Akhtar and Lee head pace race at World Cup

Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar and Australia's Brett Lee, the world's fastest bowlers, have confirmed their status by topping the league table of quickest deliveries recorded during the Group stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003. According to statistics from host broadcaster Octagon CSI, Akhtar and Lee stand out as the only two bowlers to have broken the 160 km/h mark.

Akhtar's fastest delivery took the speed gun up to 161.3 km/h in Pakistan's match against England, while Lee came close to matching his pace rival, also against England, where his top speed was clocked at 160.7 km/h.

Third fastest bowler in the tournament to date is New Zealand's Shane Bond whose quickest delivery of 153.4 km/h was unleashed against Canada. Only 0.2 km/h slower than Bond was West Indies youngster Jermaine Lawson, who surprised the Kenyan batsmen with his pace during his one appearance of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 against Kenya.

The fastest recorded deliveries by bowlers from each participating country are:

Australia
Brett Lee 160.7 km/h v England
Jason Gillespie 148.3 km/h v Zimbabwe
Andy Bichel 146.1 km/h v England

Bangladesh
Mashrafe Mortaza 139.5 km/h v Canada
Tapash Baisya 138.9 km/h v Kenya
Talha Jubair 135.9 km/h v West Indies

Canada
Davis Joseph 140.5 km/h v Bangladesh
Sanjayan Thuraisingham 135.5 km/h v Bangladesh
Austin Codrington 135.3km/h v New Zealand

England
James Anderson 144 km/h v Australia
Andrew Flintoff 143.9 km/h v India
Andrew Caddick 143.3 km/h v Namibia

Holland
Edger Schiferli 138.4 km/h v Namibia
Roland Lefebvre 126.1 km/h v India
Tim de Leede 124.8 km/h v Namibia

India
Ashish Nehra 149.7 km/h v Zimbabwe
Zaheer Khan 147.4 km/h v Holland
Javagal Srinath 143.0 km/h v England

Kenya
Thomas Odoyo 135.1 km/h v Bangladesh
Martin Suji 131.2 km/h v West Indies
Peter Ongondo km/h v Bangladesh

Namibia
Gerrie Snyman 138.2 km/h v Pakistan
Burton van Rooi 134.7 km/h v Australia

New Zealand
Shane Bond 153.4 km/h v Canada
Andre Adams 143.8 km/h v West Indies
Jacob Oram 140.6 km/h v Canada

Pakistan
Shoaib Akhtar 161.3 km/h v England
Waqar Younis 142.6 km/h v India
Abdul Razzaq 141.5 km/h v Holland

South Africa
Makhaya Ntini 149.4 km/h v Sri Lanka
Monde Zondeki 141.0 km/h v Sri Lanka
Jacques Kallis 139.8 km/h v Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka
Dilhara Fernando 147.9km/h v Bangladesh
Prabath Nissanka 143.5 km/h v Bangladesh
Pulasthi Gunaratne 138.6 km/h v South Africa

West Indies
Jermaine Lawson 153.2 km/h v Kenya
Mervyn Dillon 143.0 km/h v Kenya
Pedro Collins 143.0 km/h v Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe
Andy Blignaut 145.6 km/h v New Zealand
Douglas Hondo 140.0 km/h v New Zealand

Mark Harrison
ICC Communications Manager
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