Jeff Thomson

Jeff Thomson once claimed that he liked to see blood on the field. This was a comment that stayed with him through the rest of his career; not that it bothered him too much, what counted for him was that he needed to bowl quick, and quick he did. With a slinging action and speeds touching almost 100 miles an hour, he was anything but easy to face. Batsmen world over shuddered at the prospects of having to face the duo of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at their peak and this is where Thomson picked up wickets at will. Thomson even claimed once that had his bowling speeds being measured from his hand than when it reached the batsman’s end, he would have clocked 180 km/hr!

Thomson finished with 200 Test wickets at a reasonable average of 28 in just 51 Tests; unfortunately this kind of pace is difficult to sustain, so injuries took over him, reduced his speed and in the end, forced Thomson to retire early from international cricket.

In the interim, for starters, he did not join the Kerry Packer circus, instead played on for the Aussie team. However, later he did play in five of the Super Tests, as a part of the treaty between ACB and Kerry Packer. Post retirement, Jeff Thomson became a cricket commentator for many a sports channels.