Raelee Thompson is the twelfth Test cricket captain of Australia and one of the premier fast bowlers of all time.
The right arm fast medium bowler made her debut for Victoria 1970/71 and given the strength of the Victorian team at the time, that was an achievement in itself. But Raelee had more to offer and was selected for Test duties in 1971/2 against Trish McKelvey’s New Zealand team.
A tour to the Caribbean in 1973 to play Jamaica was followed by a trip to the UK to play in what was the first ever World Cup of cricket and thus Raelee’s debut in ODIs. She opened the bowling throughout the tournament with Tina McPherson and Sharon Tredrea, and it was the latter with whom she formed the most destructive new ball pair of the era. Tredrea was quick, Thompson was cunning. It was a formidable combination.
The most dangerous thing about a fast bowler is not the pace through the air, but the pace through the mind and this is what made Raelee so difficult for opposition batsmen. That is most evident when you cast an eye over her ODI performances, 25 matches across three World Cups (winning two). Raelee took 24 wickets at 18.66 but with an economy of just 1.96 runs per over.
No slouch with the bat either, her 50 not out against the International XI in the 1981/82 World Cup her best and maintained a batting average of 25.87.
By 1984/85, Australia is playing the Jubilee Test series. A five Test series between the two old enemies, striving for the Ashes. In the first Test, at Perth, Australia loses their captain and fast bowler, Sharon Tredrea. Vice-captain Thompson, reluctantly, steps up.
Perth was a draw, but Adelaide was a disaster. Australia grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. Brisbane was a draw, but a win at Gosford set the scene for a showdown in Bendigo, Victoria, which is not that far from Thommo’s birthplace of Shepparton.
The skipper took 5-33 in England’s first innings and guided Australia to victory after being down 1-0 after three Tests, winning the series 2-1. It was Raelee’s final Test.
In sixteen Tests, she took 57 wickets at 18.24 with her best being the 5-33 at Bendigo. In July 2021, Raelee was inducted into the Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame. In 2018 she was awarded a life membership of Cricket Victoria.
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