Perth, Nov 15: On Sunday at the Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) ground, Australian paceman Mitchell Starc sent down a delivery at a record pace - 160.4 kilometres per hour.
On the 3rd day of the 2nd Test between Australia and New Zealand, 25-year-old Starc bowled at serious pace, troubling Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor.
Clocking 150 kmph and above consistently in the 2nd session of Day 3, Starc kept increasing the pace. On the 4th ball of the 89th over, the left-arm paceman bowled at 160.4 kmph, the fastest recorded speed so far in Test cricket history.
Jeff Tomson (160.6 kmph), Brett Lee (161.1 kmph), Shaun Tait (161.1 kmph) of Australia and Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar (161.3 kmph) are the other bowlers to have breached the 160 kmph barrier.
It was a yorker from Starc to Taylor and the latter managed to dig it out. As soon as the speed gun showed the mark, former cricketers and fans kept the social media buzzing. Starc's delivery was the talk of the day. One of Starc's deliveries broke McCullum's bat.
"OMG, serious pace," wrote former Australian fast bowler Lee.
"Just clocked 160.4km did Mitch starc..serious wheels," was ex-South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs' reaction on Twitter.
Plenty of tweets followed in praise of Starc, who is playing in his 24th Test. He had taken 84 wickets before this Test.
Here are some of the tweets
Wow that was quick from Starc @CricketTalkback pic.twitter.com/8KoMCE8z0H
— Damian Tardio (@damiantardio) November 15, 2015
Starcy hits 160.4kph and another chance hits the turf. This is great Test cricket here #AUSvNZ
— Damien Fleming (@bowlologist) November 15, 2015
OMG @mstarc56 1️⃣6️⃣0️⃣.4️⃣ serious pace 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
— Brett Lee (@BrettLee_58) November 15, 2015
Ah... Make that 160km/h! Wow. @mstarc56 on fire!
— Trent Copeland (@copes9) November 15, 2015
Just clocked 160.4km did Mitch starc..serious wheels👏👏
— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) November 15, 2015
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