• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Historical footage: Impressions of some greats

watson

watson

Banned
Burgey said:
IIRC he finished in the top two or three behind Thommo on hat world's fastest bowler comp around 77-78 as well.
Click to expand...
The top 3 in that 1979 comp were;

1. Jeff Thomson - 147.9
2. Michael Holding - 141.3
3. Imran Khan - 139.7

Those speeds don't seem great but in those days they measured the ball's speed at the batsman's wicket. These days it's measured a metre or two from of the bowler's hand.

.
 
Last edited:
watson

watson

Banned
In this video Imran and Thommo discuss their speed trial. No one knows what they are actually talking about but it's all good fun and Imran's first-up story about Holding is great.

Incidently, if you add 10% as Thommo suggests in the video to account for loss of speed over 20 yards or so, then Thommo's fastest delivery that day in modern terms is 162.7kph.

 
Last edited:
Red

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
I reckon early Thommo was a bit quicker than Lee, Shoaib and Tait in recent times. Especially factoring in how it was measured.

Richie Benaud maintained Tyson was the quickest he saw.
 
the big bambino

the big bambino

International Captain
I can't play the link in Watson's thread. Can anyone tell me if the bowlers in that competition bowled full tosses and yorkers in the main?
 
Burgey

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Some more than others. Thommo bowled a fair few yorkers. There was a $1,000 prize for the most accurate, measured by how many times they hit the stumps. Thommo won that too.
 
the big bambino

the big bambino

International Captain
I remember there was some ironical humour when he won that too. That accuracy prize may have encouraged them to bowl fuller than they would have normally. Also if the speeds were measured at the batting wicket they would have had a higher recording than a ball bouncing off a length I would assume. If that's the case then Thommo's add on an extra 10% might be a little high.

I also recall Sarf and Hadlee were in that contest and from memory they were 75 and 79mph, though it was too long ago to completely rely on memory. Adjust for the modern measure they are probably btwn 80 and 85mph, with Hadlee at the top end of the range.
 
Burgey

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Silentstriker contacted Frank Pike who conducted the experiment some time ago to discuss how they did the experiment and how they measured it. I'll see if I can dig the posts up

Thommo was always underrated re his smarts. He had a pretty devastating yorker. As Fertang noted, that competition was after his shoulder injury so you can safely assume he was a fair bit quicker before it. I did hear it said he had to borrow a pair of Dunlop Volleys to bowl in that day because he forgot his boots, but I'm not sure how true that is.

Bloke was seriously fast though, and made the ball sort of leap off the pitch, almost like it gripped then launched itself at you. I don't think I'd have much fancied facing him.

This article has been posted before, but it's a great read about Thomson bowling in grade cricket in Sydney in 1974.

Wisden - Jeff Thomson is annoyed
 
Last edited:
watson

watson

Banned
In this 2 hour retrospective Richie Benaud looks back at some Test match and World Cup highlights from the 1970s.

 
GotSpin

GotSpin

Hall of Fame Member
Burgey said:
Silentstriker contacted Frank Pike who conducted the experiment some time ago to discuss how they did the experiment and how they measured it. I'll see if I can dig the posts up

Thommo was always underrated re his smarts. He had a pretty devastating yorker. As Fertang noted, that competition was after his shoulder injury so you can safely assume he was a fair bit quicker before it. I did hear it said he had to borrow a pair of Dunlop Volleys to bowl in that day because he forgot his boots, but I'm not sure how true that is.

Bloke was seriously fast though, and made the ball sort of leap off the pitch, almost like it gripped then launched itself at you. I don't think I'd have much fancied facing him.

This article has been posted before, but it's a great read about Thomson bowling in grade cricket in Sydney in 1974.

Wisden - Jeff Thomson is annoyed
Click to expand...
Awesome article

I always really enjoy any article about Thomson
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top