Many sage judges - including Sir Donald Bradman – believe England’s Frank ‘Typhoon’ Tyson was the fastest of all the fearsome quicksWe,the venerable (respected because of age, distinguished)-timers if you will, can be a limited protective of the past. For us the Olympic motto of Citius, or Altius,Fortius or Faster, Higher, or Stronger,represents an ideal, an imploring rather than a statement of fact. Records are there to be broken, and it is true,but sometimes it takes time and the increase can be in such minimal increments that it scarcely things.
Bob Beamon’s 1968 long jump record stood for 23 years, has been beaten only once since, and then by only 5cm. Read the piece that the former Olympic sprinter Peter Radford wrote for the Observer on the 50th anniversary of Roger Bannisters famous Iffley Road mile,and it lends a perspective on how limited things really change. In cricket batsmen unquestionably hit more sixes these days because of bats with bigger hitting areas, shorter boundaries and better hitting techniques. Yet only three batsmen in my experience – Barry Richards, and John Shepherd and Mike Llewellyn – absorb hit the ball on to the top deck at Lord’s. Once I saw John Edrich hit the ball past the end of the stand at the pavilion end at The Oval,out of the ground and on the way to the Tube station, while David Lloyd recalls Clive Lloyd striking the top of Archbishop Tenison’s school building.
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Source: theguardian.com