Growing up in the late ‘90s and 2000s – the era of genuine pacers – you never really relish the taste of modest pace bowling. You’re never fully satisfied with ‘mere’ 90mph. You want more. You want 95, 99; you want the pacer to conquer the 100 mph barrier – even though it’s really been done just twice before (Considering 100mi=160.9kph).
Being mesmerized by the bounce, the carry, the shattered furniture, the rattled batsmen, the intimidated look of terror on his face; it’s like falling in love… with Akhtar, Lee, Bond and Tait being the main culprits behind this love affair.
Although this flirtatious romance has bruised the careers of many batsmen, it has sometimes meant self-destruction for the bowling side. Shoaib Akhtar is a prime example. His delivery against England in the 2003 World Cup, which clocked at 161.3kph (100.23 mph) was the fastest recorded delivery in cricketing history. Pakistan lost the match by 112 runs.
Though he can’t be blamed for the – rather frequent – batting collapse of Pakistan, he conceded 63 runs in 9 over for a wicket going at 7 to the over where Eng scored at 4.92.
The increased pace for any bowler, of course, means less control and wayward bowling. It also makes it easier for the ball to fly off edges and the face to the boundary. Precision is a must with pace otherwise you are bound to disappear.
Like Hassan Cheema said that Sami has bowled the same over for 15 years now: 3 gem of deliveries for dots, an edge for four and short and wide that’s put away – 9 off the over. This pretty much sums up that on their day, these pacers are the most lethal weapon in any team’s armory. On other days they can be easier to dispatch than debris around a supernova.
Economy mostly is axed during high paced spells in limited overs cricket, but there’s nothing more lethal than accuracy with pace. The day they bowled 160kph – Tait, in the T20 against Pakistan was bloody lethal taking 3 for just 13 runs in 4 heated overs – while Lee against New Zealand took a wicket for just 34 runs in 10 overs.
The biggest example here of accurate pace is Brett Lee. The fittest pacer I have ever seen. Consistently pacy, yet accurate. Tait mostly was extremely wayward with his line and length. You could hear his grunt from across the ground but the ball too could end up there if not anywhere in the field.
A Glenn McGrath or Muhammad Asif never needed much pace. They could easily rattle the batsman. One with consistent line and length, the other with lateral movement in the air and off the seam.
Pace is rather a luxury than a need. Without pace you can survive, but without accuracy you’re as useless as a referee in WWE.
In the past two decades we’ve seen pacy bowlers come and go; we’ve seen one spell wonders; we’ve seen injuries triumphant over pace. But genuine pace bowlers have become sparser, as fast bowlers look to increase their span.
We see potential genuine ultra-pacers who sacrifice their potential to add a couple of years to their career span. But personally, I’m a believer that if you have God-gifted ability, you should make full use of it. I’m a believer in the saying that it’s better to live like a lion for a day than live like a wolf for a hundred years.