The Cricket ball that measures its own speed

Akhtar was also the first person to break the 100 mph mark in New Zealand on April 27, 2002 when he nudged through the 100 miles-per hour (160.9344kph) barrier with a ball registering 161 km/h.

Sadly, it wasn’t the official EDH radar (which had stopped working) that recorded the speed, but a Stalker radar gun run by an unofficial source – again, the validity of the result is in question.

With a host of questions hanging over Akhtar’s career, including the use of performance enhancing drugs, Jeff Thomson's world record 160.45kph recorded during the 1975 Perth Test by the more accurate method of high speed film, probably still stands.

Thomson is generally regarded as having been the fastest ever – he was only ever recorded once, and would certainly have bowled quicker at other times in his career. Our favourite story about Thommo is that he managed to bowl six byes with one ball – he bowled a bouncer that went for six!

Anyway, if the fastest legitimately timed ball we can find is Thomson’s and he was only ever timed once, we reckon he’s entitled to the crown until someone betters it. There’s a great story on the subject on Cricinfo.

The Speedsensor’s operating instructions suggest the ball can monitor up to 190 km/h which is 30 km/h faster than the fastest ball ever recorded – so go to it kids!

Finally, a word of caution – there have been some mixed reviews on the ball and its accuracy in the Cricketweb forum.