Talk:Jeff Thomson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons. Controversial material of any kind that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous. If such material is repeatedly inserted or there are other concerns relative to this policy, report it on the living persons biographies noticeboard.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.	Biography Portal
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the Project's quality scale. Please rate the article and then leave a short summary here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article. [FAQ]

Portal	Jeff Thomson is maintained by WikiProject Australia, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Australia and Australia-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject Australian sports.
Assessment comments This article has not been rated for quality and/or importance yet. Please rate the article and then leave comments here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article.

Searching for "jeff thomson cricket" in google returns 37500 entries. "jeff thompson cricket" returns 104000 entries. However, cricinfo spells it as "thomson", so i'm going with that. - Ianbrown 14:42, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Speeds

In a fast bowling contest in 1978 that included some of the top bowlers in the world, Thomson came out on top with a delivery clocked at 99.7 mph (Michael Holding was 2nd and Imran Khan came 3rd at 89 miles an hour).

This does not agree with the facts. As per Eddie Smith's articles in Cricinfo http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/120260.html and http://www.wisdengroup.com/db/STATS/FC/BOWLING/BOWLING_SPEEDS_OTHER.html , Thomson's 99.7 was registered during a Test in Perth and a 99.8 later in 1976. In the 1979 study, Thomson clocked 91 and Imran 86.

He routinely bowled over 90 mph and terrorised batsmen with his blistering speed.

Unsourced and just an opinion. He probably did but they rarely measured speed in those days for someone to be sure that Thomson 'routinely' bowled over 90. Tintin (talk) 09:55, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't think phrasing that he "terrorised" batsmen would be incorrect, his psychological impact on many English batsmen of the day was commented on at the time - Mike Denness took to wearing a motorcycle helmet after facing Lillee and Thompson and the West Indian quicks thereafter.LessHeard vanU 22:55, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

I was commenting about the 'routinely bowled over 90' part. That is just a guess. I agree that "terrorism" part is nearly universally accepted and won't be difficult to source. Tintin (talk) 14:14, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Javelin-throwing vs slinging action

I have amended the description of Thommo's bowling style; when throwing the javelin the elbow is bent considerably and leads past the shoulder and then straightened to produce velocity/speed. Such a delivery always has been deemed illegal in cricket. Thommo's style has more accurately been described as slinging, as in the manner of the medieval war machine trebuchet, with a very straight arm. The opposing batsmen may have been inclined to debate whether they were facing javelins or slingshot, however. Also, Thommo had a very brief English County Championship career with Middlesex.LessHeard vanU 22:48, 25 August 2006 (UTC)