Bowler Speeds

[TangoCharlie]

RF RFM RMF RM

They are all right handed bowlers but which is the fastest and what speeds are they capable of? I take it the RM is the 'dobber', useful in the county game particularly on a cloudy day?

In the game it appears Broad is a RMF and Broad is a RMF!

[DaveK93]

Right Fast > Right Medium Fast > Right Fast Medium > Right Medium.

[powercord84]

Right Fast > Right Medium Fast > Right Fast Medium > Right Medium.

I always assumed fast medium would be quicker than medium fast, but now that I think about it you're probably right.

Although as far as the game is concerned I don't think it makes the slightest difference.

[TangoCharlie]

I just found this on another forum which contradicts your post ^^^
Classification of fast bowlers Type mph km/h
Fast 90 MPH + 145 KM/H +
Fast-medium 85 to 89 MPH, 136 to 145 KM/H
Medium-fast 80 to 85 MPH, 128 to 136 KM/H
Medium 70 to 80 MPH, 114 to 128 KM/H

[Sureshot]

We've always done it as DaveK says, I think if you put brackets on the middle word it makes more sense.

Right Fast
Right (Medium) Fast
Right (Fast) Medium
Right Medium

I notice on TV, etc, that they tend to just have RF, RFM and RM.

[TangoCharlie]

Have you see this…

http://forum.childishdownloads.co.uk/showthread.php?471-Rmf-rfm

[TangoCharlie]

In the game it appears Broad is a RMF and Anderson is RFM. Broad is genuinely faster isn't he?

[gtbunbury]

I've always taken RMF to be the faster of the two, simply from the structure of the terms:

Medium fast, as in: he is a bowler of medium fast pace. The pace he bowls is medium level of fast.

Fast medium, as in: he bowls a fast medium pace. The pace he bowls is fast for a medium bowler.

Some take it as the last term being what they bowl occasionally, whereby fast medium is a fast bowler who occasionally slows to medium and medium fast the other way round, but this strikes me as a strange way of classifying.

[Graham_5000]

In the game it appears Broad is a RMF and Anderson is RFM. Broad is genuinely faster isn't he?

Broad is faster, which is why he is a RMF not a RFM. That said, Anderson is capable of swinging the ball at 85mph, and a year or two ago, Broad was down on pace and lacking confidence - in fact, people were talking about dropping him around the time of the Windies series last year! Things can change quickly.

That said, when bowling on a fast, bouncy wicket, even RFMs can be "inspired" to crank it up:

Third Test, January 2016, Johannesburg

James Anderson Av 83.3mph, Fastest 86mph
Stuart Broad Av 85.2mph, Fastest 88.8mph
Ben Stokes Av 85.7mph, Fastest 88.9mph
Steven Finn Av 84.1mph, Fastest 86.5mph

Overall though, I would say that Broad RMF and Jimmy RFM is about right, with RMF being quicker than RFM.

[TangoCharlie]

Broad is faster, which is why he is a RMF not a RFM. That said, Anderson is capable of swinging the ball at 85mph, and a year or two ago, Broad was down on pace and lacking confidence - in fact, people were talking about dropping him around the time of the Windies series last year! Things can change quickly.

That said, when bowling on a fast, bouncy wicket, even RFMs can be "inspired" to crank it up:

Third Test, January 2016, Johannesburg

James Anderson Av 83.3mph, Fastest 86mph
Stuart Broad Av 85.2mph, Fastest 88.8mph
Ben Stokes Av 85.7mph, Fastest 88.9mph
Steven Finn Av 84.1mph, Fastest 86.5mph

Overall though, I would say that Broad RMF and Jimmy RFM is about right, with RMF being quicker than RFM.

Thanks for that comprehensive answer! Brilliant!

[Sureshot]

Interesting that Broad and Stokes were faster than Finn on average. Maybe injury playing on Finn's speeds a bit?

I've noticed that Broad will bowl quicker in one of "his" spells.

It can be quite tricky setting the bowling speeds, they're not really set in stone, as those figures from Graham show.

[Graham_5000]

Interesting that Broad and Stokes were faster than Finn on average. Maybe injury playing on Finn's speeds a bit?

I've noticed that Broad will bowl quicker in one of "his" spells.

It can be quite tricky setting the bowling speeds, they're not really set in stone, as those figures from Graham show.

https://twitter.com/CricProf seems to give regular average speed updates. This Tweet for example is from the 4th Test at Centurion: "Anderson average third innings speed: 82.30 mph
Anderson average third innings speed to de Villiers: 86.49 mph" and this one is from the current Test between NZ & Aus "Average Pace (mph): Wagner: 85.42, Henry: 85.03, Boult: 84.41, Southee: 83.38, Anderson: 82.83"

Finn often does bowl quicker, scanning down his feed - perhaps you are right and injury may have been playing a part. Lots of bowlers vary their pace according to the spell as you say e.g. Steyn bowls slower with the new ball as he feels he gets more swing. With an older ball he cranks it up quite a bit though.

Finn talks about his speed in this article (nearly a year old): http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/...ry/860001.html

I think Finn has the "feel" of a RF, so perhaps his niggles / developing injury affected him. Altitude definitely affects the speed of the ball as it passes the bat, but speed is measured at the release of the ball, so the match at the Wanderers (1753 metres, 6000 feet) wouldn't have affected the speed gun. People cope with the altitude in different ways of course - it is not that high, but it would affect the performance of athletes and sportsmen. If a bowler is carrying a niggle or an injury, perhaps they might be affected more by altitude?

Fun "fact": Even eggs are affected by altitude apparently - it takes 1 minute longer to boil and egg at 1753 metres!

[muhammad saad]

Can you add speedometer this time around? It would be cool if you have a 16 y/o bowler bowling in mid 120ks transforms in to an out and out quickie by the time he reach 25.