another post on fast bowling

---‘Why do you think the likes of Zaheer and Kuruvilla seem to lose pace through their 20s, whereas Lee and Shoaib seem to be about as fast now (at 30 or getting close) as when they began their careers?’---
Good point Dilip and thanks for bringing it up. Lee, Akhtar and Shane Bond are all about 30 and are as fast today (maybe even faster) as they were when they started their international careers. To start off, this is rare. Most fast bowlers tend to drop speed as they age; in fact, dropping pace may even be crucial to the long term survival of a fast bowler. Pace decrease is not something that happens only to Indian fast bowlers. This can be a natural ageing process as with Srinath, Kapil Dev, Mc Grath or it can be forced through an injury as with Dennis Lillee and Allan Donald. Fast bowling is hard work and is made even harder by the fact that traditional fast bowling as well as the laws of the game demand that the bowler get into very unnatural positions while delivering the ball. Let me explain. Traditional fast bowling advocates the ‘side on’ action to help generate swing, and the laws of the game demand that the fast bowler get off the pitch as soon as he delivers the ball. So a fast bowler runs in hard, jumps and twists in one direction and after delivering the ball, pivots and turns off in the opposite direction in his follow through. All these varied and high impact actions are carried out in a matter of a couple of seconds, time over time over time again. According to one study, at each delivery jump, when the fast bowler lands, the impact on his knee is equivalent to about 7-10 time his body weight.
Additionally, the grounds that we play on in India are so bad that it is really a surprise that anyone remains fit to play over a few seasons. Two of my four serious Cricket time injuries were caused due to bad grounds. No wonder Indians are so shy to dive!
All the above is to remind you that fast bowling is a hard job and therefore, injuries and a loss of pace are natural with age. Then what do Lee and Co. do differently? For one thing, they have had their fair share of injuries. Given that, they have come back after each injury as fast as ever without a hint of a drop in pace. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, they are rarely used as stock bowlers. Their job is that of a strike bowler; bowl a few fast and incisive overs and look to topple over as many opposition batsmen as they can in that span of 4-5 overs. India has tended to use its fast bowlers mostly for two roles, one as stock bowlers bowling 10-15 overs in a spell or otherwise as the bunny who bowls the first few overs and roughs the ball up for the spinners to then step up and bowl their stuff. Secondly, they are all very strong lads with good actions and if you notice, at the delivery stride, they get themselves into excellent position to get full throttle rotation from their shoulders. In fact, even Zaheer gets into great position for a full throttle release and he used to release at considerable speeds earlier on. Thirdly, they have had the advantage to play most of their formative cricket in an atmosphere where fast bowling is considered crucial to the success of a team. That’s not the case in India, especially in the club cricket scene, where spinners dominate most often.