The game of cricket has numerous exciting things associated with it. But nothing excites more than watching a fast bowler making the batsmen dance to his fire. There have been several pacers in the history that have ruffled the feathers of the opposition batsmen with some breathtaking fast bowling.
No prizes for guessing who holds the record for the fastest ball in the game. It’s none other than Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar. Ask the batsmen of his era and they would still be haunted by the pace of Akhtar. The Pakistani pacer delivered the fastest ball which was recorded at 161.3 kph in the 2003 World Cup in a game against England at the Newlands, Cape Town.
Shaun Tait and Brett Lee follow Akhtar to occupy the 2nd and the 3rd slots. Australia and West Indies are 2 cricketing nations who have always been known to possess strength in the pace department. That’s why 4 bowlers from Australia and 3 from West Indies are amongst the top 10.
The most recent amongst the 10 fastest balls was delivered by Australia’s Mitchell Starc. The left-handed pacer bowled a 160.4 clicks delivery against New Zealand in Perth in 2015. The list of the 10 fastest balls consists of those which were officially recorded. There were some fierce bowlers from West Indies during the 70-80s who might have delivered balls faster than these but unfortunately, those weren’t recorded.
Here are the 10 fastest balls ever recorded in cricket
#1 161.3 kph: Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) vs England in 2003 at Newlands, Cape Town
#2 161.1 kph: Shaun Tait (Australia) vs England in 2010 at Lord’s, London
#3 161.1 kph: Brett Lee (Australia) vs New Zealand in 2005 at Napier
#4 160.6 kph: Jeff Thomson (West Indies), fast bowling study in 1976 at WACA, Perth
#5 160.4 kph: Mitchell Starc (Australia), vs New Zealand in 2015 at WACA, Perth
#6 159.9 kph: Andy Roberts (West Indies) vs Australia in 1975 at WACA, Perth
#7 157.7 kph: Fidel Edwards (West Indies) vs South Africa in 2003 at Wanderers, Johannesburg
#8 156.8 kph: Mitchell Johnson (Australia) vs England in 2013 at MCG, Melbourne
#9 156.4 kph: Mohammad Sami (Pakistan) vs Zimbabwe in 2003 at Sharjah
#10 156.4 kph: Shane Bond (New Zealand) vs India in 2003 in Centurion
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