‘If he thinks he cannot bowl over 155, he is absolutely wrong’: Shoaib Akhtar names pacer who can join rare 100mph club
Shoaib Akhtar has named a new candidate who can replicate the feat and shared some words of advice for him.
Shoaib Akhtar is renowned for his breathtaking pace and is the first bowler in the history of the sport to break the 100mph barrier. The former Pakistan pacer achieved the feat almost two decades ago during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. Akhtar touched the speed while bowling against former England batter Nick Knight.
Almost 20 years later, Akhtar has named a new candidate who can replicate the feat and shared some words of advice for him. The former Pakistan speedster feels Mark Wood can join him in the rare club, which also features Shaun Tait.
However, in order to touch the 100mph Wood needs to follow a special training regime, which Akhtar himself practiced as a youngster.
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Akhtar shared his views while speaking on The Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club Podcast, where he also highlighted the mistakes in Wood's bowling style.
“Mark Wood, a great looking guy and a lovely human being with a beautiful action, that’s what I like to see!” said Shoaib.
“A couple of things I have noticed. He loses his follow through. Thank god he shortened his run up. He lands on the left foot, and you see often he collapses on the pitch because he cannot control the follow through.
“If he is thinking that he cannot bowl more than 155, he is absolutely wrong there! If he wants to bowl 100mph, he needs to start pulling trucks. I made the pitches about 26 yards. I made a ball about four times heavier than normal. I trained by doing a lot of weights, riding the bicycle with weights on it. I would do about 1000 reps.
“I noticed I developed muscles that I had never been able to touch before. Little did I know that I was losing my knees, bones and cartilage at the same time. Whoever can bowl 150kph has 10ks in reserve, with the right preparation and the right recuperation,” the ex-cricketer added.
Meanwhile, Wood was not part of the first Test between England and Pakistan in Rawalpindi, which the former won by 74 runs. However, he is expected to join the England team for the second Test, which gets underway from December 9 in Mulan.
