Not much work for the speed gun at Motera

Amid all the paraphernalia scattered around the ropes just in front of the pavilion at Motera is one piece of equipment left unmanned throughout the day. Around six feet high, it is just a black pole of fishing-rod thickness, to the top of which are affixed two cylindrical gizmos. It looks innocuous enough, almost like a photographer's light set-up, but its readings are vitally important, parroted out endlessly in debates about the world's fastest bowler.

Since the International Cricket Council has no policy regulating speed guns, any technology used to measure the velocity of the ball is currently acceptable. The figures, consequently, are all unofficial and relative, and the methods vary across the international arena, although the principle employed is the same.

"Basically, we have two radar heads mounted on the pole," says Marcus Brennan of BBG Sports, who is working the speed gun for World Sport Nimbus at Motera. "They both do the same thing, but we have two, just for validation and more accurate readings."

The radar heads send out radio waves that, from the moment the ball leaves the bowler's hand, constantly bounce back to the unit, throughout the trajectory of the ball. For each such bounce, the time taken is recorded and the speed calculated accordingly.

But the reading from the first bounce is the most crucial. "If you think about it, the ball will be travelling at its fastest the moment it leaves the bowler's hand," says Brennan. "That is the reading we use; that is the speed that is recorded. The remaining readings are just used for other back-up data."

BBG Sports, an Australian company that also recorded bowling speeds at the 2003 World Cup, has developed the equipment and software for the speed gun over the last six years. "It was originally used in tennis, and then migrated over to cricket," says Brennan. "Cricket presented its own difficulties and challenges. In tennis, for example, you're actually much closer to the ball when you record the speed. So we had to do quite a bit of research to migrate the system into this game."

And the fastest ball in this match so far? "Daryl Tuffey, I think it was," says Brennan. "He bowled one close to 138 kph in the first innings. I think that was it."