Rod Marsh said many times that Jeff Thomson is the fastest bowler to whom he had kept wickets. Many times he exceeded the 160 km/ hour mark. But during those days there were no speed guns to establish the actual speed and some other techniques were used which was not advanced. Spare a thought for the batsmen who had no protection when they faced him.
During the seventies, eighties and even up to early nineties most batsmen played with lesser protection, lesser powerful bats and the pitches assisted bowlers more. So they literally had to protect they themselves rather than tickling the team’s scorecard.
Imagine what will happen if these legends enter the cricket field now with more protection, more powerful bats, batsmen friendly tracks and smaller grounds. Of Course more records will tumble.
He never wore a helmet when others did and had dominated genuine fast bowlers including Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lillee, Len Pascoe, Merv Hughes, Craig McDermott, Ian Botham, Bob Willis, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan and many more.
Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards.
Inarguably the most destructive batsman of all time.
Simply quintessential.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Ambrose was wicketless in his initial spells. After that he produced a devastating spell of fast bowling to wreck Australia by taking seven wickets for only one run. I remember a couple of years ago when Waqar Younis of Pakistan was interviewed by Mike Haysman. When was asked what he thinks about the current generation of fast bowlers, he replied he doesn’t find many who can take too many wickets in a single devastating spell. True. I also feel that is sporadic now.
