Former Australia and Victoria fast bowler Alan Thomson passed away at the age of 76. The ex-cricketer scalped the prized wicket of Geoffrey Boycott in the first ODI in the history of the game.
Thomson, who bowled with an unusual action in which he delivered off the wrong foot, appeared in four Tests during the gruelling seven-match Ashes series in 1970-71. He appeared in the first two Tests of that series in Brisbane and Perth, but was not selected for the New Year’s Test in Melbourne, which was called off due to rain.
Thomson would make a comeback into the Aussie playing XI and would go on to take part in the fifth and sixth Tests of the series, but not before making some history.
As a consequence of the Melbourne Test being cancelled, Australia and England played the world’s first ODI on January 5, at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, and Thomson took the first wicket of the match when he dismissed the great Geoffrey Boycott, whose pull shot went straight to Bill Lawry at square leg. Thomson took 1 for 22 from his eight overs in Australia’s victory in the 40-over contest.
Thomson gained a reputation in Victoria in the late 1960s, flummoxing batsmen in the Sheffield Shield in addition to when he played against touring international teams. He also took 11 wickets for Victoria against the West Indies Test team in January 1969.
Thomas was a central figure in Victoria’s Sheffield Shield winning season in 1969-70, and he toured New Zealand with an Australia B side that summer, besides Australian greats Greg Chappell and Dennis Lillee. Thomson, Chappell, and Lillee would all make their Test debuts against England the following summer. Thomson earned his Test debut after taking 9 for 181 in a match against England in the lead-up to the first Test, including 6 for 80 in an innings.
Thomson, nicknamed “Froggy,” picked up 184 first-class wickets in the span of his career in which he played 44 matches. During his first-class and brief international careers, he worked as a primary school teacher and as a field umpire in the Victorian Football League. A stalwart in every sense of the word, Thomson will be much missed.
