It's a real shame there are not more clips of Thommo in the 70s. Once he injured his shoulder, his pace dropped away and made him "mortal". Clive Lloyd has played and seen a lot of cricket over the past 50 years, and said Thommo was by far the quickest bowler he had ever seen. I don't think the T20 players today would even be able to lay a bat on him. Truly frightening at his quickest!
that was after he injured his shoulder when he played one day games, at fullpace over 100mph pre shoulder injury he was dangerous, players feared facing him, even the west indies greats, he sent many players to hospital on stretchers, you would be lucky to get a bat on the ball, most were body or glove hits @@jeremywright5036
I remember hearing Tony Greig say the reason why Lillee got more wickets was because everybody was trying to get away from Tommo. Sometimes in the slow-mos you could see the eyes of the batsmen go like dinner plates when a ball on a good length - they were thinking of driving - suddenly rose at 45 deg. or worse and was about to take their head off!! IT wasn't fast - it was murder.
I was so very blessed to have seen Thommo bowl so many times in my youth! My god you just had to be there to witness how fast he really was and how he would put the fear of god into the batsmen! I actually saw him bowl a ball just short of a length, go under the batsman chin and over Rod Marshes head and bounce about a metre from the sight screen! His pace was just incredible!
@@joek724 Yep,,, the same situation v Pakistan in 1977 at SCG....I was 10. we entered the SCG via the Paddington gates and sat broadside....impossible to see the ball thru the air. Marsh was closer to the boundary than the stumps...it seemed to me....as a young boy it made a lasting impression on me!!!
As Lillee said, when it all clicked with Jeff Thomson, he was simply the most devastating fast bowler of his day. And a wonderfully straightforward and simple approach to the game.
I have been watching Test Cricket since the late 1960's. Travelling interstate and overseas. No longer travel due to age. Jeff Thomson was the fastest bowler I ever saw. Before his shoulder injury, he was frightening to watch. When teamed with Dennis Lilley after Lilley recovered from severe back injuries and learned to swing the ball through the air and move it off the seam, the combination were a batmans nightmare. I have a video of Viv Richards playing a shot against Thommo when the ball was in the gloves of Marsh ten yards behind the wicket.
Nice vid most of this footage is Thommo well past his peak and he still looked nasty an quick. With Thomson's awkward action made it even harder for the batsmen so yes I agree he surely he was the most lethal fast bowler in history.
Saw him in his prime before his shoulder injury and as many have said before his pace was frightening. Yes after his shoulder injury he was still very quick but that extra lethal bit of pace he could generate had gone. Still the fastest bowler I’ve ever seen, including Lee, Tate & Acktar.
what a bowler tommo was.makes a lot of todays fast bowlers look like leg and off spinners.ime a pom...but loved him...p s...not if i was a facing batsman though.😊
Fot those who question his overall record and dispute that he was one of the truly great fast bowlers, remember he took 80 test wickets in a two-year period before his terrible shoulder injury. After that he was never so consistently effective but still produced the odd sensational spell (as in Barbados 1978). But for the injury, it is reasonable to assume he would have ended his career with at least a similar wicket haul to Lillee's.
I suppose when you put that amount of effort in something has to eventually give, i really don't think anyone was a fast as him, Lillie adapted by developing his skills and slowing down when his back recovered.
Tks for this upload.. ▫️Thomson 'The quickest and the most lethal bowler ever'. Between 74-76 Thomson was arguably the most lethal and intimidating fast bowler ever. ▫️Was timed twice at 160.4 kph in 75' in an ODI match against West Indies and 160.6 kph at the nets in 76' ▫️Also won the fast bowling competition back in 79' with 147.9 kph as his quickest, when he was far from peak and had no warm up and was drinking beer ▫️Leading wkt taker in the 74/75 Ashes (33) when Australia won for 4-1 (5) and in 75/76 Frank Worrel Trophy (29) when Australia won for 6-1 (7) ▫️Along with Lillee reintroduced the era of bodyline followed by the West Indians who took it to more an intimidating level
I actually watched the Fastest bowling competition on television in 79! He bowled a ball that was over 160 kph.....he had been suspended from playing , he had been drinking and he had put weight on! No where near his prime! But we all need to remember that the ball was timed at the stumps....not 1.5 metres from the hand as it is today!
The two 160kmh times mentioned were post shoulder injury. Much quicker prior. Also that was calculated as the average speed to the batsman's end, not out of the hand like nowadays.
To me (a Pom) his bowling action is the most iconic/beautiful ever. Shoaib is the only person to have mere shades of it IMO. Go to 1:29, he launches every single part of his body into attaining more speed, it's poetry (figuratively) in (literally) motion.
I feel exactly the same way...it's watching the human body as a pure machine, like some catapult being wound up to its maximum tension, right on the verge of collapse...and then released. I've always been mesmerised watching him, particularly his early career
At 1:38 we see a cutting from the TV presentation Richie Benaud compered in Perth WA for Channel Nine around 1975. The full show can be found under "The World's Fastest bowler"....highly recommended for fast bowling aficianados of that era.
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.’
@@swardmusic no he wasn't!!! That is bs Thomson himself spreads. His 160 deliveries were measured OUT OF HAND. There is an entire chapter in Lillee's book the art of fast bowling dedicated to speed which tells you this
Anyone doubting Jeff's speed should watch a delivery he bowled to Dennis Amiss. Just short of a length and hit the bat handle before Amiss could blink,it's that fast that it's difficult to see the ball even though it's filmed behind his arm.
I was 16 yo when Thomo came to Queensland. He played club cricket for Toombul where I played. I faced him in the nets on a number of occasions. He was only bowling off a short run at practice. You could get a glimpse of his deliveries through the air but off the wicket no chance . Super quick
@@ivorbiggen6470 Not according to Holding himself. He was discussing it during a break in an England home Test many years ago. Geoff Boycott, on the other hand, would agree with you. This is interesting but a little unfair, given that speed guns were not part of the game back then- sportsshow.net/fastest-bowlers-in-the-history-of-cricket/
@@bodsnvimto having the pleasure to meet Mikey I'm not suprised by thst from him, a very modest and humble man... But I'd still say Mikey as I know Sir Geoffrey would
Most of the footage is from the 80s when he was past his best and he still bowls some nasty balls there that trouble the likes of Clive Lloyd and David Gower.
@Biscayroad1503 Where do you get this ridiculous information from?! Clive Lloyd did not incur a broken jaw. But I'll tell you of a batsman who did have his jaw broken down under,though - Derek Randall,at the hands of Whispering Death in 1982. If Lloyd's jaw was broken, it would have rendered him incapacitated for the rest of that series.
The most bio-mechanically correct bowling action. Keeping the ball in a single arc/plane to delivery point for as long as possible...this is the same principle long-driving golfers use...single plane swing. It is not a secret...any one can do it....Jeff Thomson was an expert naturally ...and his dancing footwork was INCREDIBLE!!! I think from the batsmen point of view, the ball appeared to suddenly come from no-where.
As Greg chappel stated, Thommo was able to bowl like that all day, and even though people say his action was simple, he had to control the ball for longer than most bowlers.
@@TheKwod Jeff T. was unique; didn't train or practise, drank a lot of beer...naturally gifted and with supple, almost "double" joints. 'Keeper Marsh said once that the speed was far greater than actually recorded, probably at times around 170km/h or faster. I saw him bowl at the SCG in 1977 against Pakistan from broadside seats...they only clue one had that the ball was slowing down was given by a movement of a fielder. The ball could not been seen thru the air from side on.
@@Warpedsmac I'm an Australian. He trained and practiced. Thommo had pace and bounce, thanks to the distance he positioned the ball, similar to watching a tennis player serving in slow motion or a golfer. No magic, just biomechanicals.
@@jessibaet5828 Thomo would use a casual shuffle like a medium pacer and than unleash thunderbolts all day long. Shoab would have to start his run up from the boundary sprint in like Usain Bolt and barely touch Thomo speed.
@@craigrodgers9693The methods of timing out the hand are different to how they used to do it. (I’m sure you know that) Respected and knowledgeable take the opinion of the greatest batsmen. The answer is always Thompson in his prime was head and shoulders quicker.
Really wish to see the speed at which he regularly bowled. From Thomson to Holding to Imran of early 80s.. perhaps till Waqar of early 90s. Unfortunate we didn't had speed guns in matches. Now we have few apps to calculate speed but not sure about their accuracy.
Apparently Thommo said that they measured his speed off the pitch, these days they measure it out of the hand. Which is interesting if true. His ability to lift a ball off a good length was the most surprising thing
Rod Marsh reckons Jeff was closer to 180kmh at his best. He would know. He kept to a prime 155+ DKLillee and few other quick bastards Luke Hogg and Pascoe who were zero 150kmh.
Frightening and what made him even scarier was the fact that he lost control of the ball every now and then (much like Shaun Tait) which made him very unpredictable. Glad we watched from the stands lol...
Viv was the best after Bradman but oh so much more beautiful to watch - the magnificent shoulders , the swagger , catlike in the field and the hardest hitter I've ever seen . Can only imagine how he would dominate 20/20 .
He was super quick no doubt on that. However, could he have bowled at over 170/175kmph (which he often claims on camera). I mean, the 2nd set of all bowlers are around 160 kmph. So a good 10 to 15 kmph more ???
100 mph and look at the batsmen, no helmets! Those were the days when men were men. I am proud to say I played during that era. I was a 15 yo kid playing in a men's league. I played in the same country league at the same time as the great Mervyn Hughes. He even had grown men crapping themselves and he was only 16 or 17 at the time. Late 1970's and helmets were just starting to be used. I have only ever worn a helmet for one delivery and said, get this sh*t off my head and tossed it. You are a much better batsman when your life depends on it. These days with helmets batsmen do get hit so often. Back in the day nobody would allow themselves to get hit. You were forced to have better reflexes.
100 percent correct mate. Real men. Talked straight and as hard as nails. What the hell happened. All sport today toned down. Very uninteresting today. Never be the same as when these MEN played.
I saw Thommo at his absolute peak from 1973 onwards ……. and he was frightening, how he never killed someone was luck. Brett Lee and Shoaib Ahktar were both timed at 160 kph ….. but Thommo was quicker and nastier (not as accurate)
Keeper was standing too near, doesn't feel like 150+ kmph deliveries. Keeper used to stand at equally same distance as of bowler run up in case of Brett Lee, Akhtar, Tait
@@mohsinasgarali Hahaha.... Thommo had only 3(!) RANDOM balls clocked in test matches & 2 were over 160 kmh. Ahktar, Tait & Lee had basically EVERY ball of their international careers timed & only exceed 160kmh once or twice each❗
There are 2 NASTY ones towards the end of this, grainy footage, blast a guy out with a sandshoe crusher and then another gets hit in the head, I reckon that's the 1975 Word Cup v a very young Sri Lankan side. When the guy who was hit on the foot said "I go now".
I've seen all the true fast bowlers live on very fast Australian wickets live at their peak since the early 1970s - Lillee, Marshall, Holding, Lee, Shoaib, Tait etc. Before he broke his shoulder in 1976 (I think) Thommo was definitely faster than any of them (he was never the same afterwards). When they bowled together Lillee, being far more accurate as well as able to move the ball both directions, was much more likely to take a wicket. But Thommo was much more likely to break bones.
Of all the fast bowlers in history, probably only Frank Tyson was around jeffs speed. Bradman reckoned the fastest bowling he saw was from Thommo at the Gabba in '74, although he had Tyson up with him. The effort it must take to generate such blinding speed is phenomenal.
Don't forget Larwood. I can't imagine what it must have been like having to face him with the minimal protective equipment they used to have in those days.
Sorry to disappoint you,Bradman may have been the greatest batsman of all time,but he was rubbish at judging speed.Bradman once gave an interview and,when asked how fast he thought Larwood was,he replied, 'About 85mph.Test level batsmen do not run away from a ball travelling at just over medium pace,the way Bradman ran away from Larwood. After hearing that interview,anything Bradman said regarding speed,I learned not to pay much attention attention to it.
Wrong wrong wrong . Fastest bowler ever is Larwood . He had his bowling analysed by computers. Result 10 kmph faster than Brett Lee. A leading batsmen once said ..I would only have faced Larwood behind a brick wall . .
Not many know that J T was a former javelin thrower , his run-up was relatively short , he generated his pace with a slinging-style bowling action, a javelin throwing action , one sport influencing another game - end result - the most lethal bowler .
There is no more spectacular sight in cricket as flying stumps, its something you dont see any more, Thommo got them flying more than anybody, at times the slips fieldsmen had to duck to avoid getting hit by a flying stump
I still doubt Bowlers bowling or Chucking the Cricket Glaze Ball.I think very very few are bowling right legal action and right fall throw.Even today I doubt about the selectors and the boards of Cricket .God Bless All.This is the passing world.God Bless All.
To all those STILL repeating the BS that Thomson was timed at 160 AFTER his serious injury and at the batsman'd end, do with todays measurements he would be 175/180...PLEASE STOP. Thomdon was measured at 160.45 at Perth v WI IN 1975, OUT OF HAND. Thomson was incredibly quick. And at his peak may have bowled the odd ball wuicker than this (unlike today, not sll his deliveries were measured). But please, stop spreading a myth that someone slmost 50 years ago was 20km/hr quicker than anyone since. It's absurd
Absurd is the word...they need to ask themselves this...there are 5-6 known bowlers measured at over 160. There are probably another 5-6 that have reached 158-159, certainly 155+. Amazing that people want to argue that JT could hit 160+ at the stumps when it is measured that a bowl WILL lose around 10% of release velocity when it hits the pitch. Thommo was a great of the game without any doubt but to imply that he was 10% better than anybody else with all the sports science we have today, is simple madness. I saw JT playing for Aust and Qld. and then the great quicks during the 80's and also followed Brett Lee since he was an under 19 rep.
One thing worth noticing is the zero level celebration after every wicket like the job is done and there is nothing to cheer about kind of attitude on his face.
I challenge players of today to face Lillee and Thompson without, head gear and all other patapernslia as guards and also reduce thickness of the bat to as same as that era. Nobody will face both of them with confidence for sure.
Absolute sh1t....you can find vision on YT where he, and most other quicks of his day, were put up against high speed film in high speed cameras All recorded on calibrated devices by academics from UWA.
Yes he later played for Queensland but lived in and went to school in Sydney and played at the same school,as Len Pascoe. You could have found that much with a search if you were able.
It's a real shame there are not more clips of Thommo in the 70s. Once he injured his shoulder, his pace dropped away and made him "mortal". Clive Lloyd has played and seen a lot of cricket over the past 50 years, and said Thommo was by far the quickest bowler he had ever seen. I don't think the T20 players today would even be able to lay a bat on him. Truly frightening at his quickest!
I renember vividly he hit Clive Lloyd in the face. Clive didnt even move. Very quick.
he wasn't THAT great in one day matches as you only had to get some bat on it and the pace alone will send it to boundary :D
that was after he injured his shoulder when he played one day games, at fullpace over 100mph pre shoulder injury he was dangerous, players feared facing him, even the west indies greats, he sent many players to hospital on stretchers, you would be lucky to get a bat on the ball, most were body or glove hits @@jeremywright5036
I remember hearing Tony Greig say the reason why Lillee got more wickets was because everybody was trying to get away from Tommo. Sometimes in the slow-mos you could see the eyes of the batsmen go like dinner plates when a ball on a good length - they were thinking of driving - suddenly rose at 45 deg. or worse and was about to take their head off!! IT wasn't fast - it was murder.
I was so very blessed to have seen Thommo bowl so many times in my youth! My god you just had to be there to witness how fast he really was and how he would put the fear of god into the batsmen! I actually saw him bowl a ball just short of a length, go under the batsman chin and over Rod Marshes head and bounce about a metre from the sight screen! His pace was just incredible!
I saw him play at the SCG for Qld vs NSW in a shield match. So quick!! John Maclean the Qld keeper had to be standing about 25 metres back.
To think that Viv Richards took him on without any helmet or protective gear is really something to behold!
@@joek724 Yep,,, the same situation v Pakistan in 1977 at SCG....I was 10. we entered the SCG via the Paddington gates and sat broadside....impossible to see the ball thru the air. Marsh was closer to the boundary than the stumps...it seemed to me....as a young boy it made a lasting impression on me!!!
Send in Thommo ! Thank you, Jeff, for entertaining us for all those matches.
An absolute legend so glad as a youngster that I was able to see Thommo and Lillee opening the bowling for Australia.
As Lillee said, when it all clicked with Jeff Thomson, he was simply the most devastating fast bowler of his day. And a wonderfully straightforward and simple approach to the game.
I have been watching Test Cricket since the late 1960's.
Travelling interstate and overseas. No longer travel due to age.
Jeff Thomson was the fastest bowler I ever saw.
Before his shoulder injury, he was frightening to watch.
When teamed with Dennis Lilley after Lilley recovered from severe back injuries and learned to swing the ball through the air and move it off the seam, the combination were a batmans nightmare.
I have a video of Viv Richards playing a shot against Thommo when the ball was in the gloves of Marsh ten yards behind the wicket.
@@kevinmoor6408 Ten yards? More like 32- 35 yards.
Nice vid most of this footage is Thommo well past his peak and he still looked nasty an quick. With Thomson's awkward action made it even harder for the batsmen so yes I agree he surely he was the most lethal fast bowler in history.
I couldn't see the ball at all watching this legend live. It was past his prime as well!! Loved Thommo, still do👍
A real hero of mine even as an Englishman. Even got to see him bowl live in the 90s in a reunion match at Trent Bridge.
Describe that event in details
It was an England v Australia friendly match in about 1993 with players from the 1970s. Thommo bowled off about 5 yards and he was still quick
Saw him in his prime before his shoulder injury and as many have said before his pace was frightening. Yes after his shoulder injury he was still very quick but that extra lethal bit of pace he could generate had gone. Still the fastest bowler I’ve ever seen, including Lee, Tate & Acktar.
I'm sure Alan Donald was as quick.
@@dennisneo1608 he certainly was quick.
@@dennisneo1608 Quick but not as quick as Thomson
No one produced the FEAR that Tommo did. No one. and I have watched them all.
@@dennisneo1608 Nowhere near mate
what a bowler tommo was.makes a lot of todays fast bowlers look like leg and off spinners.ime a pom...but loved him...p s...not if i was a facing batsman though.😊
Fot those who question his overall record and dispute that he was one of the truly great fast bowlers, remember he took 80 test wickets in a two-year period before his terrible shoulder injury. After that he was never so consistently effective but still produced the odd sensational spell (as in Barbados 1978). But for the injury, it is reasonable to assume he would have ended his career with at least a similar wicket haul to Lillee's.
Precisely! Well said.
Simply the quickest ever. On a ball after ball basis. Look at the lift he gets.
The man only broke his collar bone,so how would that stop him from returning to full speed after healing?
I suppose when you put that amount of effort in something has to eventually give, i really don't think anyone was a fast as him, Lillie adapted by developing his skills and slowing down when his back recovered.
@@davifdavid4347He tore all the ligaments off his shoulder too and a severe injury like that never fully repairs.
When I was 13 and bowling to my brother in our back garden in 1975 I was Jeff Thompson!😊
Tks for this upload..
▫️Thomson 'The quickest and the most lethal bowler ever'. Between 74-76 Thomson was arguably the most lethal and intimidating fast bowler ever.
▫️Was timed twice at 160.4 kph in 75' in an ODI match against West Indies and 160.6 kph at the nets in 76'
▫️Also won the fast bowling competition back in 79' with 147.9 kph as his quickest, when he was far from peak and had no warm up and was drinking beer
▫️Leading wkt taker in the 74/75 Ashes (33) when Australia won for 4-1 (5) and in 75/76 Frank Worrel Trophy (29) when Australia won for 6-1 (7)
▫️Along with Lillee reintroduced the era of bodyline followed by the West Indians who took it to more an intimidating level
I actually watched the Fastest bowling competition on television in 79! He bowled a ball that was over 160 kph.....he had been suspended from playing , he had been drinking and he had put weight on! No where near his prime! But we all need to remember that the ball was timed at the stumps....not 1.5 metres from the hand as it is today!
The two 160kmh times mentioned were post shoulder injury. Much quicker prior. Also that was calculated as the average speed to the batsman's end, not out of the hand like nowadays.
@@mariorabottini5687 no he didn't!!!
You can watch it on UA-cam. His quickest ball was 148.
@@graemealexander8804 nonsense
@@craigrodgers9693 sorry mate you must be watching another Jeff Thomson! I watched him live!
To me (a Pom) his bowling action is the most iconic/beautiful ever. Shoaib is the only person to have mere shades of it IMO.
Go to 1:29, he launches every single part of his body into attaining more speed, it's poetry (figuratively) in (literally) motion.
I feel exactly the same way...it's watching the human body as a pure machine, like some catapult being wound up to its maximum tension, right on the verge of collapse...and then released. I've always been mesmerised watching him, particularly his early career
@@jonelordieta7573 You might feel the same way but you put it better than me.
At 1:38 we see a cutting from the TV presentation Richie Benaud compered in Perth WA for Channel Nine around 1975. The full show can be found under "The World's Fastest bowler"....highly recommended for fast bowling aficianados of that era.
Absolutely magnificent runup & action!! Pity he never toured India in his heyday.
Lucky for India. Very few Australian sides toured for safety concerns.
Who cares, these guys neither have immunity nor digest food, to survive in tropical environments
My Brother faced him. Said it was Red flashes and not a cricket ball he saw
How old was he (not your brother, obviously) at the time and how much of his full capabilities/speed did he show up with?
Thompson was Is my favourite fast bowler and also brett lee. And I am a subscriber of yours.
Thanks 👍🏻
Welcome
Really most of the batsman's are legends ,they don't wear helmets for that pace of Thompson bowling .
Guts & glory 😎
Thommo was a superb fast bowler and lethal with it
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.’
An unforgettable, great demon bowler. That extra 30 km/ hr made all the difference in reducing the batsmans' reaction time and confidence.
that ball at 1.02 was lightening
It’d be terrified facing up to that
Between 74 and 76 he was up around the 170 ks hard to believe but the poms and west indies were terrified
I thought it was only the high 150s but either way he is still way ahead of any modern bowler, crazy stuff
@@weburnitatbothends he was measured at the batsmen! Not out of hand! Crazy.
@@swardmusic no he wasn't!!! That is bs Thomson himself spreads.
His 160 deliveries were measured OUT OF HAND. There is an entire chapter in Lillee's book the art of fast bowling dedicated to speed which tells you this
Holding, Sylvester Clark and Patrick Patterson were every bit as quick as Thomson. Fact.
@@davifdavid4347 not actually FACT. As none were timed as fast as Thomson, so impossible to prove.
Anyone doubting Jeff's speed should watch a delivery he bowled to Dennis Amiss. Just short of a length and hit the bat handle before Amiss could blink,it's that fast that it's difficult to see the ball even though it's filmed behind his arm.
I was 16 yo when Thomo came to Queensland. He played club cricket for Toombul where I played. I faced him in the nets on a number of occasions. He was only bowling off a short run at practice. You could get a glimpse of his deliveries through the air but off the wicket no chance . Super quick
There were a lot of batsmen glad to see Thommo retire
There were fast bowlers and then there was Thommo
...and Holding.
THOMMO WAS, IS AND WILL BE BEYOND ANY COMPARISON
Mikey was quicker
@@ivorbiggen6470 Not according to Holding himself. He was discussing it during a break in an England home Test many years ago. Geoff Boycott, on the other hand, would agree with you.
This is interesting but a little unfair, given that speed guns were not part of the game back then-
sportsshow.net/fastest-bowlers-in-the-history-of-cricket/
@@bodsnvimto having the pleasure to meet Mikey I'm not suprised by thst from him, a very modest and humble man...
But I'd still say Mikey as I know Sir Geoffrey would
Lloyd description of Thompson was the most fair.
Bowled a 6 at Bankstown Oval , Sydney in the 70’s. A 6 after it hit the pitch.
Most of the footage is from the 80s when he was past his best and he still bowls some nasty balls there that trouble the likes of Clive Lloyd and David Gower.
The time he broke Clive Lloyd’s jaw...... they say it sounded like a pistol shot ....
@Biscayroad1503 Where do you get this ridiculous information from?! Clive Lloyd did not incur a broken jaw. But I'll tell you of a batsman who did have his jaw broken down under,though - Derek Randall,at the hands of Whispering Death in 1982. If Lloyd's jaw was broken, it would have rendered him incapacitated for the rest of that series.
Can you make a same video like this on Patrick Patterson bowling too... It's a pleading request 🙏 PLEASE 🙏
The most bio-mechanically correct bowling action. Keeping the ball in a single arc/plane to delivery point for as long as possible...this is the same principle long-driving golfers use...single plane swing. It is not a secret...any one can do it....Jeff Thomson was an expert naturally ...and his dancing footwork was INCREDIBLE!!! I think from the batsmen point of view, the ball appeared to suddenly come from no-where.
As Greg chappel stated, Thommo was able to bowl like that all day, and even though people say his action was simple, he had to control the ball for longer than most bowlers.
@@TheKwod Jeff T. was unique; didn't train or practise, drank a lot of beer...naturally gifted and with supple, almost "double" joints. 'Keeper Marsh said once that the speed was far greater than actually recorded, probably at times around 170km/h or faster. I saw him bowl at the SCG in 1977 against Pakistan from broadside seats...they only clue one had that the ball was slowing down was given by a movement of a fielder. The ball could not been seen thru the air from side on.
@@Warpedsmac come on champ, he's not a God.
@@TheKwod Oh yes....in Australia he has God status....right or wrong...simply the fact....champ.
@@Warpedsmac I'm an Australian.
He trained and practiced.
Thommo had pace and bounce, thanks to the distance he positioned the ball, similar to watching a tennis player serving in slow motion or a golfer.
No magic, just biomechanicals.
Thommo makes Shoaib Akhtar look like a gentle spin bowler.
Shoaib makes Thompson look like Shane Warne.
@@jessibaet5828
Jizz Bet
And Thommo makes Shoaib look like a 5-year old kid.
Nice try, fan girl:)
@@jessibaet5828 Thomo would use a casual shuffle like a medium pacer and than unleash thunderbolts all day long. Shoab would have to start his run up from the boundary sprint in like Usain Bolt and barely touch Thomo speed.
@@jessibaet5828 and yet was timed just as fast....odd that....
@@craigrodgers9693The methods of timing out the hand are different to how they used to do it. (I’m sure you know that)
Respected and knowledgeable take the opinion of the greatest batsmen. The answer is always Thompson in his prime was head and shoulders quicker.
175 kmph 😮 that really looks to detach balls
JEFF THOMSON TAKES BIRTH ONLY ONCE IN THE MANKIND. THERE IS NO COMPARISON BETWEEN THOMMO AND REST ALL WHO-SO-EVER.
He's a bug struggling under Shoaib's shoe to crawl up. Nothing less, nothing more!😎
Loved his send off to Botham at the end ! Take a flying fox off to the change rooms
Whose the batsman in the yellow helmet? Thompson was awesome.
Today's batsmen are lucky indeed.
Aamir Raza
Let's see you face Mitchell Starc, Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins with no protective gear to see how "lucky" you are.
If you say that you haven't seen Tommo!! Compared to Tommo they are medium pacers! @@cquilty1
Really wish to see the speed at which he regularly bowled. From Thomson to Holding to Imran of early 80s.. perhaps till Waqar of early 90s. Unfortunate we didn't had speed guns in matches.
Now we have few apps to calculate speed but not sure about their accuracy.
Im English, I remember as a lad trying to imitate his action.
Nobody since has produced this action, he was unique.
....the last ball ⚡️
love you Thommo.
I think Sunil Gavaskar has the best record amongst batsmen against Thomo
Apparently Thommo said that they measured his speed off the pitch, these days they measure it out of the hand. Which is interesting if true. His ability to lift a ball off a good length was the most surprising thing
What's with the bloody background noise/music???
Rod Marsh reckons Jeff was closer to 180kmh at his best. He would know. He kept to a prime 155+ DKLillee and few other quick bastards Luke Hogg and Pascoe who were zero 150kmh.
all time fast bowler
That delivery to Lord Gower..fucking hell
Frightening and what made him even scarier was the fact that he lost control of the ball every now and then (much like Shaun Tait) which made him very unpredictable. Glad we watched from the stands lol...
There were great batsmen and then there was Viv Richards.
Richrds a great ''yammer''.
He didn't have to bat against best bowling of his time - west Indies
1:40
you're right but I didn't see him standing over middle against Thommo...
Viv was the best after Bradman but oh so much more beautiful to watch - the magnificent shoulders , the swagger , catlike in the field and the hardest hitter I've ever seen . Can only imagine how he would dominate 20/20 .
1975 में Jeff thompson ने इंग्लंड की तो पूरी वाट लगा दी थी. लेकिन वेस्ट इंडिझ की सिरीस हॉरर हो गयी थी.
This is how he used to bowl at high school, although not that fast in those days.
He was super quick no doubt on that.
However, could he have bowled at over 170/175kmph (which he often claims on camera).
I mean, the 2nd set of all bowlers are around 160 kmph.
So a good 10 to 15 kmph more ???
More like 'there are fast bowlers and there is Jeff Thomson'
100 mph and look at the batsmen, no helmets! Those were the days when men were men. I am proud to say I played during that era. I was a 15 yo kid playing in a men's league. I played in the same country league at the same time as the great Mervyn Hughes. He even had grown men crapping themselves and he was only 16 or 17 at the time. Late 1970's and helmets were just starting to be used. I have only ever worn a helmet for one delivery and said, get this sh*t off my head and tossed it. You are a much better batsman when your life depends on it. These days with helmets batsmen do get hit so often. Back in the day nobody would allow themselves to get hit. You were forced to have better reflexes.
One hell of a point batsmen were more fearless back then
100 percent correct mate. Real men. Talked straight and as hard as nails. What the hell happened. All sport today toned down. Very uninteresting today. Never be the same as when these MEN played.
Wicket keeper Rod Marsh had numerous broken bones in his hands over the years he kept wicket.
I wonder why????
Can you tell who is the person who's in the background voice in the starting of the video?
All time best cricketer
Did he ever bowl around the wicket
I saw Thommo at his absolute peak from 1973 onwards ……. and he was frightening, how he never killed someone was luck. Brett Lee and Shoaib Ahktar were both timed at 160 kph ….. but Thommo was quicker and nastier (not as accurate)
Keeper was standing too near, doesn't feel like 150+ kmph deliveries. Keeper used to stand at equally same distance as of bowler run up in case of Brett Lee, Akhtar, Tait
Seriously rapid....easily the quickest ever
Thompson was one of the fastest bowlers of his time
He was the fastest batsman use too vomit from the thought of facing him they feared for there lives he just loved terrorizing the batsman
Quicker than shoaib before he got injured. Although of course Pakistani fans don't want to believe it
@@sillysausage4549 Shoaib is recorded as fastest. It is conjecture on the part of Thommo.
@@mohsinasgarali Hahaha.... Thommo had only 3(!) RANDOM balls clocked in test matches & 2 were over 160 kmh.
Ahktar, Tait & Lee had basically EVERY ball of their international careers timed & only exceed 160kmh once or twice each❗
@@shanelawson5072Nailed it.
There are 2 NASTY ones towards the end of this, grainy footage, blast a guy out with a sandshoe crusher and then another gets hit in the head, I reckon that's the 1975 Word Cup v a very young Sri Lankan side. When the guy who was hit on the foot said "I go now".
I've seen all the true fast bowlers live on very fast Australian wickets live at their peak since the early 1970s - Lillee, Marshall, Holding, Lee, Shoaib, Tait etc. Before he broke his shoulder in 1976 (I think) Thommo was definitely faster than any of them (he was never the same afterwards). When they bowled together Lillee, being far more accurate as well as able to move the ball both directions, was much more likely to take a wicket. But Thommo was much more likely to break bones.
4 dislikes from people who played rounders... get your lives sorted out
Absolutely right. When Rod Marsh is standing over 30 metres back, that's serious.
Of all the fast bowlers in history, probably only Frank Tyson was around jeffs speed. Bradman reckoned the fastest bowling he saw was from Thommo at the Gabba in '74, although he had Tyson up with him. The effort it must take to generate such blinding speed is phenomenal.
Don't forget Larwood. I can't imagine what it must have been like having to face him with the minimal protective equipment they used to have in those days.
Sorry to disappoint you,Bradman may have been the greatest batsman of all time,but he was rubbish at judging speed.Bradman once gave an interview and,when asked how fast he thought Larwood was,he replied, 'About 85mph.Test level batsmen do not run away from a ball travelling at just over medium pace,the way Bradman ran away from Larwood. After hearing that interview,anything Bradman said regarding speed,I learned not to pay much attention attention to it.
@@davifdavid4347 hahaha, "Bradman doesn't know what he's talking about, but I do" hahahahaha
what a dildo
Wrong wrong wrong . Fastest bowler ever is Larwood . He had his bowling analysed by computers. Result 10 kmph faster than Brett Lee. A leading batsmen once said ..I would only have faced Larwood behind a brick wall . .
@@davidalexander2607 cobblers
Even with this firy speed Great VIv didn't gave a fcuk
"If I don't know where they're going, how the hell do they know"...
What Tendulkar and Lara faced were nothing infront of thoma without protective and bouncer restrictions !!!!
Hero of Australia. One of the richest cricketer. Popular like a filmstar.
Not many know that J T was a former javelin thrower , his run-up was relatively short , he generated his pace with a slinging-style bowling action, a javelin throwing action , one sport influencing another game - end result - the most lethal bowler .
music too loud to understand speech
There is no more spectacular sight in cricket as flying stumps, its something you dont see any more, Thommo got them flying more than anybody, at times the slips fieldsmen had to duck to avoid getting hit by a flying stump
I still doubt Bowlers bowling or Chucking the Cricket Glaze Ball.I think very very few are bowling right legal action and right fall throw.Even today I doubt about the selectors and the boards of Cricket .God Bless All.This is the passing world.God Bless All.
Omg he was a greatest fast bowler of cricket.
To all those STILL repeating the BS that Thomson was timed at 160 AFTER his serious injury and at the batsman'd end, do with todays measurements he would be 175/180...PLEASE STOP.
Thomdon was measured at 160.45 at Perth v WI IN 1975, OUT OF HAND.
Thomson was incredibly quick. And at his peak may have bowled the odd ball wuicker than this (unlike today, not sll his deliveries were measured). But please, stop spreading a myth that someone slmost 50 years ago was 20km/hr quicker than anyone since. It's absurd
Absurd is the word...they need to ask themselves this...there are 5-6 known bowlers measured at over 160. There are probably another 5-6 that have reached 158-159, certainly 155+. Amazing that people want to argue that JT could hit 160+ at the stumps when it is measured that a bowl WILL lose around 10% of release velocity when it hits the pitch. Thommo was a great of the game without any doubt but to imply that he was 10% better than anybody else with all the sports science we have today, is simple madness. I saw JT playing for Aust and Qld. and then the great quicks during the 80's and also followed Brett Lee since he was an under 19 rep.
One thing worth noticing is the zero level celebration after every wicket like the job is done and there is nothing to cheer about kind of attitude on his face.
ALL TIME TERROR
Damn Imran Khan was such a character, look at his reaction
Nice clip, but please loose the music
I challenge players of today to face Lillee and Thompson without, head gear and all other patapernslia as guards and also reduce thickness of the bat to as same as that era. Nobody will face both of them with confidence for sure.
Thomo was a freak.
Magnificent video but don't copy other's music
Tell me who’s music it is ?
@@zcricket3890 ua-cam.com/video/l5BqZTSdElw/v-deo.html
He is not the owner of that beat by the way
Ab socho sir suneel gavskr kitne mahan the itne fst bowlers ko bina helmet ke khelna dil se respect nikalti hai sunny sir ke liye💙🧡🧡🧡💙💙💙
There's no doubt before his injury he was rapid.
🤘✌
He was the fastest amongst all but accurate speed machine was not available at that time to count. Hence some r comparing with him.
Absolute sh1t....you can find vision on YT where he, and most other quicks of his day, were put up against high speed film in high speed cameras All recorded on calibrated devices by academics from UWA.
Thommo was the quickest by miles
I always copied Thompson's bowling action growing up
175kph out of the hand. Huh!
Queenslander!
If Greenacre is on Queensland, then yes😂
Yes he later played for Queensland but lived in and went to school in Sydney and played at the same school,as Len Pascoe. You could have found that much with a search if you were able.
I'm able but meh I doubt Jeff would even claim NSW so why bother hun@@flamingfrancis
Till Lillees's company destroyed him.
I reckon with today's technology , Thommo would clock 170 kph . Seen them all and none faster , although I rate Allan Donald second .
No Charlie Griffith and Frank Tyson were more lethal
Greg reckons he could bowl faster in the nets ... yeah right mate.. dream on..
he meant faster than his own regular style