George Thoms

George Ronald Thoms OAM (22 March 1927 – 29 August 2003) was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1952. He played 18 first-class matches for Victoria, one in 1946, and then more regularly from 1951–52 to 1953–54.

For the Scottish advocate and philanthropist, see George Hunter MacThomas Thoms.

George Thoms
Personal information
Full nameGeorge Ronald Thoms
Born22 March 1927
Footscray, Victoria
Died29 August 2003(2003-08-29) (aged 76)
Melbourne, Victoria
BattingRight-hand bat
Bowling–
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 192)25 January 1952 v West Indies
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1946/47-1953/54Victoria
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class
Matches 1 19
Runs scored 44 1137
Batting average 22.00 35.53
100s/50s 0/0 3/5
Top score 28 150
Balls bowled 0 32
Wickets 0 1
Bowling average – 14.00
5 wickets in innings 0 0
10 wickets in match 0 0
Best bowling – 1/8
Catches/stumpings 0/0 10/0
Source: ESPNcricinfo

Born in Footscray, Victoria, Thoms attended Melbourne University, where he opened the batting for Melbourne University Cricket Club with Colin McDonald.[1] He also played first-class cricket for Victoria alongside McDonald, and they both made their Test debut in the fifth Test against West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 1952, alongside fellow debutant Richie Benaud.[2] Uniquely, Thoms and McDonald opened the batting together for a Test team, state team, and club team in that season. A solid, rather than spectacular, batsman, he scored 16 and 28. Thoms was dismissed hit wicket in the second innings, treading on the stumps after pulling a Frank Worrell delivery for four.

Johnnie Moyes, a pre-eminent cricket historian, wrote hyperbolically of this modest beginning: "He was a player of negative qualities, and one gained the impression that a competent leader could close him down to an occasional single for hours at a time, not the type of batsman for whom there could be any international future. It was no surprise that his first Test was also his last."[3]

His top score was 150 for Victoria against Western Australia in Perth in the first match of the 1951–52 season. He also scored 120 later in the season, against Queensland in Melbourne, and finished the Sheffield Shield season with 521 runs at 57.88.[4] He also made a century, 140, against Tasmania in Hobart in 1953–54. He played his last first-class match in 1953–54 at 26.

Thoms retired from representative cricket to concentrate on his medical career, fearful that a hand injury could end his ambitions as a surgeon.[5] He is thought to be the only Test cricketer to have been a gynaecologist. He introduced laser surgery to Australia in the 1970s and was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1996. Jim Thoms, his elder brother, was a noted Australian rules footballer and national table tennis champion.

During 1950 and 1951 Thoms was a member of the VFL Umpires Association and field umpired 16 matches of Australian football in various country leagues across Victoria. He also officiated in a single VFL Second Eighteens (later VFL Reserve Grade) match in June 1951.

He attended a reunion of 150 Australian Test cricketers in Sydney on 11 July 2003. He died a few weeks later, in Melbourne, Victoria.

See also

References
  1. Shearer, Tim (September 2009). "Colin McDonald: a cricket warrior tells his story". Great Scot 51. Scotch College. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  2. "5th Test, West Indies tour of Australia at Sydney, Jan 25-29 1952: Match Summary". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  3. Moyes: Australian Batsmen, p. 161.
  4. Wisden 1953, pp. 845–61.
  5. "Pilots, tenors and administrators". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
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