Originally Posted by Rachael

Apparently someone wrote in to TMS with an enquiry along similar lines a few years back. I believe the quest was "why do Ambrose and Walsh continue to be classed as fast bowlers when they routinely bowl low 80s".

Just as the read the question out one or other of the bowlers (probably Ambrose) cut someone in half with a ball 10 mph faster than anything he'd been serving up prior to that... and the retort was something along the lines of "that's why".

Seems to me that under normal conditions any fast bowler who is any good will do better by dropping the pace a little (to something like Hoggard pace) and concentrating on control / variation.. and just saving that extra bit for shock value... but that presumes that when slowing slightly there's enough control / variation to make them dangerous.

Exception: doesn't seem to apply when the ball is reverse swinging as that seems pretty well dependent on 90+mph deliveries.