Australians have bowled five of the 10 fastest deliveries, Shoaib Akhtar tops list - in pictures

Fast bowling … there simply is no better sight in cricket than a pacer charging in and hurling the ball as fast as allowed by physics and biomechanics. You can see the pace off the pitch, in the eyes of the batsman and in the thud of the wicketkeeper’s gloves. There have been many great batsmen, seam bowlers, wicketkeepers and spinners over the years; just try gathering a top 10 list and see the number of names in the your first draft. But when it comes to genuine quick bowlers, there have been very few even if you go back 50-60 years. Most cricket fans are unlikely to miss names while making the list of the fastest bowlers of all time. But what the fastest recorded deliveries in cricket? This is a slightly tricky question to answer as there has never been one standard procedure when it comes to recording speed of bowlers in international matches. Quality of equipment and parameters of speed calculation have varied drastically from year to year. Some records have not been accepted by the International Cricket Council while others have been written off as an equipment malfunction. Taking all those factors into account, above is a list of the fastest deliveries recorded in official cricket. To move to the next image, click on the arrows, or if using a mobile device, simply swipe.

Australians have bowled five of the 10 fastest deliveries, Shoaib Akhtar tops list - in pictures

Only three bowlers have crossed 100mph barrier in the history of cricket