Jeffrey Robert Thomson is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he is one of the fastest bowlers in the history of cricket; he bowled a delivery with a speed of 160.6 km/h against the West Indies in Perth in 1975, which was the fastest recorded delivery at the time, and the fourth-fastest recorded delivery of all time. He was the opening partner of fellow fast bowler Dennis Lillee; their combination was one of the most fearsome in Test cricket history.

"Dump a cricket ball in kerosene, light it on fire and launch it out of a cannon and then you'll get something like Jeff Thomson."

Thomson enjoyed a rapid rise in the 1972–73 season. He made his first-class debut for New South Wale in October 1972 against Western Australia, replacing David Colley, who was injured. He also took 5–97 for NSW Colts against Queensland Colts. After playing five first-class games and taking 17 wickets, Thomson was a surprise selection in for the second Test against Pakistan. He replaced Bob Massie who was picked in the first Test side. It was felt Thomson's selection was an experimental one with a view to the West Indies tour at the end of the summer.

Against Pakistan at the MCG, Thomson returned match figures of 0/110. Later, he was diagnosed as having played with a broken bone in his foot, the pain from which he kept concealed from selectors and teammates. He bowled waywardly and was not picked to tour the West Indies. Following this, he disappeared from first-class cricket until the final match of the 1973–74 season against Queensland. Thomson took nine wickets in the game, helping to prevent Queensland from winning the Shield. Queensland captain Greg Chappell convinced Thomson to move to Queensland for the following season, which he did, playing for Toombul District Cricket Club in the local Brisbane competition.

When Thomson was selected for the first Test of the 1974/75 Ashes series, the English players had seen him in action only once, during a tour match against Queensland when Thomson bowled well within himself on the instruction of his captain Greg Chappell. He created controversy during a television interview before the Test when he said, "I enjoy hitting a batsman more than getting him out. I like to see blood on the pitch.”

In the second innings of the match, he bowled Australia to victory with a spell of 6/46. At Perth, he injured several batsmen and finished off the game with 5/93 in the second innings as Australia recorded another victory. Taking a relatively short run-up to the crease, Thomson generated his pace with a slinging-style bowling action, clearly influenced by his former competitive javelin throwing, that began to accelerate the ball from a lower position than is typical. He did not put a lot of work on the ball with his fingers, so he did not seam or swing the ball much, and he adopted an uncomplicated approach to his work.

Forming an intimidating bowling partnership with Dennis Lillee, Thomson captured 33 wickets in the series and looked to set to beat Arthur Mailey's record of 36 Test wickets in an Australian Test season. However, he injured his shoulder playing a social tennis match during the rest day of the Fifth Test at Adelaide and missed the rest of the summer. Australia's eventual winning margin was 4–1.

He was less at home on the slower wickets of England on the tour that followed and took only four wickets in five matches during the inaugural World Cup. In the subsequent four-Test series, he snared 16 wickets at 28.56. In the first Test at Edgbaston, he hit 49 from 67 balls and bagged 5/38 in England's second innings as Australia claimed the only decisive result of the series, which enabled them to retain the Ashes. In the 1975/76 series against the West Indies, he took 29 wickets in the six Tests. He conceded a lot of runs but often induced the West Indies batsmen to play injudicious shots.

A severe injury resulted from an on-field collision with teammate Alan Turner as they both attempted a catch in the First Test match against Pakistan at Adelaide on Christmas Eve, 1976. A dislocation of his right collarbone forced him to miss the remainder of the season. Although he returned to Test cricket during the 1977 Ashes series in England, he was never as consistently fast again. Lillee missed the tour because of back problems, and Thomson responded as the spearhead of the attack by taking 23 wickets at 25.34 average. Australia's performance was said to suffer by the revelation that most of the team had signed to play World Series Cricket (WSC) in opposition to official cricket, although skipper Greg Chappell concedes his side would have been beaten anyway.

In the rebuilt Australian Test team of 1977/78, Thomson was the senior player after the recalled veteran, captain Bob Simpson. In the First Test against India at Brisbane, Thomson contributed seven wickets and 41 not out towards an Australian victory. During the second Test at Perth, he claimed six wickets and finished the series with 22 wickets at an average of 23.45. Australia had a narrow 3–2 win that helped the ACB maintain its optimism that it could win the war with WSC. Thomson, meanwhile, had success at domestic level, taking 6/18 in his only Gillette Cup appearance, against South Australia in Brisbane, which was enough to be voted man-of-the-series, winning him a prize of two return tickets to Fiji.

Simpson lobbied for Thomson's appointment as vice-captain of the team to tour the West Indies. Thomson produced his fastest spell since his comeback in the second Test at Bridgetown, Barbados, when he knocked off Viv Richards' cap and finished with 6/77.

During the winter, Thomson expressed a desire to join his teammates playing WSC, which paid for a court challenge to his contract. The ACB had a rare victory over WSC when the judge ruled against the proposed move, and criticised Thomson's business acumen. Thomson played a single limited-overs match for Queensland, taking 6/18, and then in September "retired" from Test cricket from 30 September onwards. As part of the negotiations to end the dispute between the two organisations, the ACB agreed to let Thomson play in WSC's tour of the Caribbean in the spring of 1979. Reunited with Lillee, he returned 16 wickets in five "Supertests", including 5/78 at Trinidad.

The reunion of the partnership for Test cricket was less successful. A number of fast bowlers had enjoyed success for Australia during Thomson's absence from the team, yet the selectors were keen to see Lillee and Thomson attempt to reprise their success of the mid-1970s. However, Thomson managed only two Tests in 1979/80 when he was dropped. He played four ODIs in the first World Series Cup, but bowled erratically in two-day/night matches against England at the SCG that confirmed his unsuitability to limited-overs cricket. Thereafter, injuries contributed to his absence from the team.

Thomson reclaimed his place in 1981/82 when he played eight of the nine Tests against Pakistan and the West Indies (in Australia) and in New Zealand. His figures were pedestrian: 20 wickets at 36.4, with a best of 4/51. However, he found a regular place in the ODI team and took 19 wickets (at 27.42 average) in 13 matches during the World Series Cup.

Dropped for the first Test at home against England, Thomson owed his recall to a knee injury suffered by Lillee. In the remaining four Tests, he enjoyed success in taking 22 wickets at 18.68. At times, he reached top pace, claiming 5/73 at Brisbane, and 5/50 at Sydney in the fifth Test, his last in Australia. His performance in the World Series Cup, 19 wickets in 13 matches with an RPO of 4.01, was his best in an ODI tournament.

Continuing with Queensland as captain, Thomson was chosen for the 1985 tour of England. The rebel tours to South Africa had stripped the Australian team of pace bowlers. In the first Test, his match figures were 2/174, and he was omitted until the Fifth Test, when he scored 28 not out in the first innings, his highest Test score since 1977. His only wicket was Graham Gooch, giving him 200 Test wickets. Thomson never represented Australia again; he did, however, help Queensland reach the Sheffield Shield final in his last season of first-class cricket in 1985–86, but they missed out to NSW.

Thomson married model Cheryl Wilson after they caught each other's eyes during a cricket game; they have been a couple for more than 40 years. The wedding flowers were supplied by the legendary fast bowler and florist Ray Lindwall. Thomson bought a Ford Falcon Phase III GTHO for $23,000 in the late 1980s, which in modern times is in incredibly high demand with collectors and investors. Thomson sold his Phase III for A$1,030,000 in 2018; it still bears its original seat belts, carpets, spare tyre and log books. This demand is, in part, due to a small production run - only 300 were ever made, and it's believed that fewer than a third of these vehicles remain.