Swervy said:
well there are people who have the opinion that Thommo was faster than Shoaib.
And we'll never know totally for certain because the only technology used to time him was very primative compared to that used today.
However, if both were accurate to the same degree they were almost exactly the same.
I think you need to watch the game more closely, batsmen are relatively (relative to very very occasionally anyway) often beaten for pace and pace alone, although obviously it helps if you do stuff with the ball as well
So why are batsmen bowled or lbw, beaten purely for pace, almost never, then?
Why did Thomson average 28....well...Thomson was like Tyson in the 50's, of such express pace with a demanding action that the peak performances were only going to last a fairly short period. 1974 to 1976 inclusive were Thommo's times..and on the bouncier faster wickets of Australia he was by many accounts a very scary bowler to face..and he used that batsmans fear to his advantage, sometimes hamming it up with comments like wanting to see blood on the pitch etc. In England he wasnt as successful because in England you need more tools than just pure speed (a reason for Lillee's successes in this country).
So that's why Tyson averaged an astonishing 18.something, then?
Yes, true: Thomson between 1973 and 1977 averaged 23 at home (27.4 away).
But to compare Thomson to Tyson is an insult to Tyson, he was nowhere near as good.
Thomson also averaged 19 in Australia against England in 1982\83.
If he was scary that's probably because protective equipment wasn't good enough in those days.
Thomson injured his shoulder later on and he never was the bowler he once was..although even in 85 in England he could bowl at a fair pace (probably consistantly 85mph mabe reaching 90mph sometimes) but he didnt have the same blasting ability although he certainly could move the ball a bit later in his career, because he had to learn those skills after injury (much like Lillee did in the early 70's..which actually made Lillee a better bowler)
Lillee was a swing-bowler in 1972, I can assure you of that. Not so sure about Thomson in 1972\73 (when Pakistan hammered him all over the park).