since the english broadcasters started measuring times. mike athurton said that on the tele today. officially. sky had their statisticians check

In reply to 4REALQUICKS

my dad said the same thing.

In reply to Jumpstart

Honestly, I will never forget it. And the reaction of the crowd when he started to bowl, was a collective gasp...not the collective wow we hear nowadays, this was different...one of pure shock and awe.

His bowling left an impression on many that day.

In cricket, I personally feel it is the best spectacle...a bowler sending down fire from above and a batsman facing the music.

Ian Bishop, pre-injured back, was exceptionally fast too. But Patto, he was something else...glad that your dad could share the story with you.

In reply to Brerzerk

When a fast bowler goes around the wicket to a batsman it is to physically hurt/damage the batsman.

In reply to 1Desiabnu

The speed gun measures the ball velocity before it pitches, so I doubt the alleged rapidity of Australian wickets will help. Playing in Nepal at altitude might be more propitius.

Admittedly, I have no first hand knowledge of matters, but I suspect that a significant difference between the present day and three of four decades ago is not the pace of the pitches, but that modern pitches tend to be truer. It's uneven bounce against very quick bowling that batsmen most fear.

In reply to SnoopDog

Are you kidding?

West Indies whitewashed England in consecutive (home and away) series.

I remember the papers calling it a Blackwash.

It was sometime in the 80's.

I remember Sir Viv scoring the fastest century at his home ground in that series.
Most memorable was a sweep for 6 off his buddy Botham (a pacer)

In reply to 1Desiabnu

The issue with eras is that:-
Measurements techniques were not as accurate then.

Holding bowled two overs in 81 at Kensington Oval
One to Bycott and the other was his first spell on his return
Both were fast.

There were some serious quick spells in history,
But due to different modalities
who knows which one was the fastest.

We cannot judge by someone's memory.
Are you some type of super computer to say the fastest that you have seen.

An average Brett Lee or Akthar over was quicker than that.

In reply to imusic

Nice touch

In reply to 4REALQUICKS

Love those anecdotes. I've heard a lot of people from those days say Patterson was easily the most terrifying bowler.

In reply to KTom

Interesting, I didn't know how it was measured.




This is where I struggle to separate the effects on uneven, bouncy wickets vs straight pace. I suspect people's perception of pace back in the day are somewhat colored by this and present day bowlers measurable quicker than anything that existed back then. I know some people won't agree, but it's just the way sports work-with advances science and training, players in almost every sport are considerably faster and stronger than back then. Think about it in sports where athelticism is more easily measured:
Basketball, NFL, Track, Football

Many players who played and did will 30+ years ago wouldn't be able survive in today's game.