Did somebody say Lillee and Thomson? Yep, plenty have. But mostly under their breath, all too aware that after one Test each, James Pattinson and Patrick Cummins still have a very long way to go.
But one half of Australia’s most feared fast bowling combination likes what he has seen already, even if he baulks at any comparison.
“They’re a lot slower, but they’ve got the right sort of attitude,” Jeff Thomson told AAP on Tuesday.
“It was a breath of fresh air to see someone bowl a proper line and actually get up someone for once, instead of all this line and length stuff.
“And they’re not the world’s worst batters either by the looks of things.”
Thomson said there was a simple explanation for the hype surrounding Pattinson and Cummins, who both won the man-of-the-match award in their debut Tests in the past month.
“It means everyone was bored with what they’ve been seeing in the last few years,” he said.
Thomson and Dennis Lillee were anything but boring, taking 555 wickets between them from a combined 121 Tests in a pace partnership that terrorised batsmen all over the world in the 1970s and into the 1980s.
Pattinson, 21, and Cummins have 13 wickets between them from their two Tests and still haven’t even played together, but have already drawn premature comparisons with Lillee and Thomson.
With a sore heel keeping 18-year-old Cummins on hold, Australia won’t get to see the two big young quicks attacking the batsmen at 140 km/h from both ends until Boxing Day against India at the earliest.
But the prospect of two powerful express bowlers working in tandem excites Thomson, who was timed at 160 km/h in the mid 1970s, while Lillee was clocked at 154 km/h.
“Having two blokes helps a lot, it makes a big difference,” Thomson said.
He and Lillee both endured the fast bowler’s curse of injury and he’s aware fitness will play a major part in the impact Cummins and Pattinson can have, but doesn’t like the idea of rotation and rest.
“It depends how long they can stay out on the pitch. I don’t mean babying them, I mean stay out there and bowl,” Thomson said.
“But there are other blokes around as well, Josh Hazlewood and Mitch Starc.”
Former Australian paceman Mike Kasprowicz says Lillee and Thomson had an added fear factor in the 70s.
“It’s impossible to compare them because they’re different bowlers, Lillee and Thomson were bowling at batsmen without helmets too,” Kasprowicz said.
“And it’s impossible to compare anyone with the speed Thomson bowled at.”
While Kasprowicz says they can’t be compared as bowlers, he hopes Cummins and Pattinson can generate similar excitement as Lillee and Thomson.
“I’ve always loved watching fast bowlers from the days of growing up watching Lillee and Thomson and the West Indies bowlers,” he said.
“There’s nothing better than seeing the ball hitting through quick and ball beating bat, clipping an outside edge.
“To win a Test match you need to bowl a team out twice so when you do have that natural raw pace matched with the skill of being able to swing the ball, it’s pretty crucial.
“That’s why it’s now so exciting to see that talent coming through.”
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