Throwing the ball

Records for All Matches

Throwing the ball

Distance			Year
140 yards 2 feet	Robert Percival	Durham Racecourse	1882
140 yards 9 inches	Ross Mackenzie	Toronto	1872
"King Billy" the Aborigine	Clermont, Queensland	1872

Extensive research by David Rayvern Allen has shown that these traditional records are probably authentic, if not necessarily wholly accurate. Modern competitions have failed to produce similar distances although Ian Pont, the Essex allrounder who also played baseball, was reported to have thrown 138 yards in Cape Town in 1981. There have been speculative reports attributing throws of 150 yards or more to figures as diverse as the South African Test player Colin Bland, the Latvian javelin thrower Janis Lusis, who won a gold medal for the Soviet Union in the 1968 Olympics, and the British sprinter Charley Ransome. The definitive record is still awaited. Click here for an account of Robert Percival's throw