Australian wicket-keeper Rod Marsh kept wicket to Thomson for most of his Test career and claimed that Thomson bowled upwards of 180 km/h. Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd regards Thomson as the fastest bowler he has ever seen.[3] Thomson himself noted that he had been timed at the batsman's end of the pitch (by which time the ball has slowed) and believes had he been timed out of the hand he would have been closer to 180 km/h.[4]
John Benaud describes facing Thomson in a club match: "So Thommo begins - the high stepping gait of a thoroughbred, bowling hand bobbing at waist level and the ball visible. It is conventional and comforting because facing a strange bowler for the first time invariably generates edginess. Then, in the split second before delivery, at gather, Thommo drags one leg behind the other in a sort of Swan Lake crossover, sways back and hides the ball behind his right knee - unconventional and very unsettling.[11] "
http://www.espncricinfo.com/wctimeline/content/story/500185.html
Sunil Wettimuny and Duleep Mendis were repeatedly struck on the body, with Thomson, steaming in from the Pavilion End, causing the most damage. Both batsmen were hit, but Mendis was laid out by a ball Alan Gibson in the Times described as "not a bouncer but a short ball aimed at the body". "I hit this bloke on the head," Thomson explained. "They were only little fellas so you couldn't call it a bouncer exactly."
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