Commenting on their bowling during the 1974–75 season, Wisden wrote: "... it was easy to believe they were the fastest pair ever to have coincided in a cricket team".

In December 1975, after the second Test match against the West Indies at the WACA, he was timed with a release speed of 160.45 km/h using accurate, high-speed photo-sonic cameras.

The study was carried out by Tom Penrose and Brian Blanksby of the University of Western Australia, and Daryl Foster of the Secondary Teachers' College in Perth.

[9] In 1979, Thomson won a fastest-bowling competition held by the Australian television station Channel 9, in a year in which he was banned from playing professional cricket due to striking a soccer referee.

[13] Four decades on, Thomson mentioned in an episode of Cricket Legends that he had intentionally bowled full tosses for the competition in order to improve his score.

[citation needed] Many of the players of the 1970s and 1980s generation also rate Thomson as the fastest they faced, including West Indian Viv Richards[17] and Sunil Gavaskar.

He made his first-class debut for New South Wales (NSW) in October 1972 against Western Australia, replacing David Colley, who was injured.

John Benaud describes facing Thomson in a Sydney grade match: So Thommo begins – the high stepping gait of a thoroughbred, bowling hand bobbing at waist level and the ball visible.

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.

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.

[43] 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.

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.

[citation needed] In the rebuilt Australian Test team of 1977–78, Thomson was the senior player after the recalled veteran, captain Bob Simpson.

[citation needed] 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.

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.

[citation needed] 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[vague] victory over WSC when the judge ruled against the proposed move, and criticised Thomson's business acumen.

[47] 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.

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.

Overlooked for the 1981 Ashes tour of England, he decided to spend the season with Middlesex in the hope that he might be needed as a late replacement in the Australian team, but he got injured.

[50] 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,[51] but they missed out to NSW.

Prior to his marriage, Thomson's dashing good looks, skill, and strong physique made him "very much a cynosure of ladies’ eyes".

[52] His reputation as a ladies' man came to a head during the 1979 Cricket World Cup when he was greeted by Queen Elizabeth II, who Thomson claimed remarked: "So you're the chap who has been giving our girls a hard time.

[55][56] 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.

[58][59] In 2015, Thomson joined Ian Chappell, Len Pascoe, and Doug Walters in a charity luncheon to raise money to fight depression.