5 bowlers who bowled with extreme pace despite having an unusually short run-up

#2 Simon Jones

Simon Jones

Welshman Simon Jones was perhaps one of the most gifted fast bowlers in world cricket when he burst onto the scene back in 2002 and his greatest gift was that he could bowl at a scorching pace that made some of the best batsmen in the world look silly.

However, he generated that fearsome pace, sometimes rising to as much as 95 miles per hour when he was on song, from an extremely short run-up. Jones' run up consisted of a mere 9 steps and all the pace that he used to generate came from his powerful approach to the bowling increase coupled with extremely strong shoulders.

His greatest series was the historic Ashes series in England in 2005 and Jones's mastery of high-speed reverse swing had the great Australian team rattled.

He picked up 21 wickets in the four Tests that he played in and remains one of England's most loved cricketers, despite having played only 18 Tests.

Injuries eventually cut his career short and this was probably because of his action and short run-up which took a massive toll on his body.