‘Raise hell’ – the fastest bowler you might not have heard of

Everyone who has encountered Duncan Spencer has a tale to share.

In the early 1990s, a golden age of fast bowling, Spencer might have been the quickest of all.

Spencer, who was born in Lancashire and was raised in Perth, still had the potential to represent either England or Australia. The fastest bowler the Ashes rivals never had.

Spencer, according to Viv Richards, was among the fastest people he faced. Ricky Ponting said the same – Spencer and Ponting almost came to blows on the pitch.

Spencer’s contemporary at Western Australia, Durham coach Ryan Campbell, described him as “ridiculously and frighteningly fast.” Tom Moody, the former Australia international and another West Australian, said Spencer would “terrorise” batters.

BBC Sport met Spencer at his home in Perth’s south-west suburb just before the opening Ashes Test, when England won the fastest overall pace bowling game ever.

Like most kids born in the north of England, the young Duncan Spencer kicked a football around. His family moved to Perth when he was five, and soccer (his word) didn’t start to take hold in Australia until the early 1980s.

Spencer was a batter in junior cricket. He frequently “bowled the thing everywhere,” which was against his rule. It was only in one end-of-season game, when the regular bowlers were missing, that the 14-year-old Spencer got his chance.

He claims that everything just clicked. Spencer’s pace had been discovered, wickets tumbled and he was on his way through the Western Australian system.

“I had the “joy” of playing against Duncan throughout my junior career,” Campbell says. “You saw this kid, the run-up, it just looked like it was going to be fast – and he always was. He was faster than everyone else.

” There are only four people in my lifetime I have said are ridiculously fast. That includes Duncan Spencer, Shaun Tait, Brett Lee, and Shoaib Akhtar.

Spencer is not a tall man. Even at the age of 53, he has hulking shoulders, but a 5′ 8″ height is not ideal for a fast bowler. He had his first back operation aged 17.

“I can’t help but compare Mark Wood,” says Moody. It’s like having a V8 engine in a Mini Minor. “

Daryl Foster was Western Australia’s and Kent’s head coach as Spencer progressed. When Foster learned of Spencer’s British passport, he signed him to a two-year deal at Canterbury.

Spencer had no skin. Just before he went to the UK for the 1993 summer, he bowled 42 no-balls playing for Western Australia against an England A team including Jack Russell, Graham Thorpe, Dominic Cork and Andy Caddick – Spencer got Thorpe out.

The 21-year-old Spencer was shocked by the harsh conditions and the county grind on his first visit to England since he left when he was a child.

” I’d say to the other guys ‘ Are you sore? ‘ Spencer “says.” They’d say ‘ No, I’m alright’. I was unable to walk.

In their final game of the Sunday League season, Kent and Glamorgan squared off in September. They were the top two and the title was on the line. Richards, a legend of the West Indies, won his final List A game at the age of 41.

The match was televised live by the BBC – Jonathan Agnew and Vic Marks were on commentary. Online users can easily find the video.

As Kent attempted to defend a modest total of 200, Spencer was the fifth bowler used. Spencer’s first ball whistled past Adrian Dale’s ear in happy action and a retro sky-blue Kent kit.

Spencer mainly bowled two lengths: very full and very short. The crowd erupted as the ball thudded into one of Glamorgan’s batters or into one of Steve Marsh’s gloves.

After Spencer pinned Matthew Maynard – an England international – leg before wicket, Richards swaggered to the crease to a standing ovation. The Master Blaster, on the other hand, did not wear a helmet.

” He’s used to many a young pup tearing in and trying to let him have it, “was Agnew’s description of Richards defending his first ball on the back foot. Spencer racked his chest with the ball that came next.

” He spat his chewing gum out to cover, “says Spencer”. He was clearly hurt after the rib injury but didn’t show any pain.

Richards took another one on the top hand. The ball looped up to be caught on the leg side before the umpire gave the order to stop. Richards eventually passed Spencer at the non-striker’s end, giving him a high five and a pat on the head.

Glamorgan won the title and the match. Richards ended 46 not out. A signed baseball that Spencer still has is available today.

Two months later, another legend, Ponting, a future Australian captain, was back playing for Western Australia while Spencer and another legend were competing.

Playing for Tasmania in a Sheffield Shield game in Hobart, Ponting was a few days shy of his 20th birthday and nearing a century.

According to Spencer, “This day against Ricky, it was on.”

” Geoff Marsh, the captain, came over to me and said ‘ mate, I don’t care what you do, just raise hell’.

We had a crush on each other. I gave him four bouncers in a row and I think it should only have been one per batter, per over.

He complained to the umpire in jest. I turned around to mid-off and said ‘ don’t walk in. He’ll smash it if I pitch it up, too.

“He pushed it towards cover and I was in my follow-through. I kept going and took the ball. He made out he was going to run, so I turned and threw it. It slipped past his head as he turned and just missed the stumps.

” He turned around and said ‘ you do that again I’ll wrap this bat around your neck’.

“Don’t let fear hold you back,” I remarked.

” Then we’ve gone into each other. I was about to break him. I’d lost it by then. We continued to play until the players and umpires “pulled us apart.”

As fate would have it, Spencer and Ponting would end up in the same bar that evening, and they settled their difference over a beer.

Spencer, who acknowledges having a fiery temperament on the field, was wrong to approach his aggression against his own people.

” Justin Langer was trying to fire me up in the changing rooms, tapping me in the face, “says Spencer.

I didn’t need to start blaring. I was always pretty calm until I got past the white line. Before we left, Justin believed he would turn me on.

Spencer was winging. When he returned to Kent for the 1994 season, there was talk of an international call-up. Foster was instructed not to participate in interviews so that he wouldn’t swear allegiance to either England or Australia.

Then, in a flash, Spencer’s career came to a halt. In a June one-day game against Middlesex, he broke down.

“I collapsed on the ground bowling to Mark Ramprakash”, says Spencer. “I couldn’t walk at all.”

Spencer returned to Australia, slowly coming to terms with the idea his days as a professional cricketer might be done. Excruciating pain was now present when a young family was mowing the lawn.

In order to live a normal life, Spencer took prescription steroids. The desire to play cricket waned and the pain vanished. He went back to the Perth club circuit.

Spencer recalls that Tom Moody, the captain of Western Australia, discovered that I was once more playing.

“He said ‘ you’re going to play a one-day game on 2 January’. I laughed a lot, but I didn’t think much.

” It came around and I was picked. In the end, I was selected for the one-day season. I was just happy to be back playing. “

On their way to the domestic one-day cup final in Australia, Spencer stayed with Western Australia. In the final, his WA side included Mike Hussey and Simon Katich, beaten by a New South Wales team of Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Michael Bevan.

Spencer had a drug test after the game. With the steroids still in his system, he was banned for 18 months, the first cricketer in Australia to be punished under anti-doping laws. He was widely reported.

” It was six months after taking the drugs before I even attempted a bowl, “he says”. I had a year later when I first played it. Apparently it hangs around in your body for much longer. I wouldn’t have played if I had known that.

Spencer was out of the game once more, but was still not done.

Five years later, Spencer found himself playing cricket at Rockingham-Mandurah Cricket Club’s nets to a young Ravi Bopara through his work as a fitness instructor.

“Ravi said ‘ why are you not still playing? ‘” Spencer remarks. “Knowing how good Ravi was – and is – if he thought I could do it, maybe I should play”.

Spencer asked former Zimbabwe and Sussex batter Murray Goodwin if any counties were looking for a bowler after the drug ban because he thought his time playing for Western Australia had come to an end.

Remarkably, at the age of 34, Spencer found himself back in county cricket on trial at Sussex in the summer of 2006.

Spencer says, “I assumed I was still playing the game with a lot of enthusiasm,” but realized I wasn’t.

“I was sharp, but not as quick as I was as a young fella. Although I had the ability to do it, my work ethic had vanished. I probably went over for the wrong reasons”.

Spencer competed in two top-notch matches for Sussex, playing for Sri Lanka on a tour. His last wicket in professional cricket was Kumar Sangakkara.

In 16 first-class matches and 23 scalps in 20 List A games, he collected 36 wickets overall.

Nearly 20 years on, Spencer is settled in Perth. He is employed in Western Australia’s northern mines.

Moody says there is “no question” Spencer could have played international cricket. Spencer claims he would have preferred to have played for either Australia or England, but his accent is entirely Australian.

Spencer has no idea how fast he bowled. He believes that he was told that his speed was “off a short run,” and that he was only clocked at 158 kph, or just over 98 mph.

“I was in the wrong era”, he says, considering the way modern fast bowlers are managed, or how he could have made a fortune as a T20 gun-for-hire.

Campbell points out that Duncan Spencer wasn’t seen enough of, which is one of the great tragedies. “When he got it right – oh my goodness”.

Spencer experienced what most people can only dream about: he not collected the wickets, the international caps, or the rewards he might have.

“When I didn’t have rhythm, I was as bad as anyone”, he says.

“It was a fantastic feeling when everything clicked.” It’s effortless. It seems like it’s coming out of a medium pace once you start the rhythm.