Meeting Jeff Thomson

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; if Lillee don't get you Thommo must!"

Had the opportunity today of meeting Jeff Thomson at a function, where he was guest speaker.  At 60 years of age, Thomson is an unassuming, very likeable, down-to-earth bloke.

The first half of the evening was rather a let down, as Thomson delivered jokes that wouldn't have been much funnier at the hands of a professional stand-up comedian.  However, he more than made up for the light hearted banter with some insightful comments about his career.

His anecdotes relating to his good friend Len Pascoe were hilarious, though I shan't bother repeating them here, as "you had to be there".

Most interesting was the Q&A session, where a lot of interesting information was gleaned.  I personally asked him two questions (paraphrasing):

Q.  Did you ever feel like you were playing second string to Dennis Lillee and what was your relationship with Lillee like?

A.  Lillee and I were good mates.  I used to scare the sh*t out of batsmen and then Lillee would do his thing and get the wickets.  It was a great partnership, which later on was mirrored in the partnership between McGrath and Warne.  All I ever wanted to do was bowl fast.

Q.  Who do you think will win the world cup this year?

A.  I reckon Australia are a good chance.  They've not lost anything so far and if Hussey is in form, they should do well.  India are not that special.

Other snippets of information gleaned from the Q&A included the following.  Please note, I did not take notes and am just recalling from memory what was said.  Some of what was mentioned, may have been misinterpreted by myself, so if you want Thomson's personal opinion on any of these matters, don't quote me, ask the man yourself (Is that a decent enough disclaimer for the dirt I'm about to dish out?)

• Hilditch is likely to be offered another 2 year extension of contract as Selector, which is bad news for Australian cricket.
• Ponting has his favourites and as a result talented players like Brad Hodge have not had a decent run in the team.
• Michael Clarke is not liked by the players and the selectors would rather have as captain someone such as Tim Paine.
• Thomson doesn't rate Phil Hughes as a test calibre batsman and would rather see someone like David Warner given a chance to play test cricket.
• From the current crop of players, he rates Brett Lee the highest.  Does not appear to have any time for the likes of Tait, Siddle or Mitchell.
• In his opinion, most bowlers don't spend enough time honing their craft on the cricket pitch.  As an example, Steve Finn when not picked for England, was sent off for strength and conditioning instead of playing cricket for his county side.  Thomson feels that the only way to get the best out of bowlers is to have them bowl a lot.
• His role model was "his dad" and guys such as Fred Trueman.

Pardon the paunch - I should've worn black, as I'm told it's more slimming (doubt it would've helped much though)