Thanks to our friends at Wakefield Press, here is a sneak peek into Thwack! The glorious sound of summer, written by Ashley Mallett.
David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd possesses a quizzical – almost comical – face, which immediately brings a smile to your face. Apologies to Rowan Atkinson – or maybe it is a compliment – for Bumble has that Mr. Bean sort of face, has he not? The instant Bumble starts to speak you find yourself smiling. He’s a delight to any listening audience be it radio, television or whenever he stands to speak at dinner. The Lancashire and England batsman came to Australia with the team lead by Mike Denness. The England batsmen were pretty much cock-a-hoop; all of their top players were in good touch and they didn’t believe the propaganda filtering down the line about Dennis Lillee and a man named Thomson. Lillee was returning from a crippling back injury and Jeff Thomson was thought to be a wayward slinger; quick, some said, but erratic and he didn’t swing the ball at all. All was revealed in the first Test at the Gabba, with Lillee returning to Test match cricket fitter, meaner and with better rhythm than ever. Jeff Thomson? Well, well.
Thommo simply blew them away with speed never before seen at the Gabba. There great England fast man Frank ‘Typhoon’ Tyson bowled there is 1945-1955 and West Indian speedster Wes Hall bowled with a pace like fire against Australia in 1960–61, and in subsequent outings for Queensland in Sheffield Shield, but they did not compare to the whirlwind the England side of November 1974 faced in that first Test. Thommo shattered stumps and England’s collective batting heart with a blistering 6/46 in the England second innings. His sandshoe crusher (a searing yorker), which clean bowled Tony Greig, was a ball to behold.
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