speeds are similar for both sports with the fastest bowlers and pitchers propelling the ball in the region of : the fastest recorded cricket delivery is with baseball's record quicker at . It is the case, however, that baseball pitches near or at 100 mph are considerably more common than bowled balls of comparable velocity in cricket. The bowler in cricket is much more restricted with respect to how much he can straighten his arm in delivering the ball, and this is one very significant reason why baseball pitchers can deliver the ball faster with more frequency. One main difference, however, is that the ball in cricket is harder and heavier in weight. The legal weight for the ball in baseball is from The ball in cricket must weigh between . Categorization of bowlers and pitchers: Cricket's bowlers are grouped into different categories based on their bowling style—pacemen, seamers, off-spinners (or finger-spinners), leg-spinners (or wrist-spinners)—though a bowler may fall into more than one category (pace and seam bowling, for instance, largely overlap). The faster bowlers usually open the bowling, when the ball is at its hardest and smoothest. Spin bowlers generally bowl later, when the ball has begun to deteriorate and become rough. Baseball's pitchers are classified primarily by their throwing hand (left or right, with left-handed pitchers often called "southpaws") and their usual role in games. A starting pitcher begins games, typically not more than one game in five, in a rotation with four teammates who are also starters who will start games in a sequential cycle, and usually pitch five or more innings. Starters rarely appear as substitutes in games started by others. A relief pitcher enters games later, sometimes on short notice in crisis situations in which there are already runners on base and/or the opponent's best hitters due to bat, and usually pitches fewer innings in any given game. But relievers may be called upon to pitch in several games consecutively. Some relievers even specialise further strictly as closers brought in just to pitch the last inning of a game in which his team leads by a narrow margin. Perhaps the most specialised group of relievers is left-handed specialists—left-handed pitchers who pitch almost exclusively to left-handed batters (sometimes to switch hitters who are weaker batters right-handed). More often than not, such a pitcher will face only one batter in a given game. Pitchers are sometimes secondarily