Thommo was in a class of his own

``Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence.''

- George Orwell.

THE GREAT English novelist famous for his iconoclasm did not mean the willow game when he made that profound statement about ``serious sport''. Cricket has much to do with ``fair play'' because it has always prided itself on being a gentleman's game although the heinous crimes like match-fixing and ball-tampering may mirror the other side of the coin.

Nevertheless, cricket is a ``serious sport'' and if Orwell had seen the likes of Harold Larwood and Michael Holding firing on all cylinders on the greentops down under and the plight of the hapless, clueless men facing them with ``a mere piece of wood'' in their hands, he would have used those heavy words for it also.

When the wicket is lively, when the bowler is spitting fire or is reduced to a mere trundler, when the batsman is playing his shots or is at sixes and sevens, when the crowds are having a go in the stands, cricket is not only a ``serious sport'' but also a superb spectacle. And it was precisely like this most of the time when Jeffrey Robert Thomson (born at Greenacre, Sydney, on August 16, 1950) was armed with a new ball.

``Fast bowling is the pulse and rhythm of cricket. There can be no dull play when a fast bowler is in full swing,'' said Neville Cardus, who had seen many purveyors of pace, not just Wes Hall and Fred Trueman. Who can disagree with the one and only knight among cricket writers?

There was no dull moment when Thomson, nicknamed Thommo, was on the field. They just loved him, especially in Australia. So much so that Thommo had the capacity to turn the stadium into a ballroom even when he was merely tossing the red cherry. There was an air of excitement in the stands when he started marking his long runup. The noise would culminate into crash crescendo when he rushed towards the batsman with his blistering speed through the air.

Although he had all the right assets, he was still far from being an ideal fast bowler. There was nothing subtle about his approach. But blessed as he was with super temperament, action, pace, movement and stamina, Thommo proved beyond doubt that unorthodox method does pay off. An expert javelin thrower and a former serf rider from the Sydney suburb Bankstown, he got the ball to lift off a length after delivering it at a speed somewhere between 90 and 100 kmph.

Immensely strong, Thommo's great strength in trunk and chest enabled him to get enormous propulsion in what was close to the old- fashioned slinger's delivery of his. Trevor Bailey was right on target when he said: ``In his early prime the ball was always liable to behave like a grenade and explode.''

Essentially a shock bowler, Thommo's magnificent and somewhat unique action caused the occasional balls to lift or cut back viciously off the seam. He may have bowled less number of bouncers compared to his contemporaries but when it came to sending down unplayable deliveries, there was just no stopping Thommo.

Thommo was a rebel of sorts and besides his ability to combine intimidating pace and lift, it was a touch of belligerence and roughness in his attitude towards the batsmen that marked his brutal effectiveness.

His express speed, aided by a terrific crowd support, may have enabled Thommo to earn easy pickings with full-tosses, half- volleys and long-hops and also get away with erratic deliveries at times. But when his rhythm was wrong, Thommo would bowl some spectacular wides and no-balls as he tried to bowl extra quick out of sheer frustration.

Graham Gooch rightly remarked: ``More than any other great fast bowler, Thomson can look ordinary if he's not gelling properly.'' (Incidentally, it was Thommo who spoiled Gooch's Test debut as he did not allow the Englishman to open his account in both innings.)

With Dennis Lillee he had formed one of the most lethal pairs of speed merchants in cricket history. The two complemented each other very well. While Lillee was a consummate artist, Thommo was a slinger with the knockout punch. Indeed, the duo was as ideal as it was contrasting. But the phenomenal success they achieved when bowlig in tandem had to be seen to be believed. Hence the clarion call down under: ``If Lillee don't get you, Thommo will.''

Thommo was simply the scourge of the English batsmen. He always found them easy meat, whether in Australia or in England. It was quite a sight in the mid-1970s when they retreated and Thommo chased them remorselessly. In the 1974-75 series down under Thommo played five matches and claimed 33 wickets at 19.30 despite tearing fibres in his right shoulder while playing tennis during the rest day of the fifth Test in Adelaide. His partner was not far behind either as Lillee scalped 25 victims at 23.84 in 6 Tests.

England's star willow-wielder Dennis Amiss was reduced to a woefully ordinary-looking batsman. ``They (Thommo and Lillee) bowled against us on perfect bowling wickets - hard, fast, green and bouncy. They were really unplayable. I felt I was never going to score a run against Thomson and Lillee,'' confessed Amiss to this writer once.Fortune favours the brave, it is said. Maybe. But the same timid England players, who had been demoralised by the ferocious pace of the two, got the much-needed dose of relief and a new lease of life when Thommo missed the 6th Test and Lillee injured himself at the start of the final match in Melbourne. Not only that, they actually won the Test by an innings!

The Thommo-Lillee combine devastated even the mighty West Indies under Clive Lloyd in Australia in 1975-76, winning the rubber 5-1 for Greg Chappell, his maiden as a captain. Thommo captured 29 wickets at 30.66. In addition to Lloyd, the West Indies boasted of batsmen of the calibre of Viv Richards, Lawrence Rowe, Alvin Kallicharran, Roy Fredericks and Gordon Greenidge in its ranks. But Thommo and Lillee, encouraged by the brilliant form of Greg Chappell and other Australian batsmen, simply towered over them. It was after this series that Lloyd vowed to always rely on brutal pace only.

But for injuries, Thommo could have played many more Tests than he actually did. Even on his debut, against Pakistan at Melbourne in 1972- 73, he had played with a broken bone in his foot. He did not take a wicket despite giving away 110 runs. Though he made a remarkable comeback and brought many laurels to Australia in Lillee's company, the shoulder injury he had sustained in 1974- 75, as said earlier, proved to be the bane of his cricketing life. As if that were not enough, his career was endangered after a heavy collision with Alan Turner in the field against Pakistan at Adelaide in 1977. It badly dislocated his collarbone.

However, he continued playing irrespective of injuries and lack of enough support at the other end when Lillee joined the World Series Cricket (WSC) of Kerry Packer. Thommo, too, would definitely have joined but for contractual obligations to 4IP radio station as a public relations executive.

Indians had a taste of Thommo's thunderbolts down under in 1977- 78 when he claimed 22 wickets at 23.45. But it must be said that unlike many other batsmen, the Indians played Thommo much better. Not only the established Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Visvanath, even Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Chetan Chauhan and Syed Kirmani fared very well. He toured the West Indies in 1978 as Bobby Simpson's deputy. He subsequently joined the WSC and even toured the Caribbean under its pompous banner. Thommo and Lillee were seen together again for a while and everything seemed to be fine with Australian cricket after Packer wound his ``circus''. But injuries, and spells of bad form, did not leave Thommo till the very end (he always carried that suspect right shoulder). Meanwhile, Australia had found good fast bowlers in Rodney Hogg, Len Pascoe, Geoff Lawson and Terry Alderman.

HARESH PANDYA

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