I agree. His bowling against Dennis Amiss in the 74/75 Ashes series was extraordinary! Marsh had to leap like a salmon to catch some of his deliveries!
@@jimmyandtheresurrection7247 I was specifically talking about speed atleast timed speed...Patterson was never timed officially but was fast dam fast !!! As far as official speeds are concerned Mickey was timed only at 150.4 while Dennis after four years of his stress fractures was recorded at 155 kmph..Slower then Thommo quicker then anyone else.. Scary to imagine what were his speeds prior to those bacm troubles.
@@jimmyandtheresurrection7247 Lillee was timed in the mid 150s. He was quick but I'd imagine Holding and a few others at their quickest were a touch faster...
No doubt about it, he was great back in the day (especially feared by the English), however, Viv did not face the WI greats (at least not the constant barrage, because the WI fast bowlers were from various islands). Also, they never use to go full blast. I am by no means diminishing Viv greatness. His record speaks for itself
In the 70s, I mimicked his action and I found that off a short run up, I could bowl at a pace that was much faster than the 6-step run up, that I used, than you would expect, plus I found I could bowl with great accuracy. Pinpoint accuracy. Thommo's action needs to be encouraged.
It has a very short lifespan though, and one must be physically up for it...Injuries are very common for the few whose action is similar like Fidel Edwards..You are looking at a short career..Brett Lee probably is at the top in terms of longevity for someone with his pace, because of having a relatively smoother less wacky action.Tait barely survived a few tests and purely focused on 4 overs of t20 games
u need to wake mate engineers these days agreed that those times it was out of the hands bounce to the batmans these days soon as it leaves it hands they time it then so say wat u like
@@SARYM911 I would say Brett lee front on bowling action is more injury prone. he is the only front on consistent 95miles plus bowler. most like sohaibh, tait, Thompson, frank Tyson are sideways. front on puts too much pressure on back and shoulder at that pace. but Brett had lot of professionalism to get to 300 plus in test as well as Odis. other like. Thompson kept bragging
Thomson was easily the quickest and most dangerous ever. He would destroy the modern batsmen of today as would Lillee and the great West Indies battery 😂😂😂
I m sure u don't understand cricket then..🤡reality is most of those bowlers would have struggled in current times with small boundaries flat pitches rules favouring batsman most of them would have got hammered in current times only a blind fan can deny this fact.
My hero. Thommo. Fantastic, fearsome, pace . Genius. Genuine Fast Bowler. Lillee & Thommoo. Who will forget them,? As long as Cricket is played, these two All time Greats would live in the minds of millions & millions of cricket lovers all over the world. Long live Thommo.
Ah! The man of much front-page controversy back in the day, really an anathema in the cricket circles: Hard and ruthless. I did appreciate his work, pace, and dedication. Conspicuous, though, was his foibles, flair and fiery personality which didn't detract from the great cricketing success he achieved.
I am one of those who saw Thompson at his peak, just before the series against the Poms in Ashes 74/75. It was frightening to me sitting there, palpably frightening. And there is a guy on the pitch facing this? Poor sod. I was safe and still felt intimidated. There was fear in the air.
As a young boy growing up in Brisbane my friends and I would go to the practice nets at the old 'Gabba for Sheffield Shield and Gillette Cup games and of course Tests. Got to see some extremely fast bowlers from many countries over the years but Thommo was in a league of his own, especially before he broke his shoulder. Standing behind the stumps you basically did not see the ball coming until it slammed into the net, and you couldn't help but flinch; even from this position of safety he truly was frightening - I cannot imagine batsmen facing him, especially without a helmet and all the padding they now wear.
Quite apart from the obvious speed and as Clive Lloyd said he could bowl that quick in long, long spells. The fear that really was generated in batsmen was caused by Thomson' slinging action that took the eye cues away from the batsmen e.g. the way batsmen cannot face a ball machine at far slower speeds, because they get no milli second eye cues. Mitchell Johnson had an action that also assisted him in a similar way.
@@chiefslim9353 and it is obviously wrong, here is the research paper. ttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1859347/pdf/brjsmed00278-0041.pdf, watch the last page.
@daggerin 4life Get some manners. from Wikipedia: "Michael Holding, himself often considered an extremely fast bowler in his prime, believes Thomson to be the fastest he ever saw."
@@sherrybombardieri9814 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1859347/pdf/brjsmed00278-0041.pdf, read this research paper and cure your brain , although 4 years later. Thommo was very much measured out of hand.
At 1.45 thommo talks abt the fast bowling competition. If u watch that video the guy clearly explains that the high speed camera measures the speed out of the bowlers hand. And thommo was measured at 147kmph. So wats this 175 he is alluding to here...
Harold Larwood at Adelaide 1933, Frank Tyson at Sydney in 1955, Dennis Lillee at Perth 1971, Jeff Thomson Brisbane 1975, Michael Holding at Old Trafford 1976 and finally Patrick Patterson at Sabina Park 1986. We could go on and on and on. Thommo was rapid, however, so were the rest of them. Probably between 1974 and his shoulder injury in 1976, Thommo was arguably the fastest bowler to that point in the history of cricket. That being said, on any given day there are a raft of fast bowlers who have bowled at the speed of light. Thommo has always been a legend and a hero of mine, however, I don’t agree with his belief that he is the fastest bowler of all time. Wayne Daniel, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Allan Donald. My word what about Charlie Griffith, Wes Hall, Sylvester Clarke, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Mike Procter, Garth Le Roux. Finally Roy Gilchrist. Gilchrist made Clarke and Griffith seem like choir boys. Well not quite but you know what I mean. So yeah, Thommo v England in ‘74/5 and West Indies in ‘75/6 at his best was enormously and historically quick. Folklore quick. Actually in 1978 in Barbados playing for Australia in the West Indies (after the shoulder injury), Tony Cozier said it was the fastest spell he ever witnessed. Which I guess would put Patrick Paterson down the mental fast bowlers shit off a shovel, speed of light list. Maybe I should go back on everything and totally cancel the aforementioned. Yeah, you know what Thommo really was the quickest. When the moon was in the right place, Thommo was stupendously quick. The Heavyweight Champion of all Fast Bowlers. Thommo we salute you.
Mate, its not just Thommo who said he was fastest. All those other blokes were very fast when at their best, but when champions like Ian and Greg Chappell, Viv Richards, Barry Richards et al all say that Thommo was the fastest and most frightening, you’d have to take their word for it.
@@Warlock786 Ponting and Lara never faced Thommo. So they can not compare. I will state this, Viv Richards and Michael Holding both stated Thommo was the fastest in his prime.
Thomo was the fastest bowler of all time. Nasty and Dangerous, particularly before he injured his shoulder. Thomo was my original boyhood hero. The man is a Legend
Jeff was awesome and my first cricketing hero, definitely the fastest I’ve ever seen but I have to say that the older he gets, the faster he gets in his own mind!
Judging by footage vs England (74-75) Thomson's bowling was incredibly quick. The batsmen were just non-plused by the height the ball rose. It is terrifying. The other question is why no-one else has imitated his action.
Thomson learned that action from his father, so he used it from a young age. He was barrel chested and had the right physique for such a pure, slinging action. I too am surprised it hasn't been adopted by other bowlers with the same physique. Thomson never bothered to train or keep himself especially fit. Also his run up was a leisurely 18km/h whereas most fast bowlers roar in at 28-33km/h.
@@subtyrant fascinating! What do you mean by barrell chested? People talk about Tommos action like it was all freakish (it kind of was - the extent to which he could flex and stuff) but there were aspects to his action that were from the text book - mainly being super side on.
@Stanley yes the way the ball spat and kicked up at the batsman off a good length was just mind blowing. Joel Garner did it too but that was largely attributed to his height and high arm action. Tommos was like a stone skipping through a body of water when you throw it side ways.... it seemed to gathered pace after hitting the surface
They have. Many did. But being able to bowl like that all day at a top level has proven almost impossible so far. Greg Chappell talks about this. He said he could bowl notably faster with a sling action but it killed his shoulder.
@@PetraKann Im saying he was bowling the way you are supposed to bowl the correct way not like some of these other bowlers that are border line chuckers.
He probably went close to 160 kph at his peak (1974-76) according to some measurements, but seldom over 160. Clive Lloyd always said that Thomson was comfortably the fastest he faced; Sunil Gavaskar too. And Michael Holding - damn quick himself - agreed. If you saw him then and videos of some of his bowling in those years - see 1974-75 Ashes - youd probably agree.
Brian Sukhu Thompson was bowling light Leggies to Bradman. Then some Indians came along and with no pads Donald Bradman times every ball . They were probably bowling 100KMPH.
Kerry O'Keefe tells story in one of his books. Thommo bowled leggies to him because he didnt want to go down in history as the man who killed the Don. Bradman was 70yrs and O'Keefe said Thompson didnt know slow and his leggies were outragously fast. He faced 2 Sth Aust pacemen and was handling them with ease on his backyard wicket which was a seamers wicket, moist and had movement. Handled them easily with grace and array of cuts, late cuts and more. And as he said the Don was 70 yrs old.
@@kevin8poison142 Thommo said Bradman destroyed those bowlers and Bradman didn't have any pads on either. Thommo said it was one of the best moments of his life.
@@kevin8poison142 Thommo bowling leggies? Skull WOULD say that. Thommo prided himself in the fact that he didn't need to learn how to bowl swing stuff....he said he relied on sheer pace.
You have to remember that up until the time Packer's WSC formed these greats were relatively poorly remunerated as professionals. Most had real jobs to make ends meet. Players like Lillee and others at the time always praised KP for what he did for them . Thommo has made a decent living by doing programs such as the above.
@@briansukhu4392 Viv richards avg over 60 against Dennis Lillee and tear him apart Many Times,And Dennis said That He is "The player" he ever saw......,Next best avg against Dennis Lillee Was in 30's,Viv was in league of his own......,He dominated Lillee many Times..
@Lucky 9 Viv isnt frightened by anyone,Period..He was at that Time at back end Of his carrer and His eyes werent the same,A man who never wear any protective Gear in his life and Was first to Hook Jeff Thomson on front foot and smash him over cover by coming down to track,Dont think such player will be scared by anything........,He was master blaster for a reason...
i think it's about the naked eye. to the naked eye it looked *fast* i should also add that certain early occasions in the career of akhtar i got that same impression of superior speed: batsman way way too late on the shot; unable to play any shot; rise of the delivery; it being in the glove in an instant etc. having seen confirmed 100mph bowlers, i'm very confident both thomson and akhtar bowled beyond that on occasion. as a side note - although i never got to see it, based upon reliable information, it seems patrick patterson was of that comparable speed at times as well.
Thommo was rarely timed whereas Akhtar was timed most of the time. On the rare occasion Jeff was timed, he reached 160kph. All of his team mates and opponents reckon he was 165 or faster.
That is absolutely amazing that the man who bowled the fastest average over, Brett Lee, does not get a mention. He also bowled the second fastest delivery recorded in that over.
Once,I happened to be at a local tournament in which Syed Kirmani playing along with Syed Abid Ali(for SBI).Somebody asked him,"Was Thommo really fast?" Then Kiri's reply that left every one around in splits.His reply was "Fut ti hai"(फट ती हैं!)!
The other names to hit the sightscreen on the full are frank tyson, roy gilchrist and Charles kortright, does that mean that were as fast as thommo and probably quicker than lee and akhtar?
I had a mentor growing up he had a sling action like Thomo and he was very slippery as a young lad coming up into senior ranks to face as you could tell he was only @ 80 % power in the nets . I Think the year earlier to this he was chosen to play for Doug Walters Invitational Eleven against the touring west Indian 2nd Eleven the team featured Augustine Logie now I watched my mentor that day bowl very fast at the Windies got a couple wickets if I recall but Augustine Logie faced my mentor and i watched Logie hit 5 massive 6's now these were over a trotting track and the last 2 were over the track and over the parking area beyond and out into the street completely out of the ground and it always made me appreciate something about cricket you can be the little guy on your team but if you got the steel cherries to face these speed demons and then to dish out massive 6's and then follow those with 2 back to back out of the ground hits your better than average id say . I was young didn't appreciate what i had seen that day till a few years down the track but my story wasn't about the my personal amazement but more that fact Augustine Logie was the smallest player apart from wicket keeper id say but the way he dispatched the fastest bowler i knew of as a local youngster at my club was amazing
Many of the best batsman are shorter. Fundamentally, you can react faster as a shorter person. You will even see this in events like the 100m, shorter sprinters have a faster start but can't achieve the same top speed of a very tall sprinter like Usain Bolt. For a prime example, there is the famous chinese sprinter.
Oh my God…. I hope people realize that that 99.9 mph delivery was on Perth wicket , the fastest wicket in the world at that time PLUS the 99.9 mph was OUT OF THE HAND … when it reached the batsman , the speed was considerably less. Don’t listen to Thommo here - go to the source . There is a chance he was consistently quicker than anyone … but there is no concrete proof of that. Plus I think even if he was , there was a fraction difference and that is all … nothing like he makes it sound
The wicket has nothing to do with it. If you want to be timed at your highest average speed, you have to pitch the ball full, as Thommo did when he was first timed in the WACA nets I believe. If you bowl anywhere near a short length you may be a touch quicker out of the hand but slower overall.
All I am saying is that thommo 99.9 was out of the hand . As I said he probably was the quickest but only by a margin . The rest were recorded close to 100 after being recorded MANY MANY times . Thonmo reached 99.9 only in a few deliveries . But he makes it sound like he bowled at 200 !!
There's many great things about Thommo, and I'm a huge fan but what really shines through in this interview is the humility* of the man... * ( Sarcasm- the use of irony to mock) But heck he is entertaining.
@@jacquesdemorton5871 Just wanted to confirm ... I am a HUGE Thommo fan. When I was a teenager I would go to the Gabba by myself if I had to just to watch him bowl for Queensland and Australia. I even have his autograph to this day. He was THE fastest bowler full stop. No arguments from me. He is a great character and true legend. Your attack on me I just don't get?? All I was doing was having laugh at the way he tells his stories... Not having a crack at him like you are implying. Go and have a lie down champ. Btw... How did you know my nickname is "dogface"??? How fast can I bowl? Not really sure where that fits into all this but because you asked- Not very.
I understand that Frank Tyson also hit the sight screen on the full at least once, at Manchester, I believe. You can't compare bowlers from different eras.. but by general consensus, it seems to be between Thommo and the Typhoon as to who was the quickest ever.
I think I'm with Richie Benaud when asked who was the fastest he immediately said said Tyson... He faced the animal.. And said he was that bit faster than Tommo
You will find vision of Frank's action on Yt and then realise how common they were....Neither was the fastest ever by the way. You can find out the top 4-5 if you really want to
I remember as a kid at the MCG watching Lille and Thomo destroy the Poms, Lillie went back to the boundary fence to get an extra kick off, Magic memory
@@rohitbhushan8855 But a grassy moist pich do not take off much of the speed of the ball while dry pitches make the ball slow when it reaches the batsman.
I have been watching Test cricket for over fifty years, and in my opinion Thomson was a yard faster than any bowler I have seen. Inaccurate, yes but I have never seen batsmen playing shots when the ball was in the wicketkeeper's gloves or on it's way to the fence before. I observed many batsmen desperately trying to get an edge rather than get hit. When paired with Lillee, Thomson was extremely dangerous as he went for pure pace knowing Lillee could cut the ball both ways off the pitch and swing it through the air.
Did you see Viv Richards demolish Thompson? Check out RU-vid. He was fast but no more than the fast bowlers today. A controlled study of the fastest bowlers clocked his best at 147 kph.
Incorrect. Thomson was timed at 160 kph using an old system. More recent systems greatly increase the speed of the bowler. Sir Vivian Richards was one of the greatest batsmen of all time and jeff Thomson could have off days. My comment was that in over fifty years, I have never seen a faster bowler than Thomson.
I don't know if 175 kmph would be the right measure ...but he truly clocked 99mph when the ball reached the batsman...so it's certainly quicker than 105mph
No, it's a load of bullshit. Contrary to his claims, in the contest the speed was actually measured over the first couple of feet it travelled out of the hand. This would make the readings only slightly slower than the modern method of doing it, hence his fastest delivery in that contest was probably around 95mph.
I got Thomo's autograph in late 70s as he was walking into the broadbeach hotel on the gold coast. I was very young but luckily i had a good looking mum with me.
I have not seen anybody ask him how he felt being smashed by Roy Fredericks at Perth in that epic innings . If I remember correctly Fredericks took 32 runs of the first 2 overs from Lillie and Thomson and all in boundaries
@fahimuddin57 I remember watching that innings of Roy Fredericks . The Aussies worked out after that innings that Roy was scoring heavily through point and subsequently placed 2 men at point , eg 2 gullies. So they dried up Roy 's major scoring area and for the rest of the series was just OK. However, it was a magnificent innings
Thomo's test wicket-taking average was 28 which is actually nothing special. This puts him behind Lillee, Bob Willis and many others - when you consider Malcolm Marshall's average was under 21, you realise that it's not all about speed. Thomo was fast but he could be wayward. Against test batsmen, you have to match the speed with accuracy and he often failed to do that. This is why class batsmen like Fredericks could exploit him of he went wayward.
Definitely agree. In 1991 waqar was ferocious. Made Imran Khan appear a medium pacer. Who can forget Waqar younis for Surrey in 1991. Nothing compared to him . He scared batsmen into submission. 95 mph plus inswinging yorkers. He revolutionised fast bowling. Unbelievable legend. Imagine that Waqar in this competition. The speed of the run up and the ferocious stride . All these guys would be nothing against him. At his prime he was as fast or possibly faster than Shoaib Akhtar.
Jeff Thompson was he hit the bounday 7 times when he bowled wide or a bouncer on the big Australian grounds no bowler in the history of Cricket has ever done this!
Geoff Thompson and Rod Marsh did a trip to Port Hedland once for a promotional tour... went into the coles supermarket in South Hedland, and tried to chat up my 17 year old sister. So that last story about the older sister would be true.
Jeff was the best of his era , Mike Holding was next in line for me, I also share the opinion, that nobody never gotten hurt real bad. Alvin kallicharan and Lawrence Rowe are forgotten hero. These Guy's opened good pathway's in South Africa, for little league etc.
No he wasn't. He was probably the quickest, but stats don't lie - his test wicket-taking average of 28 isn't great. He was too often, wayward. Nearly all of the other great quicks of that era who had stats measured over long careers, including for example the often overlooked and much underrated Bob Willis, did significantly better.
Just imagine facing an attack consisted of Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lillie and Len Pascoe in '70s without any/much protection gear / helmets, etc.. All of them could bowl at 90+ mph (144+ kmph) on regular basis, especially Thomson and Pascoe, while Lillee, being possibly the most complete bowler among the trio, had not been far behind in terms of speed too .... That being said, the fact that Thomson could reach even 175/180 kmph may only be most probably an exaggeration. Most probably, the batsmen felt the true heat of a bowler who'd be bowling at you at 150+kmph on a regular basis back then (then and there he may have reached 155-160 kmph too), as they simply had to battle without any protection gear / helmets in the middle unlike in the era of Shoaib Akhtar & Brett Lee where they had access to all the protection gear in abundance, hence feeling quite an exaggerated pace in terms of Thompson's pace .... Still a great menace anyway, especially with his really unorthodox round-arm explosive trajectory, pretty much in the mood of Lasith Malinga, yet with 15-20 kmph more pace ....
@@longjohn5322 There's that round-arm slinging movement for sure in case of Jeff Thomson, which made him difficult to pick in addition to his pace .... Just check ....
@@kalyanmitra4996 Gavaskar didn't score much against Lillie , Viswanath did. However, he did score good against Thompson and company when Lillie and others joined Kerry Packer series and Bob Simpson came out of retirement to lead Australia.
Jeff Thomson was probably the first to cross 100mph. Probably.The facts are these- he was timed at 99.7mph (160.45 kph) at Perth 1975 as has widely been reported here and can be seen here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GjkBNxKZOE8.html and at 92mph (148kph) after his shoulder injury at the 'World's fastest bowler competition' in 1979. Who knows whether he was the fastest of all time? It's conjecture. And who knows if he was timed out of the hand or at the batsman's end? I can't find a source to confirm either way. His action has often been kind of ignored in terms of the way he generated his pace- he managed to move his bowling arm through a wider arc. This is because he crossed his left leg in front of his right and created a forced 'catapult' position. It was like a sapling being bent double and released. This after a casual jog to the crease... which actually created the impression of more speed because, as Michael Atherton has recently said when talking about Jofra Archer, there is more shock receiving a ball from someone ambling in and bowling quick than someone sprinting in and bowling at the same pace. The comments about advances in athletic ability I agree with. Tom Burke crossed the finish line in the 100m Olympic final at about 12 seconds in 1896. In 1896 CJ Kortright was the fastest bowler in the world. When he died in 1952 he was referred to as the 'fastest of all time'. Harold Larwood came and went in between. Film of Larwood's bowling has been pulled apart by academics for the Adam Zwar documentary 'Bodyline: The Ultimate Test' and the result is that they believe he bowled between 137kph and 147kph. If these studies are correct, he probably bowled around 140kph and could have hit 145kph on a good day. 90 mph would have been abnormal in the 1930's. But he also dragged his right foot and sometimes delivered the ball in front of the crease- which meant he let the ball go closer to the batsman. Which made him seem even faster. As did Frank Tyson, who was taller and probably let the ball go even closer to the batsman. Which made him seem faster still. Tyson was timed at wellington university at 89mph in 1955, although he later stated that he was not warmed up and not using his full run. He probably topped 90mph in a match and, given he dragged over the crease, it is safe to say took less time to reach the batsman than a 90mph bowler today. The point is that, much as I would love to believe that Kortright, Larwood and Tyson approached 100mph, I doubt they did. And there is no evidence to the contrary. Thomson was actually timed at just shy of 100mph. Out of the hand or not, he was probably the first to hit 100mph. Brett Lee, Shoaib, Shaun Tait all followed at about the same pace 30 odd years later. I would, though, like to know how fast Andre van Troost bowled...
@@ynotnilknarf39 Perth, 1975; high speed cameras… “In December 1975, after the second Test match against the West Indies at the WACA, he was timed with a release speed of 160.45 km/h using accurate, high-speed photo-sonic cameras”. Now, that indicates release speed. But it’s Wikipedia, where everyone is an expert. If I could find reference material from Tom Penrose and Brian Blanksby, I’d be happier!
@@flamingfrancis not sure this was meant for me, but I’ve watched it a fair bit. High speed cameras. Still can’t find verification whether speed was at release, an average over distance, etc. I’d love to know. I think Thommo was just an amazing bowler, speed wise.
Wish some recording of boom ball bouncing to the sight screen is available ....would be worth watching and well according to him many times he had hit the screen ...wow. That boomerang would have been a scariest nightmare damn for any batsman.
I reckon it's bullshit. Despite his claims, he was bowling around 94-95mph tops (what he says about the way deliveries were measured in that contest are totally wrong). If he was achieving that, why haven't we seen it from the likes of Brett Lee, Shoaib Ahktar and others who we know could bowl 100mph deliveries? Thomson is full of shit, let me tell you. He just enjoys these myths and likes to build a legend around himself with this utter nonsense.
From a book titled the Quicks by Robert Drane. Came out in 2022: It’s Thommo’s effect we’ll remember. His shattering, pillaging, trucking-well effectiveness. Who cares about statistics? Thommo doesn’t. His influence on a game - on the game - was enormous. Why? Because he was not only inhumanly fast; he made that rock do unprecedentedly vicious things, with steepling, blast-off bounce, from what was previously considered a good length. Good batsmen had their faces, ribcages and life-priorities rearranged. Opponents who’d just come off triumphant series were reduced to pallid, frail wraiths. He made batsmen who dined on good bowlers want to apologise for hitting him to the boundary. Not one worthy archrival stood when he was in the mood to prove batting was a hoax, its greatest practitioners overrated. Speed guns? Anyone who saw him, or faced him, especially pre-1977, would be amused at the ‘fastest man in history’ contest between Brett Lee and Shaoib Akhtar. Thomson was officially measured, long after the 1976 on-field collision that ruined his bowling shoulder. Two years before that, he’d already hurt it during a tennis match. The video assessment happened during season 1978-79, when he didn’t play, and had been sitting around drinking beer for months. In fact, he put down a beer to participate in the little exercise. Against Holding, Lillee, Roberts, Khan and LeRoux, he clocked the quickest, around 150, hardly extending himself. The Wild Man surprisingly also proved most accurate. He’d been unofficially clocked three years earlier, at over 160. Lillee, by the way, was timed at mid-150s then, after his comeback with reduced pace. Ian Chappell, never given to exaggeration, ignores ‘studies’, measurements, or historical judgements. He believed there was Thomson, then daylight, then the frightening Holding. ‘He had another gear’. Rod Marsh was in the front row, as Thommo’s wicketkeeper. I spent a week with him at the Cricket Academy in 1998. He was effusive then about a kid named Brett Lee. Later, he put the Lee-Akhtar ‘duel’ in perspective: ‘If they’re bowling 160, Thommo bowled 180.’ Clive Lloyd faced or played with them all. ‘There’s only one way to play him’, the fearless and ferocious Big Cat said once in his laconic way, ‘and that’s to get up the other end.’
Easily. So, so quick. He had a real advantage in that he could bowl like he did. Most of us tried it as kids and yes, we could all bowl faster that way - but it was impossible to bowl many overs like that as it ruined your shoulder.
@@TS-cy1hr well that’s incorrect as he was electronically timed at 160.6 km/h or 99.79 mph in 1975 against the West Indies in Perth. The timing back then was also when the ball reached the batsman and not out of the hand as they do today. It has been shown that once the ball leaves a bowlers hand that it starts to slow down due to air resistance and it further slows down after it bounces on the pitch. The amount it slows before it reaches the batsman has been shown to be around 10%. So if you apply the maths to the figures it gives you an out of the hand speed for Jeff Thomson of 176.66 km/h or 109.77 mph. Obviously after his shoulder injury in 1976 he was never the same, yes he was still fast but he’d lost that extra zip that made him quicker than the rest.
@@terryallen5328 That would mean then Holding and Imran Khan were also bowling above 100 mph. Tripe mate! Listen to your self. Thomson would be slower than most test bowlers of today. Thomson and his fanboys live in their own delusional world.
As the years go by, Thommo gets quicker and quicker. There's no doubt he was extremely quick, the quickest l have seen. But 175 kmh? I don't think so. Probably consistently high 150's, low 160's in his prime.
@@tomnewham1269 bro Paul furber a youtuber calculated bowling speed of jeff thomson bowling in ashes 1st test 1974 75 and he said he got 165kph for 2 deleveries and one of those were even 167kph if u want to watch those deleveries watch ashes 1st test 1974 75 and watch deleveries at 44:50,46:08
I've yet to see a pace bowler hit the side board the way Thompson did. Sure his claims might be a little stretch but, when all the best players of the day all say, and that includes the windies pace bowlers, he was fast, I'll take their word for it.
@@samvanl4885 Thomson hit the sight screen on the full that's the difference and it's a big difference, the WACA sight screen is way back in the distance
@@TheVanguard333 I have done parabolic calculations and u have Waco distance is 74 meters from pitch, if you bowl with 70% angle (since Thommo produced bouncer of good length), and 132 post pitching (15% loss assuming), 151km/hour delivery will hit 74 meters.So, bowl doesn't have to be any bit quicker. Thommo's action made sure that bowl travelled a steep incline post pitching which other bowlers can't. It is combination of angle and speed, not speed alone.
@@kundankanan9074 I admire the fact that you attempted to calculate the speed required to hit the sight screen on the full. However your method is flawed on several counts. You have completely neglected very significant variables regarding pace and bounce of wicket, variations of bounce response relating to height of ball release, weather conditions. I could go on and on. The calculations you have made are not close to being scientifically rigorous enough to be taken too seriously.
@@sprickenville I saw him live a couple of times, once from side on and you couldn't even see the damn ball. Realistically I would say he would have been at his fastest, around 160-165Kmh, possibly the odd one around 167ish
@@sprickenville Oh I agree I'm not suggesting I could gauge that from side on - before he broke his shoulder against Pakistan though I don't think anyone has bowled faster before or after that. After that I don't think he hit 150km to be honest,
@Akash Akks i think it can be done....during that time only malcolm Marshall was close.brett lre and acktar st a later period...perhaps were compsrable....the most obvious clue to his speed was determined by the bstdmsns reaction and inability to cope with a pace that was beyond the reflexive capsbilities of these sometomes brilliant batsmen...you had to br there....no one else hss intimidated like Thomson.
Interesting though. I was at the SCG watching Thomson bowl for NSW against South Australia. SA had a batsman named Causby. He absolutely smashed Thomson. He cut him to the boundary all day.
I believe Thommo's bowling speed is inflation adjusted. :P He was fast no doubt ..could also be the fastest ever. But it is not like he is miles ahead of folks like Shoaib, Lee, Tait or Bond..most probably just fractions ahead if at all. Legends inflate over time.
I remember the story that Ian Chappell related one time. He was in the Caribbean commentating and ask the locals who was the fastest bowler that they ever had seen. He was expecting one of those West Indian greats to be the answer but the answer unanimously was Thommo. His action was the reason he was so quick. Most people thought the reason why he began his delivery with the ball behind his back was to hid it from the batsman but really he did it so he could bowl quicker. He had a very flexible back which he used to great effect.
@@tomnewham1269 maybe the West Indian consisted of young generation who didn't see Roy Gilchrist. Old West Indian cricketers have called Roy fastest among them unto Holding , or it was prior to era of Patrick Patterson. While Thompson is reputed to be fast, I don't think there was huge difference between him and Akhtar.
With the slinging action on the skidding pitch, the bowler doesn't lose much face compared to the normal traditional bowling action. However, it doesn't necessarily mean he is fast. Just apply few physics theory. it will tell you.
I once asked my late Father who was the fastest bowler he ever saw and he said Frank Tyson , Richie Benaud was asked the same question and he gave the same answer , both men knew their cricket so I'm not going to disagree with either of them.
The 99mph measurement that Thomson is talking about was made during the Perth test against the West Indies in 1975. The team taking the measurements used 2 high speed cine cameras, in line with the bowling crease at each end of the pitch. His fastest delivery was measured at 160.45km/h out of the hand. The speed of that delivery measured by the 2nd camera at the batsman's end was 129.92km/h. If you're being generous you could say, 40+ years later, that Thommo has misremembered the actual figures. Personally I think it's a shame that this myth of him being measured at 160km/h at the batsman's end has become accepted reality by many. For me it takes something away from a bowler who was an absolute phenomenon. "All of those stories are true" says Mr Naz.
Yes, as an aussie you could accuse my of bias but that isn't my approach to life. There were heaps of better fast bowlers than Jeff and he does rave on a bit about his exploits - which is a little sad and embarrassing at times. He didn't have awesome skills as a bowler but the one skill he did have was bowling super fast. He was certainly over 160kph at his fastest. Asking those who faced him is the most important test as it real-life comparison. The West Indies say he was the quickest ever, easily...
There were excellent measurement methods in those days...read up on how the police measured car speeds and issued tickets. Radar was an outcome of WW2 and soon after devices would follow. Radar guns were also developed for use in MLB and followed into cricket in mid 70's. The advent of KP's WSC saw great advances in telecasting with no expense spared. This also proved a windfall for the players who, to this day, are thankful for the very good salaries they reveive. You can easily find an excellent article on YT produced by KP's Nine Network called World's Fastest Bowler which Thommo refers to. The technology used was high speed film and cameras and supervised by a leading accademic fom the Engineering Faculty of UWA. In it you will find that measurement was done on release from bowler's hand.
Thomson, Andy Robert's, Holding all these fast bowlers are still considered to be best of all, by greatest batsmen.Their consistency was immense. The fast bowlers in the last 30 years have not made any notable impact on batsmen,who have scored handsomely against them. Any recorded measures of latter's is only one off fluke, hence the 70,s fast bowlers were the genuine quickies & intelligent than anybody Not only by 90's, but arguably all times
jeff is the quickest bowler no doubt but no disrepect to others he was around 170 to 175 i remember being at the wacca he bolwed that bouncer and man that ball took mate one bounce hit the fence with force so jeff u the man cheers peter
Soumyadip Biswas actually I have seen only bits and pieces of Thomson interview ( I would love if someone would upload the full video) but I found in RU-vid channel name Harry D. and video name " Jeff Thomson" where Ian Chappel is speaking on this topic and mashed up with it is video of Thomson (in a yellow/orange T-shirt) telling it was Tony Greig and explains how the ball on one bounce reached and hit the sidescreen. this full interview with Thomson wearing yellow orange T-shirt is what you and I are looking for because in another video titled "Lilee Thomson bowling speeds", Thommo in the same T shirt speaks about how he was banned from cricket and how he won the Fastest Bowler Competition in 1979. I really wish someone would upload the full video of Thomson interview because not only he is the fastest but you also get a wealth of cricketing knowledge.
@@shatnermohanty6678 thanks bro, i will surely watch the vid you recommended. But still Benaud said he was the fastest since Frank "Typhoon" Tyson.... I wonder how fast he was in 54-55 ashes. Those english batsmen must have balls of steel to face him and that also without much protective gear. 😅😅😅😅
I can see thommo being between 170-175 kmph in his prime. He was and still is the fastest ever. No doubt about that. He was a shade faster than the fastest bowlers of all time. You can see when that ball leaves his hand, he has so much force and momentum behind it. It literally was a catapult!
@@chiefslim9353 I saw him bowl in the mid 70's, I've also played and captained at A grade level and faced some very fast bowlers, Thommo was clocked at 160kph at the batsman, out of the hand it's much faster, you do the math... Ever seen another bowler bowl a six ?
@@kunalsingh3121 What about Patrick Patterson? He was the fastest and the most fearsome of all,as confirmed by legendary West Indian wicket keeper Jeff Dujon.
@@himanshupathak1310 He was definately not the fastest its hard to pick fastest among them as for me who saw all of them. As for your point on Dujon rates him fastest,Dujon never kept to Holding and Andy Roberts at their fastest, Holding after his shorter run up was never that quick again, Andy Roberts was already in last phase of his carrer when Dujon arrived. Malcolm Marshall in his peak was blindly fast too, Andy Roberts was probably quickest of them all in his pomp but this is never ending debate, In 1986 at Sabina park many said that Patterson bowled the fastest any human being can bowl so i agree with you that he was fast but hard to pick among them. Ian Bishop before his injuries was quick too. Do you know Sylvester Clarke ????? He never got a game in Windies 11, but knocked out Sa in rebel tour, acc to some reports he was bowling at 98 to 101 mph in one of the spell, So hard to pick fastest among them.
👁😶Amazing delivery stride,🤐nearly unemulatable!💯The fastest pace bowler without doubt. Hitting near the sight-screen after the first & only play-space bounce, in the 22-yard measure, several times; >> you may understand the pace, not just the lift! The man is open does not 'tom, tom'!🤗While working as a Bank clerk in Australia, his anecdote on being a witness to the Bank-heist and the big Manager's emaciated animation still sticks for this reader! Lighter.🤣
Richie Benaud the Australian captain and leg spinner who played in the 50's and 60's said that of all the pace bowlers he saw Frank Typhoon Tyson was the fastest, a whisker faster than Jeff Thompson. RIP Richie.
Is Thommo trying to take off Sir Les Patterson here? With all due respect to the great bowler, and no denying he was, the program referred to is "the World's Fastest Bowler" which was overseen by a Professor from UWA's Engineering Faculty and can be found on YT conducted by Richie Benaud.
I wonder what the audience reaction would have been if Harold Larwood had sat on a stage and boasted about his speed and joked about breaking heads, legs and arms?
Modern cricket players are lucky not to play against the likes of West indies fearsome fast bowlers led by Andy Robert's, and Australians Thomson & Lilly, New Zealand Hadllee, England Bob wills.
Don't believe much of what Thommo says, but from what I've seen and read over the years, I do believe he was the fastest ever. I think a conventional bowling action maxes out at a shade under 100mph. Thommo's perfect catapult gets a bit more. My guess he reached 100-105mph on his best days.
I went back and had a look at the world's fastest bowler comp from 1979 and they were all measured out of the hand, Thommo won it, but it was only 147kph. This was after his shoulder injury so was a little slower. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YGcZRxE3kQA.html
