On average, a baseball pitcher’s fastball travels at 92 miles per hour (MPH). In comparison, a cricket fast bowler’s average speed is around 145 kilometers per hour (KMPH), which converts to roughly 90 MPH.
While speed alone might suggest that a baseball pitch is more dangerous, there are other factors to consider. For example, in baseball, the distance between the pitcher and batter is 18.39 meters, giving the batter a reaction time of 0.44 seconds based on the average speed of a fastball. In cricket, although the distance between the wickets is 20.11 meters, the distance between the batsman’s crease and the bowler’s release point is only 17.67 meters, resulting in a slightly faster reaction time of 0.439 seconds.
Considering momentum, the weight of a baseball is about 148 grams, while a cricket ball weighs 156 grams. If pain upon impact is proportional to the momentum of the ball, then the momentum of a baseball is approximately 6.126 kilogram meters per second (KG m/s), while the momentum of a cricket ball is 6.275 KG m/s. Therefore, based on this factor, the cricket ball is more dangerous.
Another significant factor to consider is unpredictability. A cricket ball is bowled off the pitch, making it more unpredictable than a curve-ball in baseball. The cricket ball has both unpredictability of the swing in the air (sideways) and lateral (vertical), making it more dangerous to face, particularly when bowled by a fast bowler.