Akhtar and Lee head pace race at CWC2003

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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