Fred Trueman

If there was ever a line that describes Fred Trueman, it would be fellow Yorkshireman Bob Platt’s description, “If I close my eyes I can still see him pawing the ground like a bull in a Spanish ring, then running up to the wicket like silk”. Such was the ferocity associated with Trueman that his amazing record for Yorkshire notwithstanding, he was picked up for 67 matches only, when he could have easily played 100.

However, in those few Tests, he picked 307 Test wickets, at a miserly average of 21.5, in the process becoming the first ever bowler to surpass the 300 wicket mark. But 300 paled in comparison to the 2300 odd wickets that he scalped in the first class cricket, most of them for his favourite county, Yorkshire. The word one could safely associate with Trueman the bowler was frightening. His pace could put the fear of God in any batsman, and like many a fast bowlers from time immemorial, loved to psyche the opposition batsmen out by going into their dressing room and getting under their skins.

His first class career lasted for a span of 20 years, and when he finally retired, he joined the BBC Test Match Special Team, as a narrator. The criticism that he faced during his time as a presenter was that he tried comparing his playing days with the modern era, and did so, a little condescendingly. Trueman died in 2006 of small cell carcinoma.