@@jacobwoolliams9429 I saw Thommo in 70s and Waqar in early 90s when he first played for Surrey and imo Thommo was far far quicker, Waqar got people out with late swing at pace Thommo didn't really do anything with ball he just blasted them out.
Waqar and shoaib akhtar way too quick than jeff Thompson who always pitch the ball in middle of the pitch hard even a 85 miles bowler may look fast but waqar bowling yorkers way faster bastmen cant even play his full toss n whenever shoaib hit the middle of the pitch like jeff shoaibs ball land out side the rope past keeper.
@@drariflatif2550 Thomson didn't bowl in the "middle of the pitch" that regularly, he got extreme lift off not much short of a good length. In my opinion when he was at his peak (prior to his shoulder injury in 1977) he was the quickest I've seen live.
How scary it would have been batting in that non-helmet period against such fiery bowlers....Hats off to batsmen of that era...And ofcouse Hats off to the fastest and one of the greatest bowlers Jeff Thomson..
frankmat Tony Greig often took stick at the time for many of his ideas,but usually time proved him to be right.Still,it took guts to face him without the helmet as most had to.
Indeed Mr Shetty, much as I dislike the Poms on any sports field I have to admire the courage of those batsmen facing Thommo at the old WACA ground, Lillie from the other end would have been no picnic either,,, marvelous hearing Norman May commentating also.
Mid to late 70's I watched a game at the WACA between WA and Queensland, and Thompson bowled a ball to the WA opener Bruce Laird which he tried to defend off as it reared up towards his head. It took the top edge of his bat and flew over the wicketkeeper and over the sightscreen for 6. Frightening.
Altaf Patel I was there that day. It came off a pretty good length straight into his nose. I think even Thommo felt sorry for him. I also watched him knock a stump out of the ground and Rod Marsh had to stand to one side as it went past him. Quickest I've seen by a mile.
Such a shame they didn't have the technology to time bowlers like they do today just about everywhere they play. Like imagine being at the hard bouncy WACA when Jeff Thomson was with a new ball all fired up and had the Fremantle doctor behind him. Can you imagine the excitement and anticipation you would have looking up to see the speeds he could bowl?!
In Thonos day they timed the delivery over the full 22 yards to determine an average speed. Today that time it out of the hand. I have no doubt that if Thommo had been timed out of the hand he would have been timed over 170 k The first 3 years Thommo played for Australia he was the quickest bowler ever to play the game. After he hurt his shoulder against Pakistan he was never the same bowler again
Poor old Keith Fletcher and Brian Denness looked like they had no clue at all against Jeff Thomson. I saw him bowl against England in Sydney in 1974/75 and against the West Indies in Melbourne in 1975/76 and I would think it is not humanly possible for anyone to bowl as fast as he did. It was amazing stuff.
Hands down, the fastest ever. His action physically, can generate the maximum speed and power. Way before my time, but sure would love to have seen him live.
the finest piece of fast bowling from thomson on the 74/75 tour at perth i have ever witnessed, the batsmen deserve medals for having the bottle just to face the guy,
I have watched cricket at the MCG since 1972 and have never seen a faster bowler than Jeff Thomson. Batsmen often played shots when the ball was about to hit the wicketkeeper's gloves.
Watching him in full flow with that unique menace and pace was the most exciting thing I have ever seen in cricket. I was only 10 when Thommo broke onto the scene and for a 10 year old boy watching him assault the batsmen of the world was something else. There have been superfast bowlers....Lillee, Lee, Holding, Roberts, Akhtar etc - but none carried the threat to life and limb carried by Thommo.
It think that it is extremely fortunate that nobody was seriously injured (or worse) by Thommo prior to his shoulder injury. We have never seen anyone else like him.
i agree thommo being best fast bowler of all time, but best spinner? shane warne himself said greatest spinner was abdul qadir, his teacher and mentor.
I saw Thommo at the WACA in 1975 when the Aussies were slaughtered by the West Indies. He was frighteningly quick, to the point I feared for ''Freddo'' Fredericks, Lloyd and the boys. They responded with 169 and 149, against the fastest bowler the world has ever seen! Tremendous guts and determination, the only time they tamed the Tornado that summer.
I'm also a Pom but Thommo is my very favourite Aussie. Hopefully one day they will find the technology to compare telly footage of him, along with Holding, Marshall, early Lillee & maybe one or two others, with the modern clocked-up hares like Shoaib, Tait & Lee. And I was away living in the US which is blind to anything but itself during Donald's reign of terror. What sort of speeds did he reach?
Jeff Thompson surely had to be between 160 to 165kmh possibly higher my dad told me that he saw him bowl in a test match in 1975 and he was scary quick to the point where you could not pick the ball up from the crowd reckns blokes like tait, lee, brad williams , Akhtar etc were no where near as quick as thommo he reckns the closest thing to thommo but for a rooted back was the west aussie Duncan spencer who if he had stayed fit or at least had a good strong back could have been a test sensation
+ Daniel Webb Spot on! Viv Richards and Ricky Ponting both said that Duncan Spencer was the fastest bowler they faced. Great story about Spencer here: www.theguardian.com/sport/the-nightwatchman/2016/sep/16/duncan-spencer-cricket-fast-bowler
I was playing cricket for Cumberland CC in the mid seventies when Thommo was playing for Canterbury Bankstown. When we had to play CB many of our first grade batsmen were unavailable due to work commitments, holidays etc and it was an opportunity for the second grade batsmen to get a run in first grade - not much fun. In my opinion definitely the fastest bowler of all time - thanks largely to his unique bowling action. Definitely bowled many balls above 160 kmh - ever heard of another fast bowler doing a ball that goes one bounce into the sight screen at a ground as large as the SCG and WACCA?
Beazle00 yeah definitely. It was a nice length delivery and still the wicket keeper caught it ABOVE head height. It would be so interesting to know the actual speed of that. I would expect at least equal to or above 165 km/hr.
@@teclarns Yes to you both. The defining moment was Rodney Marsh's response as he passed the ball to Chappel… I know it's not HD but you could see the expression of PHEEWWWW!! His words would have been 'choicer' ha ha ha .
@@shaikhmullah-ud-din1964 That was in the 150s & out of the hand. Thommo regularly bowled 160kmh+ full length past the batsman. Quickest & most lethal I've seen in my 50 years watching the game.
I'm not convinced that the next twenty years of assault and battery actually did cricket too many favours, but the wheel has turned since then and, despite what cricket writers were thinking in the 1980s and 90s, spin has well and truly come back and even the quicker bowlers rely more on movement than violence. (Yes, Mitchell Johnson had one great year but in between times he chucked a hell of a lot of pies.) For all that, Thompson was amazing and despite his unorthodox delivery he was purely side-on and straight-armed - absolutely nothing to complain about either technically or legally, and when batsmen of the calibre of Viv Richards or Clive Lloyd are talking about his pace, you can take their word for it.
Actually i thought the post by Douglas Porter was a very good post,containing some very interesting points.....and was not over long(unlike your post!)
Just a shame they didn't have speed devices at every game to record how quick some of those balls were back in those days. Reckon there would have been some seriously quick ones in this video.
why all are getting annoyed .wisden book of records mentioned that ball from thommo hits side screen of above 90 yards means almost above minimum 170km/hr to travel that distance by calculating the projectile dynamics formula-distance=a sine wt.see one yorker bowled to england player gives us only 3 frames available after release to batsman's end.a lot more left to see and uploaded.
His bowling arm (the right one) is straight from the moment he starts to bring it up from its lowest position until well after he has released the ball. Under the rules in force at the time he would have been called for throwing if the arm was bent when he released the ball (the laws have been relaxed now). Therefore your assertion that he was chucking has no credibility.
Not a very good bowling action, I think. Among the legendary bowlers, I would like to point out actions like that of Waqar to indicate real "bowling" than somehow forcefully projecting (not necessarily "throwing" in the real sense like Malinga) the hard ball to the batsmen.
Between Nov '74 and the start of 'World series cricket in '77 he and Lillie demolished everyone. remember Ross Edwards saying that Lillie and Thommo scared him just watching them when he was fielded. He said that "I was glad that I was on our side"
Jaff Thomson was the first pacer who bowled at a speed of 100 miles. Then came many viz Gorner, clark, craft, Holding, Hadlee, Lily, Imran during his era but he was the beginer. Was very quick and accurate with unique action.
No mate there was Harold larwood,frank Tyson,wes hall, roy Gilchrist etc and analysis of film footage of wes hall bowling in 1963 I think vs eng showed that he bowled 103mph or 165.7kph
Michael Holding was talking on Sky this week (during the Ashes). To paraphrase, he considers himself 2nd only to Thommo in speed & cites the sheer workload on modern players as to why they are not faster. Someone mentioned Patterson but he just scorned that consideration.
I had a mentor when i was a young up and coming lad at my club named Doug Cummins . He had a action like Thompson i still remember a loose delivery he bowled at me in the nets and it was a bean ball never bounced and he quickly said sorry as he was kind of warming into the task at the time i remember thinking as a 17 year old he isnt even letting them go fast yet . I got to see him play some top grade games as a young man and he was the fastest in this district at that time . Doug Walters had an invitational 11 match here against the then touring West Indies 2nd Eleven and i watched Doug bowl in that match and i seen the most amazing thing that day the smallest WI player Augustine Logie Hit Doug for 5 sixes and they were out of the ground not only over the boundary they cleared the trotting track and car park and landed on the road outside the ground i never seen anyone ever do that to Doug's bowling but just to give you an idea Augustine Logie was no slouch batsmen either but he smashed them so far i think a lot had to do with the pace it was being bowled at as well as great timing
I'm a Western Australian and Dennis Lille was my idol and he was very very fast but when THOMMO really let one go it was the quickest ever even faster than Lillee, Shoaib Acbar and Michael Holding. And I'm a West Aussie and I worship the ground Lillee walks.
Jeez, Thommo was quick….saw him with Lillee at Lords when I was a kid - Lillee was the most gloriously fluent and wonderful fast bowler whereas Thommo was sheer full-on express pace - even more so on a dry strip in Sydney or Perth. The poor England batsmen of the time (no helmets etc) looked like rabbits in the headlights and didn’t stand a chance, though they were immensely brave just to walk out to the middle.
The only thing that comes close to Thommo is the Michael Holding v Brian Close clip. My top 3 fast bowlers of all time, Thommo, Lillee & Holding. Oh bring back the brutality in cricket! (And back then the batsmen faced with very little protection.) Fantastic era of cricket - the late 60s through to the mid-80s. Australia, W. Indies, England, Pakistan and India were all competitive. There were no real poor teams (apart from Australia before Border). Great memories.
Nice comment! I did the same sum as you and got the same answer. And of course, we're neglecting any slowing by air resistance. Incredible speed he generated, gives me goose pimples whenever I see it.
His raw pace was 147km/ph. That's RAW pace on an average pitch. On a GREEN PITCH, you could add 10km and that's what he did. A slingshot action meant he hovered around 155+ every ball.
You're a fuckig dickhead. They timed it AFTER IT HIT THE PITCH. These days they time it OUT OF THE HAND. I saw him hit the sight screen on the full from a good length.
@@TonkaGoldman-xd5iw the world's fastest bowler competition was timed at the batsman's end when he won at 148km/HR. When he was timed at 160.45 at Perth in 75, it was out of hand. All explained in a chapter in Lillee's book 'the art of fast bowling:. Sometimes it's a good idea to read, educate yourself and use facts before insulting people...
@DaveP72006 Glad you liked it. Agree with you about the Michael Holding footage. That was furious pace against Brian Close. Other seriously fast bowling - check out Ian Bishop bowling to Robin Smith and Shoaib Akhtar to Ricky Ponting. Still reckon Thomson is the quickest though. Would like to see footage of that delivery to Tony Greig where the ball half-volleyed the boundry line. That must have been unbelievably fast.
Roy Fredericks, former west Indies opener scored 168 from 143 deliveries, in 1975-76, during that infamous Aus vs West Indies test series, as an opener, at Perth, world's fastest Pitch, against the likes of Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lilee, Gary Gilmour and co. Jeff Thomson bowled his fastest spells.With the aggressive sledging and abusing shows of the Australians, headed by Lilee and Thomson, batting was even more difficult during that series. As Greg Chappel puts it.,' the faster we bowled, he punished us more brutally
I play cricket at domestic level and I think it is fair to say that Jeff Thomson was a legend, how someone could bowl a ball that fast in unbelieveable. If I could create the ultimate cricket team using only Australian cricketers I would have Batting Order 1. Langer 2. Hayden 3. Ponting 4. Bradman 5. Gilchrist 6.Thomson 7. Lillee 8. Davidson 9. Warne 10. Mcgrath
Clive Loyd the great batsman did not even have time to play a shot , he just lifted his bat off the ground and is hit in the face, scary pace, quickest offem all
Agreed about Thommo not being a chucker. He is unconventional but purely in the legal sense. I sometimes think people misinterpret what bowling is about. Another great bowler who suffers the wrath of the uninitiated is Lasith Malinga. btw - you'd think more bowlers might try to replicate Thomson's style. Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar & Sean Tait all seem to split the difference between that & the traditional style, & they have been the fastest bowlers of the last couple of decades.
I don't care what anyone says. Jeff Thomson was the fastest and most frightening bowler in history. In a few matches, he put batsmen in hospital and God help anyone who pissed him off because he had another gear when he was angry or hung over Lol!
I'm a Pom but Thomson is my fast bowling hero - not just the speed but that bowling action is athletic perfection. Funny how with all the coaching and fitness today there is not a bowler in the world currently bowling at that speed. Probably only 4 or 5 in history could bowl consitently over 95mph - Holding, Thomson, Shoaib, and maybe Brett Lee and Clarke, Daniel or Roberts from the West Indies at their very best.
So,just saw Dennis Amiss v Jeff Thomson. This was,of course, the same Dennis Amiss who was felled by Michael Holding in May,1976,and carried off to hospital. He missed the entire Test series against the W I that year,bar one.
Notice that his follow throw is just a few steps to the left almost like he was a spinner. Most of his pace came from winding his hand back as far as it would go and pulling the trigger at the time of delivery.
@@brianelliott6959 He did take part in track and field, mainly throwing events including the javalin. This was some time after he'd already been playing cricket for some years so it's hard to say if it was an influence on his action but his action certainly does look very much like that of a javelin thrower.
I reckon you can get a rough idea of Thommo's speed. TV was 25 frames per second in Australia using the PAL system. 100 MPH is 48.89 yards per second. A cricket pitch is 22 yards and I believe Rod Marsh used to stand 20 yards back. A total of 42 yards. Take away a yard for the crease line as that is when Thommo releases the ball, then put the Yutube video on hold, then press the > button "below the L key", I think that is a frame rate button. If it takes less than 48 > clicks from ball release to Marsh gloving the ball, then would that be some sort of "best estimate" proof. ??. I'm no maths expert so it is just a guess 🙂
I can’t imagine how a batsman would be feeling after just facing thunderbolts by Lillee (pre back injury) at one end to then have to face Thommo at the other end, all without a helmet!
I am an Aussie, and I think Thommo was a great and fearsome fast bowler that we still admire today. Yet when the West Indians took Australia's lead a couple of years later and did the same thing with 4 fearsome fast bowlers all the major cricketing bodies that had people with white skin hollered that intimidatory bowling was not fair and not good for the game. Food for thought.
I witnessed many games during that era and I don't remember any Australian players ever saying that. The English cricket authorities and the English media were the only ones I recall ever complaining, and that was only because they didn't have an express pace bowler of their own and were getting flogged. The Poms cried foul when Thommo and Lillee were pounding them so it had nothing to do with skin colour mate. You're just making that up.
@@jugheadsrule I think you take a decidedly 'rosey-eyed' view of Australian cricket, Australian cricket authorities, and the ECB of the 80s. Read what Vivian Richards has written about how brutal, bloodthirsty and racist was the treatment of WI players in 75/76 when Lillee and Thompson intimidated the hell out of them in Australia and how happy Australians and Australian cricket authorities were watching that. And then read about how satisfying it was for WI to learn from Australian cricket, gather fearsome fast bowlers and give it back to the Aussies, who then cried foul and wanted to limit how many bouncers per over, fine teams for slow over rates (fast bowlers take longer to bowl overs) even tho the WI fast bowlers ended games within 3-4 days etc etc. The same authorities didn't push for any of those rule changes while it was Lillee and Thompson, only when it was Marshall et al. Does that not paint a picture for you? Not all is bad and racist about Australian cricket of course, but to pretend there is not a strong racist element in what is the colonial master's game would be foolhardy. Interestingly, things are getting better in terms of cricket's racism against people with brown skin as India pretty much now controls the money and hence the power in cricket - just as the ECB and Cricket Australia did for the first 130 years of international cricket. I am not saying the game is necessarily run any better, just that racist elements are less so now than before. Here is one of many salient intelligent articles written by a good Australian cricket journo who has white skin; enjoy the read: www.theage.com.au/national/lehmann-reveals-the-unwitting-racism-that-infuses-australia-20030127-gdv4nh.html
@@alanbstard4 I think you take a decidedly 'rosey-eyed' view of Australian cricket, Australian cricket authorities, and the ECB of the 80s. Read what Vivian Richards has written about how brutal, bloodthirsty and racist was the treatment of WI players in 75/76 when Lillee and Thompson intimidated the hell out of them in Australia and how happy Australians and Australian cricket authorities were watching that. And then read about how satisfying it was for WI to learn from Australian cricket, gather fearsome fast bowlers and give it back to the Aussies, who then cried foul and wanted to limit how many bouncers per over, fine teams for slow over rates (fast bowlers take longer to bowl overs) even tho the WI fast bowlers ended games within 3-4 days etc etc. The same authorities didn't push for any of those rule changes while it was Lillee and Thompson, only when it was Marshall et al. Does that not paint a picture for you? Not all is bad and racist about Australian cricket of course, but to pretend there is not a strong racist element in what is the colonial master's game would be foolhardy. Interestingly, things are getting better in terms of cricket's racism against people with brown skin as India pretty much now controls the money and hence the power in cricket - just as the ECB and Cricket Australia did for the first 130 years of international cricket. I am not saying the game is necessarily run any better, just that racist elements are less so now than before. Here is one of many salient intelligent articles written by a good Australian cricket journo who has white skin; enjoy the read: www.theage.com.au/national/lehmann-reveals-the-unwitting-racism-that-infuses-australia-20030127-gdv4nh.html
Why is it not possible to accurately time off a TV screen? 22 yards between stumps, release point visible, many frames per second. If possible it would settle a lot of arguments. Thommo is the quickest I've seen and I go back to Lillie pre injury.
They have actually done that by analysing old film of Harold Larwood.They timed him at a constant 98 m.p.h. but Lol Larwood had beautiful control as well.He could hit a sixpence at 20 yards,full pelt if ordered to by his captain,Douglas Jardine,and Jardine frequently did just that !!!BTW Don Bradman said he had never seen any bowler,in his life ,bowl a ball as fast,or faster as Jeffrey Robert Thomson,with the POSSIBLE exception of Frank "typhoon" Tyson,for a very short period.
You can't do that accurately because the frames per second of film back then was 24 fps, which means that in 1 frame the ball covers approx 2 yards or 10% of the distance. So it's hard to differentiate an 145kph ball from a 160kph ball using that method.
The West Indies fast bowlers of late 70's and early 80's might be the fastest of all time. The results and impact, they had made against stronger teams, overcoming pitch conditions and climatic barriers were unmatched in cricket history. Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Sylvester clarke, collin Croft, Wayne Daniel and Malcolm Marshall, among others had proved it, even in the slow pitches of India and Pakistan., that too, without using reverse swing.Others, including Jeff Thomson had always struggled in slow pitches. Even in 1975, when he was at his fastest, Jeff Thomson failed miserably in England. He always failed against Pakistan., both at home and in Pakistan. Dennis Lilee and all other bowlers, except perhaps Richard Hadlee, generally struggled in Asia, while West indians thrived and conquered, everywhere.
and yet seriously injured in76/77,still had periods of super fast,west indies 1978,...22wickets82/83 verse England. should have been taken to the west indies in the 1984 Kim Hughes led team,Lawson didn't fire and Hogg only a couple of times,the very thought of three fast Bowers may have matched the wi
I object to the title , ' may be , the fastest bowler '....what ' may be ' man. Why this confusion.... Thomson was the fastest of them all . If you've seen him , Lilly , west indies legendary Pacers , Shoaib , Tait, Brett bowling in the stadium , you will know who was fastest . He was way more quicker than any other Paceman . I've seen him bowling and others too .
The strongest Australian team could be beaten by the West Indies team of late 70s and early 80s. Great Don Bradman had testified their strength. Australian teams and pace bowlers., including Dennis Lilee, Jeff Thomson, Glen Magrath, Mitchel Johnson, failed miserably in Asia., while the West Indians had their strength everywhere
All these viscous balling and everyone applauds the bowler and one day of viscous bowling in a test match from the past and you got 'bodyline' and curtains to the career of the player...
...6.53 ⚡️....it would seem to me that if a bowler bowls a head/neck high bumper that half volleys over the boundary line into the sight screen....the pace of that ball as is commonly measured HAS to be significantly higher than 100 mph..160 kms .I deduce this from a 40 yr experience of playing and watching..the game...I have watched on..tv..famous pace bowlers of the 1970/80’s bowl the same type of delivery ..and watched the ball bounce 3,4,5...times before reaching the boundary rope.Famous pace bowlers bowling this exact type of delivery...and these bowlers from around the world...were known to be 90 mph + bowlers.So I have to ask at what speed was..J.Thompson ..bowling during his fastest spells in the 70’s ??? ( bounce..2..3..times)more accurately:
me too. that slingy delivery allows me to hold down batsmen half my age. i was a schoolboy in the thommo era, so i'm getting pretty old for cricket these days, but my body is still able so i keep playing. BUT i struggle with accuracy... too many wides, some full tosses too. that's the part of bowling like thommo that i can live without.
There has never been a scarier bowler to face than Jeff Thomson at his peak. It didnt last long but while it did it struck absolute fear into batsman.
100% The quickest bowler in Cricket history amazing style devastating pace he was the total package SIMPLY AWSOME !! Love watching him bowl
Hats off to those batsmen who played him without helmet and with ordinary quality bat and also without extra guards
I've seen Lillee, Holding, Roberts, Marshall, Donald, Lee, Aktar, etc, but Thommo was by far the quickest. And he hit the deck HARD.
@@jacobwoolliams9429 I saw Thommo in 70s and Waqar in early 90s when he first played for Surrey and imo Thommo was far far quicker, Waqar got people out with late swing at pace Thommo didn't really do anything with ball he just blasted them out.
@@jacobwoolliams9429
Waqar was quick . But Thommo , Lilly , west Indies quartet were far more quicker .
Waqar and shoaib akhtar way too quick than jeff Thompson who always pitch the ball in middle of the pitch hard even a 85 miles bowler may look fast but waqar bowling yorkers way faster bastmen cant even play his full toss n whenever shoaib hit the middle of the pitch like jeff shoaibs ball land out side the rope past keeper.
@@drariflatif2550 Thomson didn't bowl in the "middle of the pitch" that regularly, he got extreme lift off not much short of a good length. In my opinion when he was at his peak (prior to his shoulder injury in 1977) he was the quickest I've seen live.
I've seen all of them and for me Holding is the fastest I've seen
How scary it would have been batting in that non-helmet period against such fiery bowlers....Hats off to batsmen of that era...And ofcouse Hats off to the fastest and one of the greatest bowlers Jeff Thomson..
More like hats off to Tony Greig for having the guts to first wear a helmet. Everyone else was an idiot.
frankmat Tony Greig often took stick at the time for many of his ideas,but usually time proved him to be right.Still,it took guts to face him without the helmet as most had to.
Indeed Mr Shetty, much as I dislike the Poms on any sports field I have to admire the courage of those batsmen facing Thommo at the old WACA ground, Lillie from the other end would have been no picnic either,,, marvelous hearing Norman May commentating also.
@@frankmat mike brearley english captain first wore skull cap under normal peaked cap
tony greig health and safety guru. facing Jeff thompson without a helmet is crazy
Mid to late 70's I watched a game at the WACA between WA and Queensland, and Thompson bowled a ball to the WA opener Bruce Laird which he tried to defend off as it reared up towards his head. It took the top edge of his bat and flew over the wicketkeeper and over the sightscreen for 6. Frightening.
the bounce that hit helmet-less Lloyd at jaw, oh my god. I never have seen such injury in my life.
Altaf Patel I was there that day. It came off a pretty good length straight into his nose. I think even Thommo felt sorry for him. I also watched him knock a stump out of the ground and Rod Marsh had to stand to one side as it went past him. Quickest I've seen by a mile.
@@theguiltythree7280 That did come up hard off quite a good length - I don't think any top line batsmen would have expected that.
@subhadeep mandal They had extraordinary depth of talent with fast bowlers back then but they could and always did bat deep as well.
Such a shame they didn't have the technology to time bowlers like they do today just about everywhere they play. Like imagine being at the hard bouncy WACA when Jeff Thomson was with a new ball all fired up and had the Fremantle doctor behind him. Can you imagine the excitement and anticipation you would have looking up to see the speeds he could bowl?!
In Thonos day they timed the delivery over the full 22 yards to determine an average speed. Today that time it out of the hand. I have no doubt that if Thommo had been timed out of the hand he would have been timed over 170 k
The first 3 years Thommo played for Australia he was the quickest bowler ever to play the game.
After he hurt his shoulder against Pakistan he was never the same bowler again
@@mikesuahtla9826 nope. That is incorrect. When Thomson and others were timed at Perth in 75, it was out of hand. Same as today.
Poor old Keith Fletcher and Brian Denness looked like they had no clue at all against Jeff Thomson. I saw him bowl against England in Sydney in 1974/75 and against the West Indies in Melbourne in 1975/76 and I would think it is not humanly possible for anyone to bowl as fast as he did. It was amazing stuff.
Hands down, the fastest ever. His action physically, can generate the maximum speed and power. Way before my time, but sure would love to have seen him live.
the finest piece of fast bowling from thomson on the 74/75 tour at perth i have ever witnessed, the batsmen deserve medals for having the bottle just to face the guy,
I have watched cricket at the MCG since 1972 and have never seen a faster bowler than Jeff Thomson. Batsmen often played shots when the ball was about to hit the wicketkeeper's gloves.
Watching him in full flow with that unique menace and pace was the most exciting thing I have ever seen in cricket. I was only 10 when Thommo broke onto the scene and for a 10 year old boy watching him assault the batsmen of the world was something else. There have been superfast bowlers....Lillee, Lee, Holding, Roberts, Akhtar etc - but none carried the threat to life and limb carried by Thommo.
It think that it is extremely fortunate that nobody was seriously injured (or worse) by Thommo prior to his shoulder injury. We have never seen anyone else like him.
The fastest bowler of all time. Never equalled. If Clive Lloyd says so,I'll go with that. Very dangerous bowler.
My favourite fast bowler of all time....a superb bowling action...
Australia has produced the best fast bowler and spinner of all time.
Jeff Thompson
Shane Warne
Lille in 70 tests has the highest percentage of wickets till this day no one matches it
i agree thommo being best fast bowler of all time, but best spinner? shane warne himself said greatest spinner was abdul qadir, his teacher and mentor.
@@aliafaaqkhan2176 It's called humility.
Don’t forget McGrath and lee
Marshall
MacGill
I saw Thommo at the WACA in 1975 when the Aussies were slaughtered by the West Indies.
He was frighteningly quick, to the point I feared for ''Freddo'' Fredericks, Lloyd and the boys.
They responded with 169 and 149, against the fastest bowler the world has ever seen!
Tremendous guts and determination, the only time they tamed the Tornado that summer.
I'm also a Pom but Thommo is my very favourite Aussie. Hopefully one day they will find the technology to compare telly footage of him, along with Holding, Marshall, early Lillee & maybe one or two others, with the modern clocked-up hares like Shoaib, Tait & Lee.
And I was away living in the US which is blind to anything but itself during Donald's reign of terror. What sort of speeds did he reach?
Jon Snow was as wild as Lillee in 1971. I saw Thommo and Lillee at the WACA in 1974/5. Got the autographs to prove it.
i think the ball to Clive at 7:25 actually shows how quick the ball was it wasn't that short
Not just his speed but his bounce off a good length too.
Jeff Thompson surely had to be between 160 to 165kmh possibly higher my dad told me that he saw him bowl in a test match in 1975 and he was scary quick to the point where you could not pick the ball up from the crowd reckns blokes like tait, lee, brad williams , Akhtar etc were no where near as quick as thommo he reckns the closest thing to thommo but for a rooted back was the west aussie Duncan spencer who if he had stayed fit or at least had a good strong back could have been a test sensation
+ Daniel Webb
Spot on! Viv Richards and Ricky Ponting both said that Duncan Spencer was the fastest bowler they faced. Great story about Spencer here: www.theguardian.com/sport/the-nightwatchman/2016/sep/16/duncan-spencer-cricket-fast-bowler
I was playing cricket for Cumberland CC in the mid seventies when Thommo was playing for Canterbury Bankstown. When we had to play CB many of our first grade batsmen were unavailable due to work commitments, holidays etc and it was an opportunity for the second grade batsmen to get a run in first grade - not much fun. In my opinion definitely the fastest bowler of all time - thanks largely to his unique bowling action.
Definitely bowled many balls above 160 kmh - ever heard of another fast bowler doing a ball that goes one bounce into the sight screen at a ground as large as the SCG and WACCA?
That must have been terrifying ! No helmets, I am really surprised he didn't seriously injure someone.
The ball at 6.43 to Keith Fletcher is the single fastest delivery I have ever seen on film in more than 50 years watching cricket.
Beazle00 yeah definitely. It was a nice length delivery and still the wicket keeper caught it ABOVE head height. It would be so interesting to know the actual speed of that. I would expect at least equal to or above 165 km/hr.
@@teclarns Yes to you both. The defining moment was Rodney Marsh's response as he passed the ball to Chappel… I know it's not HD but you could see the expression of PHEEWWWW!! His words would have been 'choicer' ha ha ha .
Watch Akhtar bowling to Langer and Poniting at Gabba
@@shaikhmullah-ud-din1964 That was in the 150s & out of the hand. Thommo regularly bowled 160kmh+ full length past the batsman. Quickest & most lethal I've seen in my 50 years watching the game.
@@shaikhmullah-ud-din1964 Throwib never got any to half volley then sight screen at the WACA
I'm not convinced that the next twenty years of assault and battery actually did cricket too many favours, but the wheel has turned since then and, despite what cricket writers were thinking in the 1980s and 90s, spin has well and truly come back and even the quicker bowlers rely more on movement than violence. (Yes, Mitchell Johnson had one great year but in between times he chucked a hell of a lot of pies.) For all that, Thompson was amazing and despite his unorthodox delivery he was purely side-on and straight-armed - absolutely nothing to complain about either technically or legally, and when batsmen of the calibre of Viv Richards or Clive Lloyd are talking about his pace, you can take their word for it.
you sure can talk mate...
Actually i thought the post by Douglas Porter was a very good post,containing some very interesting points.....and was not over long(unlike your post!)
Thommo, very quick, plus a great bowler to boot. Clive LLOYD, is Clive LLOYD, great cricketer, gentleman and as tough as nails!
8:13 Cowdrey should have said no. Amazing pace from Thomson. I love this video. Thanks for the upload.
All I can say is poor batsmen.....I feel so sorry for them as they must have had nightmares facing thunderbolts like that.
Just a shame they didn't have speed devices at every game to record how quick some of those balls were back in those days. Reckon there would have been some seriously quick ones in this video.
why all are getting annoyed .wisden book of records mentioned that ball from thommo hits side screen of above 90 yards means almost above minimum 170km/hr to travel that distance by calculating the projectile dynamics formula-distance=a sine wt.see one yorker bowled to england player gives us only 3 frames available after release to batsman's end.a lot more left to see and uploaded.
His bowling arm (the right one) is straight from the moment he starts to bring it up from its lowest position until well after he has released the ball. Under the rules in force at the time he would have been called for throwing if the arm was bent when he released the ball (the laws have been relaxed now). Therefore your assertion that he was chucking has no credibility.
Thompson had the least "chucking" action there's ever been,
Not a very good bowling action, I think. Among the legendary bowlers, I would like to point out actions like that of Waqar to indicate real "bowling" than somehow forcefully projecting (not necessarily "throwing" in the real sense like Malinga) the hard ball to the batsmen.
@@nishanthvt2969 u don't know knowledge
Between Nov '74 and the start of 'World series cricket in '77 he and Lillie demolished everyone. remember Ross Edwards saying that Lillie and Thommo scared him just watching them when he was fielded. He said that "I was glad that I was on our side"
No, Jeff was super fast. Watch some other videos of his.
Jaff Thomson was the first pacer who bowled at a speed of 100 miles. Then came many viz Gorner, clark, craft, Holding, Hadlee, Lily, Imran during his era but he was the beginer. Was very quick and accurate with unique action.
No mate there was Harold larwood,frank Tyson,wes hall, roy Gilchrist etc and analysis of film footage of wes hall bowling in 1963 I think vs eng showed that he bowled 103mph or 165.7kph
u r my inspire Sir and i'm biggest fan of your..really jeff Sir u r my idol...
Great video. If you`re a regular sidescreen hitter on the full you don`t need a speed gun to tell you anything.
On those big Australian fields too..
Michael Holding was talking on Sky this week (during the Ashes). To paraphrase, he considers himself 2nd only to Thommo in speed & cites the sheer workload on modern players as to why they are not faster.
Someone mentioned Patterson but he just scorned that consideration.
I had a mentor when i was a young up and coming lad at my club named Doug Cummins . He had a action like Thompson i still remember a loose delivery he bowled at me in the nets and it was a bean ball never bounced and he quickly said sorry as he was kind of warming into the task at the time i remember thinking as a 17 year old he isnt even letting them go fast yet . I got to see him play some top grade games as a young man and he was the fastest in this district at that time . Doug Walters had an invitational 11 match here against the then touring West Indies 2nd Eleven and i watched Doug bowl in that match and i seen the most amazing thing that day the smallest WI player Augustine Logie Hit Doug for 5 sixes and they were out of the ground not only over the boundary they cleared the trotting track and car park and landed on the road outside the ground i never seen anyone ever do that to Doug's bowling but just to give you an idea Augustine Logie was no slouch batsmen either but he smashed them so far i think a lot had to do with the pace it was being bowled at as well as great timing
The ball at 6.42 was as fast as ANYONE has ever bowled
i reckon 4:35 myself
I would love to have seen his speeds using the current technology
I reckon he would be over 100 mph on a regular basis.
I'm a Western Australian and Dennis Lille was my idol and he was very very fast but when THOMMO really let one go it was the quickest ever even faster than Lillee, Shoaib Acbar and Michael Holding. And I'm a West Aussie and I worship the ground Lillee walks.
6.45, the batsmen could hardly believe it.
Jeez, Thommo was quick….saw him with Lillee at Lords when I was a kid - Lillee was the most gloriously fluent and wonderful fast bowler whereas Thommo was sheer full-on express pace - even more so on a dry strip in Sydney or Perth. The poor England batsmen of the time (no helmets etc) looked like rabbits in the headlights and didn’t stand a chance, though they were immensely brave just to walk out to the middle.
Great Bowler! Amazing action and speed
The only thing that comes close to Thommo is the Michael Holding v Brian Close clip. My top 3 fast bowlers of all time, Thommo, Lillee & Holding. Oh bring back the brutality in cricket! (And back then the batsmen faced with very little protection.) Fantastic era of cricket - the late 60s through to the mid-80s. Australia, W. Indies, England, Pakistan and India were all competitive. There were no real poor teams (apart from Australia before Border). Great memories.
I will go for Holding, Roberts and Thommo
Excellent vid, very well put together. Thank you.
Bullets Bullets Bullets fired at the hapless batsmen during those days.. THE ULTIMATE LEGEND of Sheer Pace Bowling...
Tommo was asked to deconstruct his approach to bowling, he said, ‘I just run up and go whang!’
shuffle up and wang
Nice comment! I did the same sum as you and got the same answer. And of course, we're neglecting any slowing by air resistance. Incredible speed he generated, gives me goose pimples whenever I see it.
His raw pace was 147km/ph. That's RAW pace on an average pitch. On a GREEN PITCH, you could add 10km and that's what he did. A slingshot action meant he hovered around 155+ every ball.
You're a fuckig dickhead. They timed it AFTER IT HIT THE PITCH. These days they time it OUT OF THE HAND. I saw him hit the sight screen on the full from a good length.
Disagreeing is ok but why the need for vulgarity.,Mr Goldman?
@@TonkaGoldman-xd5iw u r 😀 a pussy mr.goldman fuck off
Bro tomson bowled 160.58kph in 76 160.45kph,159.49kph in 75 were speed were only timed randomly and bro bowling speed is calculated at hand release
@@TonkaGoldman-xd5iw the world's fastest bowler competition was timed at the batsman's end when he won at 148km/HR.
When he was timed at 160.45 at Perth in 75, it was out of hand. All explained in a chapter in Lillee's book 'the art of fast bowling:. Sometimes it's a good idea to read, educate yourself and use facts before insulting people...
At 4:35 the batsman is Dennis Amis, at 6:45 it's Keith Fletcher. Different deliveries but the same amazing pace.
@DaveP72006 Glad you liked it. Agree with you about the Michael Holding footage. That was furious pace against Brian Close. Other seriously fast bowling - check out Ian Bishop bowling to Robin Smith and Shoaib Akhtar to Ricky Ponting. Still reckon Thomson is the quickest though. Would like to see footage of that delivery to Tony Greig where the ball half-volleyed the boundry line. That must have been unbelievably fast.
Seen them all, no comparison thommo was freakish, scary fast
Yes it is. Except if you're referring to the fast bowler Jeff Thomson. Or anyone else called Thomson.
Roy Fredericks, former west Indies opener scored 168 from 143 deliveries, in 1975-76, during that infamous Aus vs West Indies test series, as an opener, at Perth, world's fastest Pitch, against the likes of Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lilee, Gary Gilmour and co. Jeff Thomson bowled his fastest spells.With the aggressive sledging and abusing shows of the Australians, headed by Lilee and Thomson, batting was even more difficult during that series. As Greg Chappel puts it.,' the faster we bowled, he punished us more brutally
He is remarkable. I have got told by many people that I have the same bowling action as him. I don’t have the bounce or speed like His.
I play cricket at domestic level and I think it is fair to say that Jeff Thomson was a legend, how someone could bowl a ball that fast in unbelieveable. If I could create the ultimate cricket team using only Australian cricketers I would have
Batting Order
1. Langer
2. Hayden
3. Ponting
4. Bradman
5. Gilchrist
6.Thomson
7. Lillee
8. Davidson
9. Warne
10. Mcgrath
U eliminate the greatest aussie batsman ever,I.e Greg chappell must be a ignorant fool.
Clive Loyd the great batsman did not even have time to play a shot , he just lifted his bat off the ground and is hit in the face, scary pace, quickest offem all
4:11 can’t even see the ball till it got past the head. So Quick!
less frame per second.
Agreed about Thommo not being a chucker. He is unconventional but purely in the legal sense. I sometimes think people misinterpret what bowling is about. Another great bowler who suffers the wrath of the uninitiated is Lasith Malinga.
btw - you'd think more bowlers might try to replicate Thomson's style. Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar & Sean Tait all seem to split the difference between that & the traditional style, & they have been the fastest bowlers of the last couple of decades.
what a fearsome bowler he was
I don't care what anyone says. Jeff Thomson was the fastest and most frightening bowler in history. In a few matches, he put batsmen in hospital and God help anyone who pissed him off because he had another gear when he was angry or hung over Lol!
if he bowls in current era, hardly any team can past total of 50. and if lilly joins him, oh gosh...
With everyone wearing helmets and more padding these days I'd expect Thommo would be even more aggressive than what he was back in the 70s.
No 'maybe' about it. If he'd ever been clocked bowling fully flat out, he'd be closer to 170kph and 160.
7:44 that is the quickest ball ever, just must be...
Jeff Thomson was a legend, Ian chappell was before my time but from what Ive seen he had all the shots. Tbh Id rather watch Ian to Greg
I'm a Pom but Thomson is my fast bowling hero - not just the speed but that bowling action is athletic perfection. Funny how with all the coaching and fitness today there is not a bowler in the world currently bowling at that speed. Probably only 4 or 5 in history could bowl consitently over 95mph - Holding, Thomson, Shoaib, and maybe Brett Lee and Clarke, Daniel or Roberts from the West Indies at their very best.
pace at its peak..so sad that fast bowlers have just diminished over the years.
So,just saw Dennis Amiss v Jeff Thomson. This was,of course, the same Dennis Amiss who was felled by Michael Holding in May,1976,and carried off to hospital. He missed the entire Test series against the W I that year,bar one.
Notice that his follow throw is just a few steps to the left almost like he was a spinner. Most of his pace came from winding his hand back as far as it would go and pulling the trigger at the time of delivery.
No he bowled like a javelin thrower, which he was
@@brianelliott6959 He did take part in track and field, mainly throwing events including the javalin. This was some time after he'd already been playing cricket for some years so it's hard to say if it was an influence on his action but his action certainly does look very much like that of a javelin thrower.
6.39 seems even quicker !
I reckon you can get a rough idea of Thommo's speed. TV was 25 frames per second in Australia using the PAL system. 100 MPH is 48.89 yards per second. A cricket pitch is 22 yards and I believe Rod Marsh used to stand 20 yards back. A total of 42 yards. Take away a yard for the crease line as that is when Thommo releases the ball, then put the Yutube video on hold, then press the > button "below the L key", I think that is a frame rate button. If it takes less than 48 > clicks from ball release to Marsh gloving the ball, then would that be some sort of "best estimate" proof. ??. I'm no maths expert so it is just a guess 🙂
Absolutely terrifying!!
7:35 . Pick a dale styne delivery and increase the video speed x2
wow amazingg
Thommo was like hurricane when he take run up to batsnan
I heard micheal holding that Wayne prior was 90 mph bowler actually how much was his fastest ball
Still my all time hero...Arnold a close second..
by watching this clip...now I think akhtar and lee are just kids in front of jeff....Seems like every delivery just get more pace when it bounce....
I heard that LLoyd said " dont rub them, count them".
I can’t imagine how a batsman would be feeling after just facing thunderbolts by Lillee (pre back injury) at one end to then have to face Thommo at the other end, all without a helmet!
Lillee's back injury was in 72..
beauty
That was before helmets and other body armour. Scary time for the batters.
I am an Aussie, and I think Thommo was a great and fearsome fast bowler that we still admire today. Yet when the West Indians took Australia's lead a couple of years later and did the same thing with 4 fearsome fast bowlers all the major cricketing bodies that had people with white skin hollered that intimidatory bowling was not fair and not good for the game. Food for thought.
Not all the major cricketing bodies. Mainly the Poms.
bollocks.....unless they were deliberately aiming at the batsman
I witnessed many games during that era and I don't remember any Australian players ever saying that. The English cricket authorities and the English media were the only ones I recall ever complaining, and that was only because they didn't have an express pace bowler of their own and were getting flogged. The Poms cried foul when Thommo and Lillee were pounding them so it had nothing to do with skin colour mate. You're just making that up.
@@jugheadsrule I think you take a decidedly 'rosey-eyed' view of Australian cricket, Australian cricket authorities, and the ECB of the 80s. Read what Vivian Richards has written about how brutal, bloodthirsty and racist was the treatment of WI players in 75/76 when Lillee and Thompson intimidated the hell out of them in Australia and how happy Australians and Australian cricket authorities were watching that. And then read about how satisfying it was for WI to learn from Australian cricket, gather fearsome fast bowlers and give it back to the Aussies, who then cried foul and wanted to limit how many bouncers per over, fine teams for slow over rates (fast bowlers take longer to bowl overs) even tho the WI fast bowlers ended games within 3-4 days etc etc. The same authorities didn't push for any of those rule changes while it was Lillee and Thompson, only when it was Marshall et al. Does that not paint a picture for you?
Not all is bad and racist about Australian cricket of course, but to pretend there is not a strong racist element in what is the colonial master's game would be foolhardy. Interestingly, things are getting better in terms of cricket's racism against people with brown skin as India pretty much now controls the money and hence the power in cricket - just as the ECB and Cricket Australia did for the first 130 years of international cricket. I am not saying the game is necessarily run any better, just that racist elements are less so now than before.
Here is one of many salient intelligent articles written by a good Australian cricket journo who has white skin; enjoy the read: www.theage.com.au/national/lehmann-reveals-the-unwitting-racism-that-infuses-australia-20030127-gdv4nh.html
@@alanbstard4 I think you take a decidedly 'rosey-eyed' view of Australian cricket, Australian cricket authorities, and the ECB of the 80s. Read what Vivian Richards has written about how brutal, bloodthirsty and racist was the treatment of WI players in 75/76 when Lillee and Thompson intimidated the hell out of them in Australia and how happy Australians and Australian cricket authorities were watching that. And then read about how satisfying it was for WI to learn from Australian cricket, gather fearsome fast bowlers and give it back to the Aussies, who then cried foul and wanted to limit how many bouncers per over, fine teams for slow over rates (fast bowlers take longer to bowl overs) even tho the WI fast bowlers ended games within 3-4 days etc etc. The same authorities didn't push for any of those rule changes while it was Lillee and Thompson, only when it was Marshall et al. Does that not paint a picture for you?
Not all is bad and racist about Australian cricket of course, but to pretend there is not a strong racist element in what is the colonial master's game would be foolhardy. Interestingly, things are getting better in terms of cricket's racism against people with brown skin as India pretty much now controls the money and hence the power in cricket - just as the ECB and Cricket Australia did for the first 130 years of international cricket. I am not saying the game is necessarily run any better, just that racist elements are less so now than before.
Here is one of many salient intelligent articles written by a good Australian cricket journo who has white skin; enjoy the read: www.theage.com.au/national/lehmann-reveals-the-unwitting-racism-that-infuses-australia-20030127-gdv4nh.html
Why is it not possible to accurately time off a TV screen? 22 yards between stumps, release point visible, many frames per second. If possible it would settle a lot of arguments. Thommo is the quickest I've seen and I go back to Lillie pre injury.
They have actually done that by analysing old film of Harold Larwood.They timed him at a constant 98 m.p.h. but Lol Larwood had beautiful control as well.He could hit a sixpence at 20 yards,full pelt if ordered to by his captain,Douglas Jardine,and Jardine frequently did just that !!!BTW Don Bradman said he had never seen any bowler,in his life ,bowl a ball as fast,or faster as Jeffrey Robert Thomson,with the POSSIBLE exception of Frank "typhoon" Tyson,for a very short period.
You can't do that accurately because the frames per second of film back then was 24 fps, which means that in 1 frame the ball covers approx 2 yards or 10% of the distance. So it's hard to differentiate an 145kph ball from a 160kph ball using that method.
Bowling Order
1. Thomson
2. Lillee
3. Davidson
4. Mcgrath
5. Warne
4.43......Holy shit.
The West Indies fast bowlers of late 70's and early 80's might be the fastest of all time. The results and impact, they had made against stronger teams, overcoming pitch conditions and climatic barriers were unmatched in cricket history. Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Sylvester clarke, collin Croft, Wayne Daniel and Malcolm Marshall, among others had proved it, even in the slow pitches of India and Pakistan., that too, without using reverse swing.Others, including Jeff Thomson had always struggled in slow pitches. Even in 1975, when he was at his fastest, Jeff Thomson failed miserably in England. He always failed against Pakistan., both at home and in Pakistan. Dennis Lilee and all other bowlers, except perhaps Richard Hadlee, generally struggled in Asia, while West indians thrived and conquered, everywhere.
and yet seriously injured in76/77,still had periods of super fast,west indies 1978,...22wickets82/83 verse England. should have been taken to the west indies in the 1984 Kim Hughes led team,Lawson didn't fire and Hogg only a couple of times,the very thought of three fast Bowers may have matched the wi
THOMSON not "May be" but definitely All Time Greater than the Greatest Fast Bowler.
I object to the title , ' may be , the fastest bowler '....what ' may be ' man. Why this confusion.... Thomson was the fastest of them all . If you've seen him , Lilly , west indies legendary Pacers , Shoaib , Tait, Brett bowling in the stadium , you will know who was fastest . He was way more quicker than any other Paceman . I've seen him bowling and others too .
The ball at 4:35 is the same as the 6:45 ball but from a diff camera angle. It is the fastest ball i've ever seen
No, the first was to Dennis Ammis. The second was to Keith Fletcher, but yes both amazingly quick. Fletcher was dumbfounded.
@@roadrunner1337 The 1st one past Alan Knott that Rod Marsh took on the rise swinging away was super quick. At the start of the video.
WTF is action is completely legal, his arm is straight nearly the whole time in his action
The strongest Australian team could be beaten by the West Indies team of late 70s and early 80s. Great Don Bradman had testified their strength. Australian teams and pace bowlers., including Dennis Lilee, Jeff Thomson, Glen Magrath, Mitchel Johnson, failed miserably in Asia., while the West Indians had their strength everywhere
All these viscous balling and everyone applauds the bowler and one day of viscous bowling in a test match from the past and you got 'bodyline' and curtains to the career of the player...
...6.53 ⚡️....it would seem to me that if a bowler bowls a head/neck high bumper that half volleys over the boundary line into the sight screen....the pace of that ball as is commonly measured HAS to be significantly higher than 100 mph..160 kms .I deduce this from a 40 yr experience of playing and watching..the game...I have watched on..tv..famous pace bowlers of the 1970/80’s bowl the same type of delivery ..and watched the ball bounce 3,4,5...times before reaching the boundary rope.Famous pace bowlers bowling this exact type of delivery...and these bowlers from around the world...were known to be 90 mph + bowlers.So I have to ask at what speed was..J.Thompson ..bowling during his fastest spells in the 70’s ??? ( bounce..2..3..times)more accurately:
Must have been terrifyingly quick but I reckon what was worse was with that action the ball was hidden, then in your face!!
can anybody tell me is is it jeff thomson or jeff thompson?
it is actually spelt Thompson
I bowl like Jeff!
me too. that slingy delivery allows me to hold down batsmen half my age. i was a schoolboy in the thommo era, so i'm getting pretty old for cricket these days, but my body is still able so i keep playing. BUT i struggle with accuracy... too many wides, some full tosses too. that's the part of bowling like thommo that i can live without.
Should always have two fielders at third man to avoid byes