Josh Hazlewood's record-breaking delivery termed a technical glitch
The most interesting thing in the test series between Australia and West Indies took place at the start of day 4.
After declaring at an overnight score of 179-3, Australia came out to bowl with Josh Hazlewood opening the bowling for the hosts. In his second over of the day, a delivery to Windies opener Rajendra Chandrika had a lot of buzz around it.
The delivery was recorded as the fastest ball in the history of the sport as the official broadcaster Channel 9’s speedometer clocked 164.2 kmph (102 mph). It surpassed Shoaib Akhtar’s record of 161.3 kmph by a decent margin.
Speedo glitch? One for Josh Hazlewood's pool room anyway! #AUSvWI #Sharp pic.twitter.com/tKxBiB7z07
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) December 28, 2015
But for a bowler like Hazlewood, who bowls at 135 kmph consistently, 164.2 looked unreal. The fans were surprised with the speed and Cricket Australia went a step further and speculated a technical glitch in the speedometer.
Later, the broadcasters Wide World Of Sports clarified that the speed was a result of a glitch with the speedometer technology.
Hazlewood's 164.2 km/h ball was a glitch. #AUSvWI #WWOS
— Wide World of Sports (@WWOS9) December 29, 2015
Earlier this month, there was a similar scenario in the second Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in which pacer Neil Wagner’s delivery was clocked 160 kmph and the speed was later claimed to be an error caused by a bird.
With this kind of glitches on the rise, it won’t be a surprise if Mitchell Starc's 160.4 kmph ball to Ross Taylor (the fastest delivery in tests) in the second test at the WACA, Perth last month comes under the scanner.