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The Cricket Thread

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Adelaide Hawk said:
Please, don't get me started on the cricket board. I've never had the misfortune to witness such a gaggle of clueless idiots in my life. The pure anger and hatred expressed from time to time is mind boggling and I wonder where the moderators are. I had to leave the forum several times over the past 5 days, I just couldn't stand it any longer. Why people pretend to be Test cricket fans when they are clearly there to just try and annoy people is beyond me.
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My intro was a 'fastest bowlers you had faced/seen discussion'

One guy claimed his local comp had 5 bowlers in the 80s who could bowl 90mph .
No helmets and well no radar guns .

I suggested it was unlikely , given what I had faced at a local level in comparison to grade/premier and other levels .
And you know it meant they basically had 5 x Brett Lee's running around in a local comp.

I learnt very quickly despite logic and even experience against a far fetched claim , within 4-5 posts I was attacked as dillusional and how would I know.

Lesson learnt 🙂
 

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The hands of stone said:
My intro was a 'fastest bowlers you had faced/seen discussion'

One guy claimed his local comp had 5 bowlers in the 80s who could bowl 90mph .
No helmets and well no radar guns .

I suggested it was unlikely , given what I had faced at a local level in comparison to grade/premier and other levels .
And you know it meant they basically had 5 x Brett Lee's running around in a local comp.

I learnt very quickly despite logic and even experience against a far fetched claim , within 4-5 posts I was attacked as dillusional and how would I know.

Lesson learnt 🙂
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Yes, it is interesting when you hear people's perception of the speed of bowlers. I think many people face a 135 bowler and imagine they are 150+. A bowler of Boland's pace would be quick enough for most batsmen below 1st class level.

My personal experience with genuine pace was facing a quick bowler named Wayne Prior on malthoid. This was before he began taking wickets for South Australia. It was a lot of "fun" (not) having to play the ball at chest and throat height, especially when I wasn't a particularly good exponent of the pull or hook shot. Luckily, I was young and stupid back then and had no real appreciation of his speed, all I knew was he was too quick for me :)

I had the thrill of seeing Shaun Tait progress through our club on his way to shield cricket. That lad was unbelievably quick to the point of being frightening. I was telling a guy at work about Tait's pace, when he said to me, "I could handle Tait, I'd knock him all over the park". Considering this guy wasn't even playing grade level, nor was he playing A grade for his local club, I just shook my head. Some people really have no real appreciation of genuine pace. Tait was right up there with Shoaib and Lee.
 
Adelaide Hawk said:
Yes, it is interesting when you hear people's perception of the speed of bowlers. I think many people face a 135 bowler and imagine they are 150+. A bowler of Boland's pace would be quick enough for most batsmen below 1st class level.

My personal experience with genuine pace was facing a quick bowler named Wayne Prior on malthoid. This was before he began taking wickets for South Australia. It was a lot of "fun" (not) having to play the ball at chest and throat height, especially when I wasn't a particularly good exponent of the pull or hook shot. Luckily, I was young and stupid back then and had no real appreciation of his speed, all I knew was he was too quick for me :)

I had the thrill of seeing Shaun Tait progress through our club on his way to shield cricket. That lad was unbelievably quick to the point of being frightening. I was telling a guy at work about Tait's pace, when he said to me, "I could handle Tait, I'd knock him all over the park". Considering this guy wasn't even playing grade level, nor was he playing A grade for his local club, I just shook my head. Some people really have no real appreciation of genuine pace. Tait was right up there with Shoaib and Lee.
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Tait was just scary .

I think a lot of guys equate the fastest bowling they have faced or the fastest at their club so they must be 130-135kph etc .
So they have a false sense of actual relative pace.

Boland is rapid and bowls heavy so is deceptive . Way too quick for most club bats.
Similar to Clint Mckay.
He was a yard back from Harwood and Nannes , the two quickest in my time.

Devon Malcolm was around the same but was past his prime off 10 yard run up.
Anderson was deceptive quick , Broad also but hits the splice .

Its a totally different level pace .
 
The hands of stone said:
My intro was a 'fastest bowlers you had faced/seen discussion'

One guy claimed his local comp had 5 bowlers in the 80s who could bowl 90mph .
No helmets and well no radar guns .

I suggested it was unlikely , given what I had faced at a local level in comparison to grade/premier and other levels .
And you know it meant they basically had 5 x Brett Lee's running around in a local comp.

I learnt very quickly despite logic and even experience against a far fetched claim , within 4-5 posts I was attacked as dillusional and how would I know.

Lesson learnt 🙂
Click to expand...
I faced Rodney Hogg at his height. As well as several of the (then) Sri Lanka (A) side. They hadn't yet been given ODI status and were touring premier district sides. Hogg was ridiculously quick. I had been watching Greg Chappell and how he swayed out of the way of bouncers by just tilting his head. I thought it seemed a sound strategy. It is, however, NOT. You freeze trying to figure out whether to go left or right, and it's on you. the hair on the side of my head moved as the ball flew past. (I am/was a bowler of some note, a batsman of no real note in the outdoor variety.)
I faced Thompson (Jeff) after his injury, in a charity drive at VFL park. They'd set up a perspex shield and you paid a dollar to hold a bat and have him bowl at your face. Was quick, but Hogg was in my opinion quicker. (which may say something about the mental aspect of having a shield between you and the bowler.

One of the sri lankan guys was the quickest I faced though. But all over the shop which is MUCH scarier. Davenall Whatmore was touring them around, and he wanted me to face them, because i was a bit of a weapon with the ball. Then he said "Nah, you'd get yourself killed in test cricket." I agreed, he agreed, we laughed, it was nice.
 
Rodney Hogg was mad as a cut snake and really shook the boys up at SACA grade level. Very quick, and extremely crazy. I was fortunate to be sharing a beer with Thommo and Pascoe the day they held that fast bowling competition in Perth, and someone had the team to play England for the 1st Test in the 1978-79 Ashes series. When Thommo saw the name "Hogg" in the team, he grinned and said, "He'll scare the f**k out of the Poms" :)

I've always said it is a pity they never had accurate speed measurements back then, it would have been incredible to learn the speeds of Thommo in those 2 series against England and the West Indies prior to injuring his shoulder. As it was, he was quick enough when he came back, but I've never seen anything to compare with Thommo pre-injury, he was lightning. Mitch Johnson in the 2013-14 Ashes series came close. Apparently when Bob Simpson's team toured the West Indies in 1977-78, there was one Test when Thommo bowled so quickly, people were in fear for their lives.

Two others I would love to know how quick they were at their peak was Dennis Lillee pre-back injury. An amazing sight, arms, legs and hair going everywhere and he was tremendously quick. His 8/29 against the World XI in Perth, 1971-72 was phenomenal.

The other was a South Australian quick named Alan Frost in the late 60s. Les Favell always claimed he was easily the quickest bowler in Australia at the time, and he toured New Zealand for an Australian 2nd XI under Favell in 1966-67. Frost was a religious person who disapproved of Sunday cricket, so when Sheffield Shield and Grade Cricket started playing Sundays, he retired and played Adelaide Turf for a few years, terrorizing batsmen as he went. Would have made a great sports story as he was a polio victim as a kid.
 
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moginie said:
Wayne Prior was a very underrated bowler.

Had he not gone to WSC he would have been a real chance to play for Australia.
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Another Wayne in Wayne Holdsworth was another lightning quick who played in an era of Australian cricket when we had few genuine fast bowlers, but just couldn't manage to take it to the next level. Took a hatrick for Australia in a tour game in England 93 though
 
Adelaide Hawk said:
Rodney Hogg was mad as a cut snake and really shook the boys up at SACA grade level. Very quick, and extremely crazy. I was fortunate to be sharing a beer with Thommo and Pascoe the day they held that fast bowling competition in Perth, and someone had the team to play England for the 1st Test in the 1978-79 Ashes series. When Thommo saw the name "Hogg" in the team, he grinned and said, "He'll scare the f**k out of the Poms" :)

I've always said it is a pity they never had accurate speed measurements back then, it would have been incredible to learn the speeds of Thommo in those 2 series against England and the West Indies prior to injuring his shoulder. As it was, he was quick enough when he came back, but I've never seen anything to compare with Thommo pre-injury, he was lightning. Mitch Johnson in the 2013-14 Ashes series came close. Apparently when Bob Simpson's team toured the West Indies in 1977-78, there was one Test when Thommo bowled so quickly, people were in fear for their lives.

Two others I would love to know how quick they were at their peak was Dennis Lillee pre-back injury. An amazing sight, arms, legs and hair going everywhere and he was tremendously quick. His 8/29 against the World XI in Perth, 1971-72 was phenomenal.

The other was a South Australian quick named Alan Frost in the late 60s. Les Favell always claimed he was easily the quickest bowler in Australia at the time, and he toured New Zealand for an Australian 2nd XI under Favell in 1966-67. Frost was a religious person who disapproved of Sunday cricket, so when Sheffield Shield and Grade Cricket started playing Sundays, he retired and played Adelaide Turf for a few years, terrorizing batsmen as he went. Would have made a great sports story as he was a polio victim as a kid.
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Teammate of mine in Englands father opened for England in the 74/75 series.
Said Thommo was the quickest any of them ever faced , with a bit of a gap to the next quickest .

I did read see somewhere that when he was timed they took the reading from the batsman end , now its from the bowlers hand.
Suggestion was with the ball decceleration , could add 8-10% to his times then in todays reading ( I probably havent explained that well )
 
grumbleguts said:
I faced Rodney Hogg at his height. As well as several of the (then) Sri Lanka (A) side. They hadn't yet been given ODI status and were touring premier district sides. Hogg was ridiculously quick. I had been watching Greg Chappell and how he swayed out of the way of bouncers by just tilting his head. I thought it seemed a sound strategy. It is, however, NOT. You freeze trying to figure out whether to go left or right, and it's on you. the hair on the side of my head moved as the ball flew past. (I am/was a bowler of some note, a batsman of no real note in the outdoor variety.)
I faced Thompson (Jeff) after his injury, in a charity drive at VFL park. They'd set up a perspex shield and you paid a dollar to hold a bat and have him bowl at your face. Was quick, but Hogg was in my opinion quicker. (which may say something about the mental aspect of having a shield between you and the bowler.

One of the sri lankan guys was the quickest I faced though. But all over the shop which is MUCH scarier. Davenall Whatmore was touring them around, and he wanted me to face them, because i was a bit of a weapon with the ball. Then he said "Nah, you'd get yourself killed in test cricket." I agreed, he agreed, we laughed, it was nice.
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I was lucky , I got Hoggy when he was 40 odd when he played for Warrandyte .
As a 14yo I learnt more in a few overs facing him then I had previous.

Hit the seam at will , couldnt get bat on ball . Amazing skill .
Heard in his heyday that he was rapid and mad as anything as people have pointed out here .
 

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The hands of stone said:
Teammate of mine in Englands father opened for England in the 74/75 series.
Said Thommo was the quickest any of them ever faced , with a bit of a gap to the next quickest .

I did read see somewhere that when he was timed they took the reading from the batsman end , now its from the bowlers hand.
Suggestion was with the ball decceleration , could add 8-10% to his times then in todays reading ( I probably havent explained that well )
Click to expand...

It's a great point. Bowlers were measured under the old laws of physics, distance divided by time. In other words, they measured average speed over 22 metres. These days they measure speed from the hand. I've tried explaining this to younger cricket fans who think us oldies exaggerate the awesome power and speed of Jeff Thomson.

Something that makes me laugh is the comment, "the ball gathered pace off the wicket". Errr, sorry, the laws of physics will tell you it's not possible. It is an optical illusion created by a batsman's reaction. A ball lifts higher than a batsman was expecting so they have to quickly adjust their shot. It makes the ball look quicker. The quickest ball a bowler is likely to deliver is the yorker because it has travelled over distance and hasn't been impeded by hitting the pitch.
 
moginie said:
It's the way that both Green and Waugh were seen more as successful bowlers than bats in the early stages of their careers.

I'm looking forward to the day that Green backs himself from ball 1 to make a big total in the first innings a la Steve Waugh in 1989.
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Does Green have a twin brother to take his spot if he gets dropped?
 
The hands of stone said:
Teammate of mine in Englands father opened for England in the 74/75 series.
Said Thommo was the quickest any of them ever faced , with a bit of a gap to the next quickest .

I did read see somewhere that when he was timed they took the reading from the batsman end , now its from the bowlers hand.
Suggestion was with the ball decceleration , could add 8-10% to his times then in todays reading ( I probably havent explained that well )
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Luckhurst, Amiss, Lloyd, Cowdrey or Edrich?
 

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The hands of stone said:
Luckhurst 👍
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Well he did cop the worst/fastest of it. Brisbane in a dampish wicket. He'd had some success out here on the previous tour and he and Amiss really weren't prepared for what happened.
 
moginie said:
Well he did cop the worst/fastest of it. Brisbane in a dampish wicket. He'd had some success out here on the previous tour and he and Amiss really weren't prepared for what happened.
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When they were coming over here apparently they werent too concerned about our bowling .
Knew nothing of Thommo and Lillee was just returning from his layoff .

I think they played a warmup game and Thommo bowled half rat power ....then cranked it up in the test
 
The hands of stone said:
When they were coming over here apparently they werent too concerned about our bowling .
Knew nothing of Thommo and Lillee was just returning from his layoff .

I think they played a warmup game and Thommo bowled half rat power ....then cranked it up in the test
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The story goes that they thought it was Alan "Froggy" Thompson, who played against them in 70-71 without much success.

Boy, were they wrong.
 

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