Fred.
Frederick Sewards Trueman passed away today from cancer, aged 75.
He was a bloody-minded and arrogant professional Yorkshireman who seemingly had very little time for the nancy-boy preenings of modern day sportsmen. He was too curmudgeonly for his own good and was frequently dropped by England as a result. He upset fellow cricketers, the MCC, the BBC and many listeners with his forthright views on the game of cricket and its administrators. However, none of this stopped him becoming the first bowler to 300 test wickets when his great friend Colin Cowdrey caught Neil Hawke at first slip during the Oval test of 1964. Neither did it stop him forming one of the greatest new-ball partnerships in cricket with Brian Statham. Fred was genuinely fast and aggressive, with a classic fluid action that could control outswing almost at will and he would bowl all day if needed. His average of 21.57 and strike rate of one wicket every 49 balls remain among the best in test cricket.With over 9000 first class runs and three centuries to boot, he was also a talented tail end batsman. He spoke about the game not out of arrogance but as one who had been there and done it all. He was one of cricket's genuine characters and the game will be poorer for his passing. He believed he was "T'Greatest Fast Bowler Who Ever Drew Breath" and whether you believed it or not, it was that unassailable confidence in himself and his abilities that made him great.
He was a bloody-minded and arrogant professional Yorkshireman who seemingly had very little time for the nancy-boy preenings of modern day sportsmen. He was too curmudgeonly for his own good and was frequently dropped by England as a result. He upset fellow cricketers, the MCC, the BBC and many listeners with his forthright views on the game of cricket and its administrators. However, none of this stopped him becoming the first bowler to 300 test wickets when his great friend Colin Cowdrey caught Neil Hawke at first slip during the Oval test of 1964. Neither did it stop him forming one of the greatest new-ball partnerships in cricket with Brian Statham. Fred was genuinely fast and aggressive, with a classic fluid action that could control outswing almost at will and he would bowl all day if needed. His average of 21.57 and strike rate of one wicket every 49 balls remain among the best in test cricket.With over 9000 first class runs and three centuries to boot, he was also a talented tail end batsman. He spoke about the game not out of arrogance but as one who had been there and done it all. He was one of cricket's genuine characters and the game will be poorer for his passing. He believed he was "T'Greatest Fast Bowler Who Ever Drew Breath" and whether you believed it or not, it was that unassailable confidence in himself and his abilities that made him great.
F.S Trueman 1931 - 2006
posted by Richard at 8:19 pm
4 Vegetable peelings:
It was the other way round actually Steve, it was Rebecca Trueman who married Damon Welch. I had it in to start with but it looked a trifle out of place so it got culled. After all, they wouldn't have been the first set of in-laws who didn't get on.
I always had him down as a twat as a broadcaster, but those numbers don't lie - that is a terrific strike rate and bowling average, in any era. And like you say, with a background like that, he was entitled to express an opinion on cricket, if nothing else.
I'd love to see those wedding photos. And what a genetic splice - legs and eyebrows! |:)
Can we not move on from Fred, now? I keep checking for the next installment of little known facts but all I get is stuff about some dead sportsman!
They are so little-known that I have been unable to find them. Working on it.
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