Published: Aug 03, 2015, 06:10 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 03, 2015, 06:10 PM (IST)
Jeff Thomson, Mark Nicholas and Imran Khan, among others, appear in a discussion on fast bowling at the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture in 2010. While Thomson talks about the difference in the speed measuring system for bowlers in the newer era and the one that existed in his time, Imran recalls facing West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding at his peak. Thomson, regarded by many as the fastest bowler in the world, was clocked at around 99 kilometres per hour (kph) in a competition held in his time, in which Holding was adjudged second-quickest and Imran third. After the new technology of measuring speed had started being utilised, Shoaib Akhtar registered the fastest delivery ever recorded, at 161.3 kph, but the reading was unofficial. READ:1975 World Cup: Jeff Thomson wanted for assault and battery
This is what Imran said: “I go in to bat, we have bowled out the West Indies. I’m playing for the World XI, we bowl them out for 100 runs. You can imagine how quick the wicket was. We go in to bat, and I walk in, I’m No. 8 at this time. I walk in at 20 for 6. And I still remember I went to take my stance, and I looked at the ‘keeper, I looked at the bowler, for a minute I told the umpire to stop. I was trying to calculate how could a ball on one bounce reach the ‘keeper, who is standing next to the boundary line. I could not believe that a ball could bounce and reach that far. That was Michael Holding I saw. He was so quick that we would run to the other end to face Andy Roberts.” The rest can be seen in the video. READ: Jeff Thomson: Indian bowlers lack knock-out punch
