by Abhishek Mukherjee

Frank Tyson was born this day, 1930. Volumes have been written about (and by) the man and his cricketing performances. I shall not discuss that in details. However, here are some examples that demonstrate how quick The Typhoon used to bowl, often after uttering lines from Shakespeare or Wordsworth on his way back to the mark.

Both Bradman (one must remember he had faced Tyson's idol Larwood, and had led Lindwall and Miller) and Benaud thought Tyson was the fastest they had seen.

Evans and Trueman himself thought Tyson was faster than the latter. Evans once gave Tyson the choice of ends in a Gentleman vs Players match. Trueman bowled against the wind.

Swanton wrote that Tyson was "as fast as any man has ever bowled". Graveney used two words that would be overused by television commentators decades later: "tracer bullets".

England visited New Zealand for the second leg of the tour after retaining the Ashes in Australia. The researchers at Wellington Aeronautical College got curious strapped metal plates to a cricket ball. Tyson and Statham were then asked to bowl.

Tyson clocked 89 mph (143 kph), while Statham clocked 85-137. These do not sound astounding, but they were wearing two sweaters each, and bowled without run-up (Statham was bowling in 'grey flannels').

It must be noted here that Tyson usually bowled off a 25-yard run-up. When he was at the top of his run-up, the distance between him and Keith Andrew, the regular Northamptonshire wicketkeeper, was estimated at 72 yards.

Tyson made his First-Class debut in 1952, against the touring Indians, who had already been flattened by Trueman and Bedser in the Test.

Facing Tyson was Pankaj Roy, whose scores till that point read 19, 0, 35, 0, 0, 0 at that point (he would follow this with a golden duck, making it 5 ducks in 7 innings and 4 on the trot).

Roy let the first two balls go. The third, on off, was too quick for Roy – despite the fact that he had already faced Trueman several times that summer.

The ball flew to Fred Jakeman in the slips. The ball made a crunching sound as it hit his kneecap.

Jakewman stood five yards back to Tyson since that day.

Against Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1953, Tyson bowled one that bounced on the pitch, soared over wicketkeeper Francis Parr’s head, and thudded into the sight-screen. This had been achieved by only Charles Kortright till then.

By 1954 Tyson was considered a Test prospect. Now, at Lord's, Middlesex captain Edrich walked out at 13 for 1. He got a run before Tyson let one loose. Edrich went for the hook, but Tyson was too quick. Edrich fell on the pitch unconscious, his cheekbone shattered.

Compton, next on the list, was taken aback, and sent poor Peter Delisle in: "Cor, just think how fast he will be at Sydney! Sorry, Peter, I'm not ready; you have to go in."

A month later Tyson took 4/35 and 1/22 on Test debut, against Pakistan.

Tyson peppered Lindwall with bouncers in the Brisbane Test of 1954-55. This triggered a sequence of events.

Now, at Sydney, Tyson bowled one that almost climbed Harvey, flew off his bat, and went to Cowdrey. And once again he bounced Lindwall ("I would soon show him who was the boss").

Lindwall obviously retaliated. Tyson ducked, but had instinctively turned his back towards Lindwall. The ball smashed on to the back of the skull. Tyson collapsed on the pitch and was carried off for an X-ray.

The rest is history. Tyson led the pack as England, after being 0-1 down, won 3-1 to retain the Ashes.

This included a ball to Miller at Melbourne that Tyson referred to as the fastest he had ever bowled. It hurried on to Miller's blade, took the edge, and Hutton took a leaping catch at slip.

Since the story of the Lindwall incident got around, only two other fast bowlers ever dared to bounce Tyson.

One of them was Heine, in the Old Trafford Test of 1955, Tyson's only Test of the summer. The two met again at the Scarborough Festival.

Tyson was in no mood to relent, but Heine knew what was coming. Tyson bowled the fastest bouncer he could, but he had not noticed Heine, who had already moved towards the leg-umpire and laughing. Tyson laughed too.

Loader was not as fortunate. As Tyson's bouncer hit the handle of his bat, Loader, already pale, turned slowly into a shade of green.

In 1956, Tyson was on rampage against Essex at Peterborough. He had already bowled both Insole and Bailey. Geoff Smith then had to be stretchered out after Tyson shifted his kneecap out of alignment and got him out leg-before with the same blow.

Five balls remained in the over. Tyson bowled two bouncers and a beamer, then one that whooshed past off, then another past leg.

Barry Knight, the batsman, never knew all this. To him, Tyson bowled only two kinds of deliveries in that over: the first, where he could see a faint shadow of the ball; the other, where he could not.