Fred Trueman

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Fred Trueman bigraphy, stories - English cricketer

Fred Trueman : biography

6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006

Frederick Sewards ("Fred") Trueman OBE (6 February 19311 July 2006) was an English cricketer with professional status who later became an author and broadcaster. He is generally acknowledged to have been one of the greatest bowlers in cricket’s history. Bowling at a genuinely fast pace and widely known as "Fiery Fred", Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire from 1949 until he retired in 1968.

He represented England in 67 Test matches and was the first bowler to take 300 wickets in a Test career. He and Brian Statham opened the England bowling together for many years and formed one of the most famous bowling partnerships in Test cricket history. Trueman was an outstanding fielder, especially at leg slip, and a useful late order batsman who made three first-class centuries.

Trueman’s talent, skill and popularity were such that British Prime Minister Harold Wilson jokingly described him as the "greatest living Yorkshireman". However, Trueman was omitted from numerous England teams because he was frequently in conflict with the cricket establishment which he often criticised for its perceived "snobbishness" and hypocrisy.

After he retired from playing, Trueman became a media personality through his work in television and as an outspoken radio commentator and summariser for the BBC, mainly working on Test Match Special.

Style and technique

Approach to cricket

In his own words, Fred Trueman "didn’t play cricket for social reasons like some of the fancy amateurs". It was his living and he "played to win".Ball of Fire, p.56. Conversely, he would try and do something each day to make the crowd laugh and "he breathed life and humour into any cricket match". He took his bowling very seriously indeed but he liked to entertain when he was batting or fielding. On the occasions when he captained his team, especially in 1968 when Brian Close was injured for a long time, he proved to be "a shrewd and intelligent exponent of the craft (of captaincy)".

According to David Frith, it was his "sense of fun and mischief" that prompted Trueman to make a habit of visiting the opposition dressing room and this was always "more than a social call". Sometimes he did genuinely want to see a "good mate" in the other team, such as Tony Lock or Brian Statham, but more often than not it was "a declaration of war, an acutely personal challenge, clothed in rollicking humour and self-caricature".Frith, p.171.

Trueman always maintained his hostility towards the perceived arrogance and "snobbishness" of some in the cricketing establishment, especially the likes of Gubby Allen.As It Was, pp.248–250. He hated what he called "fancy caps", which specifically meant those of MCC and the universities, and was alleged to say on seeing the wearer of such a cap that he would "pin him to t’bloody sightscreen".Frith, p.172. On one occasion, a Cambridge University batsman, having just been dismissed, acknowledged him with the condescending compliment: "That was a very good ball, Mr Trueman". Trueman replied: "Aye, wasted on thee". In a similar vein, his view of the Gentlemen v Players fixture was that it was a "ludicrous business" that was "thankfully abolished" after the 1962 season.

Bowling

John Warr, with whom Trueman shared his first-class debut, wrote that from the beginning of his career, Trueman’s run-up was "curving and long but nicely modulated". David Frith continued with Trueman reaching the wicket, where he turned his body side-on and cocked back his ball-carrying right arm, as the leading left arm was hoisted, before "an awesome cartwheel" sent him into a followthrough which "resembled a Sea Fury finishing its mission along the runway of an aircraft carrier".Frith, p.169. Warr said Trueman’s final stride had a "pronounced drag" which caused him some difficulties when the front-foot rule was introduced. His bowling arm was kept high through the delivery stride, to generate extra bounce and pace off the pitch, and the movement of the ball was "predominantly away from the bat" (i.e., the out-swinger). Trueman himself maintained that his ability to bowl outswingers consistently was "another new ingredient I brought to the county game". As Maurice Leyland said to him: "Keep bowling those outswingers, Fred, and you’ll be all right. That’s the one that gets the great batsmen out!" Trueman acknowledged that other great fast bowlers who could bowl the outswinger well were Ray Lindwall and Wes Hall; but Brian Statham and Frank Tyson could not.Ball of Fire, p.57.