Top 10 fastest deliveries
| # | Bowler | Speed (km/h) | Speed (mph) | Opposition | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shoaib Akhtar 🇵🇰 | 161.3 | 100.2 | New Zealand | 2003 |
| 2 | Shaun Tait 🇦🇺 | 161.1 | 100.1 | England | 2010 |
| 3 | Brett Lee 🇦🇺 | 161.1 | 100.1 | New Zealand | 2005 |
| 4 | Jeff Thomson 🇦🇺 | 160.6 | 99.8 | West Indies | 1975 |
| 5 | Mitchell Starc 🇦🇺 | 160.4 | 99.7 | New Zealand | 2015 |
| 6 | Andy Roberts 🌴 | 159.5 | 99.1 | Australia | 1975 |
| 7 | Fidel Edwards 🌴 | 157.7 | 98.0 | South Africa | 2003 |
| 8 | Mitchell Johnson 🇦🇺 | 156.8 | 97.4 | England | 2013 |
| 9 | Mohammad Sami 🇵🇰 | 156.4 | 97.2 | Zimbabwe | 2003 |
| 10 | Shane Bond 🇳🇿 | 156.4 | 97.2 | India | 2003 |
Speeds are from officially recorded international matches. I was up at 3am for Akhtar's 161.3 — the whole street woke up when the speed gun flashed, even though the ball itself was long gone.
The 100 mph club
Only three men have officially crossed 100 mph: Akhtar, Tait and Lee. Akhtar also reportedly touched 100 mph twice in the same 2003 spell — but only the 161.3 km/h delivery is in the official record books.
A brief history of fast
The 1970s: the wild west. Jeff Thomson and Andy Roberts were terrifying batsmen before speed guns existed — Thomson's 160.6 km/h was measured in a 1975 lab-style study, and everyone who faced him insists he was quicker in real matches. Dennis Lillee, Michael Holding, the whole West Indian quartet: pace was about fear, and nobody needed a number to feel it.
The 1990s: the arms race. Wasim and Waqar swung it at pace, Donald and Ambrose hit the deck hard — and then Shoaib Akhtar arrived, a man built like a fast bowler from a comic book, run-up like a train, action like an accident. The 90s made pace glamorous; Akhtar made it box office.
2003: the peak. Five of the top 10 came in 2003 — the speed-gun era's peak, when every broadcaster wanted the "fastest" graphic. It was also a golden generation: Akhtar, Lee, Bond, Edwards, Sami all firing at once. We'll likely never see that concentration again.
Today: the 150 club. The modern game still produces genuine quicks — but 155+ is rarer now. Workloads, T20 schedules, and smarter sports science mean bowlers are managed, not unleashed.
How speed is actually measured
- Radar guns: positioned behind the sightscreen, they clock the ball just after release. This is the number you see on TV.
- Hawk-Eye tracking: ball-tracking systems measure speed at multiple points — release, bounce, and at the bat. The "official" speed is usually the release speed.
- Why it varies: the same delivery can read differently on different systems. Release speed vs average speed, calibration differences, camera angles — this is why historical comparisons come with asterisks.
Which brings us to the great debate: was Thomson actually faster than Akhtar? The men who faced Thommo say yes. The record books say no. Without modern guns in 1975, we'll never know — and honestly, the argument is half the fun.
Fastest by era
| Era | Fastest recorded | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | Thomson 160.6 km/h | Measured in a study, not live broadcast |
| 1990s–2000s | Akhtar 161.3 km/h | The official record, 2003 World Cup |
| 2010s | Tait 161.1 km/h | 2010, agonisingly close |
| 2020s | Starc 160.4 km/h | From 2015, still the modern benchmark |
Why 2003 produced so many
Five of the top 10 came in 2003 — the speed-gun era's peak, when every broadcaster wanted the "fastest" graphic. Modern speed guns are more consistent, which is partly why recent bowlers (even rapid ones like Mark Wood or Mayank Yadav) sit just below the all-time marks.
There's another factor nobody mentions: pitches and balls. The 2003 World Cup was played on quick South African surfaces with a ball that swung early and skidded on. Fast bowlers talk about "carrying through" — and everything carried that tournament.
The modern quicks
Who's fastest right now? It shifts by season, but the names in the 150+ conversation:
- Mitchell Starc — still touching 160 in his 30s, the last of the 2003 generation's heirs
- Mark Wood — England's 155+ enforcer, all effort and elbows
- Anrich Nortje — when fit, the quickest in world cricket
- Haris Rauf — Pakistan's 150+ white-ball weapon
- Mayank Yadav — the new Indian phenomenon, already troubling speed guns
None has threatened 161.3. The record has now stood for over two decades — in a sport obsessed with breaking records, that's remarkable.
Myths worth killing
- "Someone bowled 165 in a tennis-ball game." Tape-ball and tennis-ball claims are fun but unmeasured — they don't count, and the physics of a lighter ball makes them meaningless for comparison.
- "Akhtar's record doesn't count because..." It counts. Official match, official gun, official books. Done.
- "Bowlers were faster before guns." Maybe! Thomson's contemporaries swear it. But "swear it" isn't a record — and that's the whole point of records.
- "Speed is everything." Tell that to McGrath (rarely above 140) or Bumrah (fast and accurate). Pace is a weapon; it's not the whole armoury.
Another 3am memory: the night Akhtar broke 100 mph, my father — who'd spent years telling me Thomson was faster and this was all hype — just nodded at the TV and said nothing for a full minute. Some records end arguments.
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