Fred Spofforth

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Fred Spofforth
Australia (Aus)
Fred Spofforth
Batting style Right hand bat
Bowling type Right arm fast
Tests First-class
Matches 18 155
Runs scored 217 1928
Batting average 9.43 9.88
100s/50s 0/1 0/3
Top score 50 56
Balls bowled 4185 30593
Wickets 94 853
Bowling average 18.41 14.95
5 wickets in innings 7 84
10 wickets in match 4 32
Best bowling 7/44 9/18
Catches/stumpings 11/0 83/0

Test debut: 31 March 1877
Last Test: 31 January 1887
Source: [1]

Frederick Robert "Fred" Spofforth (born in Balmain, Sydney on 9 September 1853, died in Surrey, England on 4 June 1926) - also called "The Demon", was arguably the Australian cricket team's first and best pace bowler of the 19th century.

Spofforth was born the son of a banker and was educated at Eglinton College, Sydney. He was afterwards employed in the Bank of New South Wales. He came into notice as a member of the New South Wales eighteen in January 1874 when he took two wickets for 16 in a match against W. G. Grace's English eleven. He was a regular representative in the New South Wales team in intercolonial matches and in the December 1877 game went in second wicket down and made 25, the highest score in either innings in a low-scoring match. But though he batted comparatively well during the 1878 and 1880 Australian tours in England he henceforth concentrated on his bowling and established a great reputation.

He played his first Test match in 1877 in Melbourne in the second match of the series against England. He took three wickets in the first innings and one in the second innings although England went on to win the match by four wickets. He had been left out of the first Test match because he refused to play with Jack Blackham as wicket-keeper instead of his friend and fellow New South Welshman Billy Murdoch.

During the January Test match of the 1879 Lord Harris' England tour of Australia, played on the Sydney Cricket Ground, Spofforth became the first man to get a hat-trick in Test cricket, giving a brilliant bowling performance of 13 wickets for 110 runs. In February Spofforth also played for New South Wales against Lord Harris' tourists in a game that, on the Saturday, descended into the Sydney Riot of 1879.

Spofforth was also very instrumental in creating history in the 1882 Australian tour of England. The match that gave birth to the legendary Ashes series began at The Oval on 28th August. In its second innings, England needed a mere 85 runs to clinch the match. But Fred Spofforth refused to give up and led his team to a remarkable and one of the closest victories in the history of Test cricket. Australia won by seven runs with Spofforth taking a total 14 wickets.

After that match Spofforth was dubbed the "Demon bowler" by the British media and became the most feared bowler among the English batsmen. He is also regarded as the bowler who brought the eye to eye contact with the batsman as a scaring technique into the game. Often during his matches Spofforth used to stare straight into the batsman's eyes to scare and shake him.

Fred Spofforth played his last Test match in Sydney in January 1887 in which he bowled 12 overs, conceded 17 runs and took one wicket. England won the match by 13 runs. He represented New South Wales from 1874 to 1885 and Victoria from 1885 to 1887. In 1888 he settled in England and got married. He played for Derbyshire in 1889 and 1890, and in 1896 playing for M.C.C., although in his forty-third year, took eight wickets for 74 against Yorkshire. He played club cricket for Hampstead for some years after 1890 and secured a large number of wickets at a low cost. In England he went into business as a tea-merchant and became the managing director of the Star Tea Company which belonged to his wife's father and was very successful. He revisited Australia on more than one occasion and retained his interest in the game to the end.

Spofforth was six foot three inches tall (190.5cm) and weighed 12½ stone (80 kg), he was lean but very strong. He began as a fast bowler although he did not have a very long run, and gradually quietened down to fast medium-pace with an occasional extra fast ball. He had a sharp break from the off and was able to disguise changes of pace. His bowling average was not very low for his era but he dismissed a great many batsmen. Lord Hawke who played first-class cricket for a great many years, considered him to be the most difficult bowler he had ever played against. He was often called the best bowler in the game, and he was particularly effective bowling to W.G. Grace, the best batsman of the era.

Fred Spofforth died at the age of 73 in 1926 in Surrey, England.

In 1996 he was posthumously included in the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame as one of the ten inaugural inductees along with John Blackham, Victor Trumper, Clarrie Grimmett, Bill Ponsford, Don Bradman, Bill O'Reilly, Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall and Dennis Lillee.

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This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.
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