Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar's delivery clocked at 100.2 miles per hour at Newlands in Saturday's game against England has stirred more controversy.
The International Cricket Council's decision not to recognise the feat as a record has gone down badly with Tony Still, one of the tournament producers.
Still told rediff.com he backed the accuracy of the speedgun installed at various South African venues. The speedgun was accurate up to 1/1,000th of a mile, he said. BBG, the Australian company that installed the speedgun for the World Cup, is a market leader in the business; its services used for international cricket coverage in Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Sharjah and Zimbabwe, he said. The BBG group also provides snickometers, run-out rulers and zoomers for World Cup coverage.
Expressing disappointment at the ICC's reluctance to accept the record, Still said though cricket's governing body acknowledges that the speedgun is important for television coverage of the sport it has been slow in implementing a policy to ratify the process.
The speedgun comprises of two fully digital radars. One person controls the entire system through the game and records each delivery only after both the radar readings are similar. The radars transmit waves which record the speed of the ball once it leaves the bowler's hand.
In the event of doubt a red light goes off and the reading for the delivery is not taken in account. According to Still, the readings are accurate 98 per cent of the time.
For Akhtar's delivery both radars gave the same reading. According to Marcus Brendon, who was in charge of recording the information, the reading was accurate.
One source said one likely reason the ICC is unwilling to accept speedgun readings is because it will have to pay for the service, a cost currently borne by the television companies.
ICC President Malcolm Gray said on Saturday there were some problems with the scoreboard since the delivery --
after Akhtar's record-breaking effort -- bowled by Wasim Akram was also recorded at 100.2 m/h.
Still said that mistake was caused by the people operating the scoreboard at the ground, not the speedgun staff.
Some of the quickest balls delivered in international cricket (Kph)
161.0 Shoaib Akhtar (Pak) v NZ Lahore 27-04-2002
159.5 Shoaib Akhtar (Pak) v SL Sharjah 12-04-2002
157.4 B Lee (Aus) v SA Cape Town 08-03-2002
157.2 Shoaib Akhtar (Pak) v Aus Cardiff 09-06-2001
156.0 Shoaib Akhtar (Pak) v SA Sharjah 28-03-2000
156.0 B Lee (Aus) v SA Cape Town 00-04-2000
Statistics: Mohandas Menon
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