Akhtar's 100 mph delivery will remain unofficial

Shoaib Akhtar's 100 miles an hour delivery during the weekend, the first ever recorded, will remain unofficial, an International Cricket Council spokesman said on Monday.

The 26-year-old Pakistan fast bowler was clocked at 161 kilometres an hour, a fraction over the 100 miles an hour mark, during the third one-day international against New Zealand on Saturday.

"These things are pretty unofficial," ICC Communications Manager Mark Harrison said. "There is no official ICC policy but we do regard it as an interesting part of the game.

"If it creates interest and spectator entertainment that's a good thing."

Harrison said there was a possibility the ICC could introduce a fast bowling table as part of its impending players' rankings.

"It could be a part of it," he said. "We are looking at the whole issue."

Akhtar's feat, the cricketing equivalent of the first sub-four minute mile, was announced in a terse statement by the Pakistan Cricket Board at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

"According to the speed gun operated in the ground by a sponsor, Shoaib Akhtar bowled a delivery as a speed of 161 kph (100.04)," the statement said. The speed gun operated by the host broadcasting company was out of order.

Akhtar, whose career has been interrupted by injury and allegations of throwing, had no doubts about the legitimacy of his achievement.

AUTHENTIC

"The speed machine is authentic and it should be acknowledged throughout the world," he said. "With my fitness and the speed I am generating, I can deliver over 100 miles an hour any day and I would be delighted it's accepted."

Akhtar has been competing with Australian express bowler Brett Lee to reach the landmark. Lee was clocked at 99.4 miles an hour in Cape Town this year.

The second fastest delivery ever is the 99.8 clocked by Australian Jeff Thomson during a special net session in 1976. West Indies' Andy Roberts recorded 96.0 in the same trial.

Thomson, England's Frank Tyson and Jamaican Michael Holding have been by common consensus the consistently quickest bowlers since World War Two.

Thomson, with a short run and slingshot action, was fearsome for two years before a shoulder injury in late 1976 reduced his effectiveness. With a lengthened run he still occasionally generated express speed in a Test career which lasted until 1985.

Tyson was nicknamed 'Typhoon' after he blew the Australian batting aside in the 1954-55 series, including seven for 27 in a display of raw pace at Melbourne. His career was as short as it was spectacular and he later emigrated to Australia where he pursued a career as schoolmaster and journalist.

Whereas Thomson and Tyson were primarily strength bowlers, Holding ran in from the boundary ropes with the grace of an Olympic sprinter. On a lifeless pitch at the Oval in 1976 he returned match figures of 14 for 149, defeating the batsmen through the air with pace alone.

He had the longest Test career of the trio, shortening his run and operating in his later years as first or second change.

Mail Cricket Editor