Who bowled the fastest ball in T20 World Cup 2022?

England express pace bowler Mark Wood has bowled the fastest ball in T20 World Cup 2022, clocking a whopping 154.74 kmph or 96.15 mph in England’s match against New Zealand during the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup. The 32-year-old also holds the record of bowling six of the top 10 fastest deliveries in the tournament.

There’s a famous saying in cricket called ‘Pace is pace.’ At the end of the day, no matter how technically skilled or how brilliant the batter is, they are more than likely to be susceptible and be vulnerable to extreme fast bowling. Fast bowling is a skill that requires time, patience, and hours and hours in the net to polish and perfect.

Despite bowling at tremendous speeds, fast bowlers not only have to look after the fitness of their bodies but also have to keep very tight control of their lines and lengths else batters could end up using their pace against them.

During the recently held T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, it was a treat to watch some of the best fast bowlers in the world including England’s Mark Wood, South Africa’s Anrich Nortje, New Zealand’s Lockie Ferguson, and Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi go head-to-head against each other on the wonderful bowling surfaces in Australia.

But who won the battle and clocked the quickest speeds throughout the competition? Let’s discuss below:

Fastest ball in T20 World Cup 2022: Top 10 list

Mark Wood (England) v New Zealand – 154.74kph (96.15mph)

England’s pace express Mark Wood holds the record of bowling the fastest ball in T20 World Cup 2022 when he clocked 154.74 kmph or 96.15 mph against New Zealand during the Suoer 12 stage.

It was a rocket disguised as a delivery that almost threatened to cut Kiwi batter Glenn Phillips in half and could have every easily castled his stumps. However, it found an inside edge off his bat and squeezed past the leg stump to race away to the boundary because of its venomous pace.

Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand) v Ireland – 154.55kph (96.03mph)

New Zealand’s pace sensation Lockie Ferguson is also one of the quickest bowlers in the world. He is able to touch speeds in excess of 150 kmph on a regular basis and Lockie was also arriving into the T20 World Cup on the back of a successful period of fast-bowling.

He didn’t take long to announce his intentions and bowled a 154.55 kmph towards Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie. The Irish skipper was called into action urgently and he did immensely well to get his bat down early and keep his in-swinging yorker out, squirting the ball to mid-off instead.

Mark Wood (England) v Afghanistan – 154.48kph (95.98mph)

Mark Wood was without a doubt the fastest bowler during the 2022 T20 World Cup and he also managed to create history during the tournament.

Wood notably set a new record in England’s opening World Cup game against Afghanistan when every ball he bowled was above 140kph (87mph), making it the quickest four-over spell in T20 World Cup history according to CricViz. His average speed of 149kph (92.5mph) was also a new record. Wood is now the owner of the fastest spell in T20 World Cups.

“I feel I have more in the tank than that,” he said after that spell, before ruling out the prospect of hitting the 100mph mark one day. “It’s great to hear what speeds I was reaching but I want to keep pushing the boundaries to get quicker and quicker.

“When you look at the lads who are getting there [100mph] I don’t think I’m in their bracket. I do think I’ve got more consistently higher pace than others around at the moment and I feel in a great place. Hopefully I can keep that going,” Wood added.

His second-fastest delivery of the tournament was the first ball of Wood’s second over of the match. Full, straight, and packing plenty of punch, it was only just dug out of the ground by Hazratullah Zazai.

Also Read: Most wickets in T20 World Cup

Mark Wood (England) v Afghanistan – 154.48kph (95.98mph)

Straight into his stride, Mark Wood followed up a wicket off his first delivery of the match with a turbo-charged second, whistling past the outside edge from back of a length. Sam Curran took the wickets, but Wood’s pace softened up the Afghanistani batters. His third-fastest delivery was a back of the length ball that just missed the outside edge of the batter.

Anrich Nortje (South Africa) v Bangladesh – 154.31kph (95.88mph)

Anrich Nortje is also regarded very highly among pace bowlers and he is undoubtedly one of the fastest in the world. The South African’s fastest ball of the tournament arrived against Bangladesh. It was his second over of the game and he had been rapid throughout the day at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He picked up the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan with his fourth ball, and bowled his fastest delivery of the match with his last, striking the front pad with a missile. Afif Hossain survived as the ball had pitched outside leg.

Mark Wood (England) v Afghanistan – 154.07kph (95.73mph)

As mentioned already, Wood put on an exhibition of fast-bowling masterclass against Afghanistan. This is his third delivery from the match to make it to the list of the top 10 fastest balls of the T20 World Cup. He bowled another back of the length delivery and cramped the batter for room who just about managed to keep it out for a dot in an over that went for only four runs.

Anrich Nortje (South Africa) v Bangladesh – 153.47kph (95.36mph)

Nortje was guilty of pulling his length back on this ball way too much. It presented the perils of bowling way too quickly as the ball sailed over Afif’s head and was outside the reach of the wicket-keeper’s gloves, travelling all the way to the boundary for four byes. Control is as important as the pace in fast bowling.

Anrich Nortje (South Africa) v Netherlands – 153.38kph (95.30mph)

While there are always dangers to bowling fast, especially if bowled without too much control, the rewards are very precious. Against the Netherlands, the Protea pace sensation opted to stay full and straight, and of course, crucially rapid. It ended up uprooting Bas de Leede’s off-stump and sent it flying at the Adelaide Oval.

Also Read: Most hattricks in T20 World Cup

Mark Wood (England) v New Zealand – 153.31kph (95.26mph)

Despite bowling with immense pace, Wood wouldn’t have been happy with the execution of this particular delivery. He angled it in at Kane Williamson, but drifted fractionally onto the pads and was flicked away to the rope, with the pace on the ball giving the fielders little chance. Williamson is a master of countering rapid pace and Wood should’ve seen it coming beforehand.

Mark Wood (England) v Sri Lanka – 153.17kph (95.17mph)

The final delivery to close out the top 10 list also comes from the man who bowled the fastest of the lot. Wood pitched full on the fourth stump in the last ball of the innings. Chamika Karunaratne backed away but was left little room to free his hands and ended up edging a catch to Alex Hales in the deep.

FAQs

Who holds the record for bowling the fastest delivery of international cricket?

Pakistan fast-bowling legend Shoaib Akhtar holds the record for bowling the fastest delivery of all time in international cricket. He clocked a speed of 161.3 kmph (over 100 mph) against England in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Who were some of the best fast bowlers in the T20 World Cup 2022?

Mark Wood, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah were some of the fastest bowlers in the T20 World Cup 2022.

What is the fastest ball bowled by Shaheen Afridi?

Shaheen Shah Afridi’s fastest ball was clocked at just over 151 kmph.

Has Pakistan’s Haris Rauf bowled over 150 kmph?

Yes, Haris Rauf has bowled speeds in excess of 152 kmph as well.