"I just roll up and go whang"

I think several bowlers have said something similar to the quote above, but none really "whanged" it like its originator, Jeff Thomson. During a quiet moment at work, I began watching cricket videos on Youtube. What was supposed to be 2 mins of distraction as I waited for the kettle to boil all too inevitably became 45 min of faffing around, watching one video as it linked to another as that linked to another and another and so on. A lot of the cricket clips on Youtube are, to put it politely, rubbish - you can sleep peacefully at night knowing you haven't missed much by not clicking the link to 'criczz83's 'Best ball in the world everrrr!!!' - but some are absolute gems.

Take this video of 1979's World's Fastest Bowler Competition for starters. A few things make this video interesting to watch, not least its similarity in style to Look Around You, but for me it is the opportunity to watch some of yesteryear's great fast bowlers tearing into the crease. The competitors included Thomson, Lillee, Roberts, Holding and many others who terrorized batsmen during the 70's and 80's. Not surprisingly, Thommo won with the impressive speed of 147.9km/h (91.9mph), with Holding second on 141.3km/h (87.8mph). Very quick yes, but wasn't Thomson supposed to be the fastest ever? Was I expecting too much of him when I thought he would hit 95mph plus?

Maybe not. This clip shows that a few years earlier that scientists at the West Australian University clocked Thomson at 160.45km/h (99.7mph) bowling against the West Indies at the WACA in 1975/6, seriously quick. By 1979, he had endured serious injury and at the time of the competition had been 'drinking beer and sitting on [his] backside, for months' because of a ban from cricket. But he turned up, went whang and won it.

And it seems the way he whanged it was very important - apparently, by moving the ball through a longer distance he could achieve the sorts of speeds that a much taller bowler could, and then some. Being a short very non-threatening medium pacer myself, perhaps I should take note...

PS - apologies for my lack of burbling over the past... well, very long time! There is a reason why, I just haven't found it yet.