The Ashes: Duncan Spencer – The fastest bowler you’ve probably never heard of

Spencer is out of the game again, but he’s not done yet.

Five years later, working as a fitness coach, Spencer found himself bowling to a young Ravi Bopara in the nets at Rockingham-Mandurah Cricket Club.

“Rafi said, ‘Why don’t you keep playing?’” Spencer says. “Knowing how good Ravi is, and whether he thinks I can do it, maybe I should play.”

Following the drug ban, Spencer felt his time playing for Western Australia was over, so he asked Murray Goodwin, the former Zimbabwe and Sussex batsman, if any counties were looking for a bowler.

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

“I thought I was still very passionate about the game, but I realized maybe I wasn’t,” Spencer says.

“I was smart, but not as fast as I was when I was young. I was fit enough to do it, but my work ethic was gone. Maybe I went there for the wrong reasons.”

Spencer played two first-class matches for Sussex, against Warwickshire and the touring Sri Lanka team. His last wicket in professional cricket was that of Kumar Sangakkara.

Overall, he took 36 wickets in 16 first-class matches and 23 scalps in 20 List A matches.

Nearly 20 years later, Spencer settled in Perth. He works in mines in the northern part of Western Australia.

Modi says there is “no doubt” Spencer could have played international cricket. Spencer says he would have been happy to play for England or Australia, but the accent is 100% Australian.

Spencer has no idea how fast he can throw the ball. He believes he was told he was clocked at 158km/h – just over 98mph – but that was “a short distance away”.

“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.

“It’s a great shame that we don’t see enough of Duncan Spencer,” says Campbell. “When he got it right – oh my God.”

Spencer hasn’t collected the wickets, the caps or the rewards he might have, but he has experienced what most people wouldn’t dream of.

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

“When everything clicked, it felt great. It’s easy. When you get the rhythm, it feels like you’re going at a moderate speed.”

“Fast bowling is great.”