Were The bolwers in the 70s and 80s really faster than mordern bolwers

[Cricket_god]

I really find it hard to think that inspite of mordern training methods,equipment how could bolwers in other eras be bowling so fast
some old cricketers keep on harping how quick they were ,Of what i have seen the pitches were fast and bowlers were tall but they were not as fast as they are made out to be

 

[Sureshot]

First up an opinion needs to be backed by evidence to make it a valid point. Speed guns are only a fairly recent regular thing in Cricket, I don't know if any of the 'senior' members can tell us if they were around in their youth.

My personal thought is that, every era has some very fast bowler (Lee, Akhtar, etc), during say the WIndies super era, the world had more, I doubt they were faster, there was just more of them.

 

[Cricket_god]

First up an opinion needs to be backed by evidence to make it a valid point. Speed guns are only a fairly recent regular thing in Cricket, I don't know if any of the 'senior' members can tell us if they were around in their youth.

My personal thought is that, every era has some very fast bowler (Lee, Akhtar, etc), during say the WIndies super era, the world had more, I doubt they were faster, there was just more of them.

I am not a huge fan of speed guns,how can the short ball be your slowest delivery,my point is are the old cricketers specially batsman right in making it sound like they were facing bowling at over 100 miles

 

[Sureshot]

Boycott would tell you he faced bowling quicker than an F1 car. Older players from all sports claim it was harder in their day.

I have no idea what you're going on about in relation to the short ball.

 

[SciD]

No Idea Whatsoever.



How can you answer something you have not seen?


Old cricketers will always brag about themselves. Jeff Thomson is leader of them all bragging about his own pace.

 

[Kev]

I can't remember when speed guns were first used, but I'm fairly certain they are pretty recent and long after the sort of era's you're talking about. Were they quicker in the past than now? It's possible, its more likely that there were one or two seriously quick guys who got a little something extra but only one or two. Probably a big part of thinking how quick they are had something to do with the fact if you got hit in the head, you probably ended up in hospital whereas today batsmen have helmets.

 

[Dare]

i think they were considered fast because nobody before them bowled at that pace. when bowlers like Holding, Marshall,Roberts came out nobody bowled as fast as they did, so its somthing like when Lee and Shoaib started playing and they got the title of express bowers.

there is a clipp on youtube thats called "worlds fastest bowler competition" its somewhere in the late 70s i think. it has Holding, Imran Khan, Andy Roberts and a few others that i cant really remember. i think the fastest was barely over 140 km/h.
i can find the clipp but i dont think the mods will let me post it so if you guys want PM me and ill get you the link or you can try to find it yourself.

 

[Master Khan]

I think the bowlers now are faster then the old ones
because players know have to bowl fast now a days

 

[biks76]

Another factor is the pitches.In 70's they used to be very fast, especially in the windies.Thats also the time, when the talk of limiting the number of bouncers/over started.Also in the forties, fifties, there were a lot of "Draggers".Those guys didnot have a jump before they bowled, they just dragged their feet.Thats when front-foot no-ball rule came in to effect.

 

[Skater]

I actually think the bowlers in the old days were faster than the ones now. Largely due to the fact there is more cricket played now and coaches get their fast bowlers to change their actions to avoid injury and lose some of their pace in the process.

In the old days bowlers were told to just go out there and bowl fast.

 

[playkid12]

I am not a huge fan of speed guns,how can the short ball be your slowest delivery,my point is are the old cricketers specially batsman right in making it sound like they were facing bowling at over 100 miles

Speed guns measure the speed from the point of release from the bowler's hand, not the average speed of the ball during its entire journey from bowler's hand to batsman's bat. So a bouncer or a short ball wouldn't be registered as a slow ball.

Also, this video is proof that the express bowlers of today that are 150kph+ are indeed faster than their older counterparts:
It is a competition of the world's fastest bowler in 1979. The fastest bowler was around 147kph.

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

Go on YouTube and type up worlds fastest bowler or something, In the 80's they had a test with about 10 guys (Imran, couple of aussies and some Englishmen) and they weren't as fast as we think speeds were around 93mph at max.

I would like to know how fast Waqar bowled though...

 

[Dare]

Go on YouTube and type up worlds fastest bowler or something, In the 80's they had a test with about 10 guys (Imran, couple of aussies and some Englishmen) and they weren't as fast as we think speeds were around 93mph at max.

I would like to know how fast Waqar bowled though...

i think Waqar fastest as 145-147 somthing like that.

 

[aussie_ben91]

I think that clips shows how distinctly slower the bowlers were 30 years ago. The average fastest ball was around 140kph so the real fastest bowlers we're probably bowling 130kph on average during a game.

 

[pal]

I think that competition took place after Jeff Thomson injured his right collarbone. His pace is supposed to have dropped off after the injury, so it is probably not the best indicator of his ability. In general, the bowlers today are most likely faster than their older counterparts.