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Geoff Dymock, a left arm fast-medium seam bowler who played for
Australia when Lillee and Thomson were injured, could not find a place
in the Test side when the big stars joined World Series Cricket, but
found his best form and was impossible to leave out of the matches when
they returned. His best performances were in the so-called
'reconciliation' series of 1979-80, when he took 3-52 and 6-34 against
England in Perth, 4-106 against West Indies in Melbourne, 4-42 and 3-48
against England in Sydney, and 2-74 and 5-104 against West Indies and
Adelaide.
With Lillee, Lenny Pascoe and Rodney Hogg he formed an attack
which rivalled the West Indies pace quartet. Lillee was suffering from a
long-term back injury and Thomson was yet to burst on the scene when
Dymock made his debut against New Zealand in Adelaide in 1973-74. He
took 2-44 and 5-58 as Australia won by an innings. In New Zealand the
same season he took 3-77 in Wellington and 3-59 in Christchurch, when
New Zealand won. He played in the last Test of a 1974-75 Ashes tour,
again with Lillee and Thomson injured, and England won by an innings.
Dymock toured England in 1977 but could not find a place in the Test
team. He missed the era of Bobby Simpson's return as captain and did not
play again until the second Test of Mike Brearley's Ashes tour in
1978-79, when he shared the new ball with Rodney Hogg. He took five
wickets at the MCG then gave way to Alan Hurst in the last two Tests. In
India, under Kim Hughes in 1979-80, he took 5-99 and 7-67 in Kanpur. In
the 1979 World Cup he bowled 11 overs for just 19 runs against England
at Lord's. (Bob Harragan)
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