For the Sri Lanka Under-19 Cricket team, the match, which took place in Bloemfontein on Sunday, turned out to be disappointing one as they lost the match by 90 runs. In their opening World Cup match, at the time of India Innings in 4th over, a wide delivery was bowled by Matheesha Pathirana, and at that time Yashasvi Jaiswal was batting. That delivery was recorded as the fastest ball to be bowled ever in international cricket. The speed of the ball was reported to be 175kph (108mph).

It doesn’t matter that the ball was signaled wide by the umpire but it was delivered at an astronomical pace as recorded by the speed-gun. That ball zoomed over Jaiswal and finally landed into the gloves of wicket-keeper. Previously, in international cricket, the last recorded fastest delivery was bowled by Shoaib Akhtar and its speed was 161.3kph (100mph) in an ODI against England. This happened during the 2003 World Cup.

Later on, it was declared that it was a recording error and the position of Shoaib Akhtar was still the same as a bowler was delivered the fastest ball yet.

In the history of senior international cricket here are the top-3 fastest balls bowled:

  1. 161.3kph: Shoaib Akhtar, ODI v England in 2003 at Newlands

2. 161.1kph: Shaun Tait, ODI v England in 2010 at Lord’s

3. 161.1kph: Brett Lee, ODI v NZ in 2005 at Napier

For Pathirana, it’s not the first time, when he made it to the headlines with his bowling skills. The action of the lanky pacer appears to be modeled after the legendary Lasith Malinga. In September 2019, he picked up 6 wickets conceding only 7 runs during a college game. At Kandy, Matheesha Pathirana is said to have bowled perfect yorkers to dismiss batsmen while playing for Trinty college.

There is evidence in this video that Pathirana’s bowling action is similar to that of Malinga with a slinging arm. The similarity does not end there. The pin-point yorkers, which uprooted the stumps is supposed to have remind people of Malinga.

For Trinity College, Pathirana surprised everyone around at the time of his debut. If he continues to bowl in the same vein,  the young pacer could make it to the Sri Lankan senior team in the near future.