Charles Kortright: The fastest bowler ever?

It was a typical English day. A filthy pitch. Essex had a decent bowling attack and Gloucestershire – boasting of a certain WG Grace in their batting line-up – required 148 for victory. A young man by the name of Charles Kortright stood between Grace, Gloucestershire and victory.

First, Grace played him well. Then, there was an appeal for a plumb LBW and a cath behind turned down for reasons only know to the umpire and perhaps, WG. Kortright didn’t utter a word and the 3rd ball was a rocket that hit middle and off stump and sent the two sticks cartwheeling.

Kortright was unmoved and said, “Surely you’re not moving, Doctor? There’s still one stump standing?” Kortright finished the innings with seven wickets but Gloucestershire squeaked through with one wicket in hand.

This is just one story in the life of Charles Kortright who was perhaps the fastest bowler to have ever played the Gentleman’s game. How Kortright didn’t play Test Cricket for England is a completely different issue, but Kortright will perhaps go down as the fastest bowler never to have played International Cricket.

According to Sir Francis Stanley Jackson, Kortright was not only the fastest bowler of his times, but a very good one. He played between 1889 to 1907, and many a tall feat is associated with his name. Sadly, he never took part in a Test match.

In county cricket, he struck fear in the minds of batsmen. In an interview he gave before his death, he took pride in delivering a ball that pitched once on the wicket and then went straight over the boundary, effectively making him the only bowler to have delivered Six Byes in one ball. 

When he bowled to Bill Brockwell of Surrey, he claims to have bowled him with a yorker in which the ball hit the stump, and then rebounded past him and nearly to the straight boundary. Even without his pace, he was a pretty vicious bowler.

Once, when he was playing for the Army side, he was annoyed when he saw one of the officers facing him with a raised left toe, and he kept hurling yorker after yorker till he broke that very toe whih was raised.

Kortright had a might impressive first class record to boast about. He played 170 games, and took 489 wickets at an average of 21.05, with a Strike Rate of 37.2 balls per wicket. Yes, he had the assistance of uncovered wickets and batsmen not having access to the greatest of protective equipment, but Kortright would’ve instilled fear in the hearts of most modern day batsmen with the sheer speed of his deliveries.

Kortright was a pretty effective batsman too. He could score runs at a rapid pace, and scored two first-class centuries, against Hampshire and Middlesex. The one against Hampshire was scored in less than two hours to complete a score of 158.

During an interview to Wisden in 1948, Kortright spoke of the advantages that bowlers got with advancement in times. With new rules, increasing the width of the crease, the size of the stumps and the LBW rule which was changed much to the relief of a lot of bowlers. He also said that improved quality of umpiring was a huge advantage for bowlers as times went by. Scars of the incident with the Doc, maybe?

Charles Kortright may have never played International Cricket, but will live on as the Fastest bowler ever to have played this wonderful game. Old-Timers, agree?