Jeffrey Thomsan

Jeffrey Robert Thomson or just Jeffrey Thomson as he was commonly known, is a former famous Australian cricketer. Also known as ‘Thommo’, Jeffrey Thomson was one of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket and was the opening partner of fellow fast bowler Dennis Lillee. Thomson’s and Lillee’s combination was one of the most fearsome in Test cricket history. Jeffrey Thomson was born on 16th August, 1950 in Greenacre, Sydney, New South Wales and is still one of the most respected fast bowlers in the cricketing history.

During the 1974–75 seasons, Wisden wrote about the bowling of Lillee and Jeffrey Thomson as, “…it was easy to believe they were the fastest pair ever to have coincided in a cricket team”. In the year 1978, Jeffrey Thomson competed in a fast bowling contest that included many of the leading bowlers in the world and came first with a delivery clocked at 147.9 km/h, ahead of Michael Holding (141.3 km/h) and Imran Khan (139.7 km/h). Jeffrey Thomson’s fastest delivery ever timed, using high-speed cameras, was 160.45 km/h.

Even former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd regards Thomson as one of the fastest bowler he has ever seen. One of the famous Cricketing Legends of all time, Jeffrey Thomson came to the fore in 1974–75 with 33 wickets in the Ashes series when modern protective items for batsmen, specifically helmets, were not available, and there were no restrictions on the use of the bouncer. Jeffrey Thomson having played for many Popular Cricket Clubs, enjoyed a rapid rise in the 1972–73 season, when he made his first-class debut for New South Wales (NSW), then his Test debut after five first-class games. Thomson generated his pace with a very powerful, slinging-style bowling action and he did not put a lot of work on the ball with his fingers, so he did not seam or swing the ball much and he adopted an uncomplicated approach to his work. The hard Australian pitches fitted his style as he relied on bounce rather than movement to take wickets.

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