Bowling performances of Jeff Thomson in Tests

Jeff Thomson was one of the fastest bowlers of his era with the ability to bowl at 100 miles per hour. The right-arm pacer turns 74 years old on Friday and is still regarded as one of the finest bowlers ever to grace the field. His partnership with Dennis Lillee made teams touring Australia squirm as they decimated the best batting units.

The former Australian star played 51 Test matches and picked a total of 200 Test wickets. His most memorable moment came during the 19875 Perth Test as he bowled a ball at 160.6 KPH against the inaugural ODI World Cup winners West Indies.

In 1985, Jeff Thomson decided to hang up his boots as he played in the final Test of his career against England. After his retirement, he became a coach, a very successful media pundit and an inspiration for many to follow.

Here are the top 3 best performances by Jeff Thomson in test cricket

3- 6/77 vs West Indies – Barbados -1978

Australia batted first and scored 250 on the board thanks to Bruce Yardley’s 74 and 69 runs by Graham Wood. In reply, the hosts could manage to score a mere 288 as Jeff Thomson picked 6/77 from his 13 overs. His wickets that day included Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Alvin Kallicharan, and Deryck Murray. The final two wickets were that of Andy Roberts and Colin Croft. Australia were all out for 178 in the 2nd dig as West Indies won the game by 9 wickets.

2- 6/50 vs West Indies – Sydney -1976

During the New Year’s Test match of 1976, the Australian side easily beat West Indies by 7 wickets to win the game. The man of the match was Jeff Thomson who took 9/167 in the game. The right-arm pacer took 3 wickets in the first as the West Indians were bowled out for 355. Australia responded with 405 on the board thanks to Greg Chappell’s 182. Armed with a lead of 50 runs, Australia bowled out West Indies for 128 with Thomson taking 6/50 to help him win the game.

1- 6/46 vs England – Brisbane -1974

Australia continued their dominance over the English side as they won the Gabbas Test by 166 runs. The hosts batted first and put on 309 runs on the board as the Chappell brothers scored half-centuries. Jeff Thomson picked 3/59 as England were all out for 265 with Tony Grieg scoring 110. In the second innings Australia declared at 288 to give England a target of 333 runs to win. Local boy Jeff Thomson then dismissed Dennis Amiss, John Edrich, Michael Denness, Tony Grieg, Alan Knott, and Mike Hendrick to register his best-ever figures in Test cricket and end with 6/46 to claim 9/105 in the game.

Also read: Batting performances of Shivnarine Chanderpaul in Tests