Tich Freeman

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Tich Freeman
England
Personal information
Full name	Alfred Percy Freeman
Nickname	Tich
Born	17 May 1888(1888-05-17)
	Lewisham, London, England
Died	28 January 1965 (aged 76)
	Bearsted, Kent, England
Height	5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)
Role	Bowler
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm leg break
International information
Test debut (cap 222)	19 December 1924: v Australia
Last Test	17 August 1929: v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1914 – 1936	Kent
Career statistics
	Tests	FC
Matches	12	592
Runs scored	154	4961
Batting average	14.00	9.50
100s/50s	0/1	0/4
Top score	50*	66
Balls bowled	3732	154312
Wickets	66	3776
Bowling average	25.86	18.42
5 wickets in innings	5	386
10 wickets in match	3	140
Best bowling	7/71	10/53
Catches/stumpings	4/–	238/1
As of 28 January 1965 Source: CricketArchive

Alfred Percy "Tich" Freeman (born May 17, 1888 in London, died January 28, 1965 in Bearsted, Kent) was a Kent leg spin bowler and the only man to take 300 wickets in an English season. The many other bowling records he holds include:

• taking 1673 wickets in six consecutive seasons from 1928 to 1933 - in each of these seasons he took over 250 wickets, something no other bowler has done even once since 1901^[1]
• ten wickets in an innings on three occasions - in 1929, 1930, and 1931^{[2] [3] [4]}
• seventeen wickets in a match twice - in 1922^[5] and 1932^[6]
• the three highest totals of balls bowled in a season in 1928, 1930 and 1933
• ten or more wickets in a match on 140 occasions - more than 50% ahead of his nearest rival Charlie Parker

Second only to Wilfred Rhodes in his aggregate of first-class wickets, Freeman accumulated his in little more than half as many matches.

His common name comes from his extremely short stature - he was only five feet two (158 centimetres) tall. However, his stocky build and strong fingers gave him enormous bowling stamina, and he hated being taken off. His height gave his deliveries a low trajectory that were difficult for batsmen to reach on the full toss. This meant batsmen who did not play with a straight bat, or who lacked good footwork, rarely lasted long against him. However, the top county batsmen and many overseas players could nullify his flight and spin, and Freeman had neither the skill nor variety to deceive these players often. Moreover, his spin was never severe enough to cause much harm on Australian pitches. Freeman relied chiefly on a leg-break that pitched on middle-and-leg, so that batsmen had to play at it, and a top-spinner that was notoriously difficult to detect and brought him hundreds of wickets; the googly he used sparingly. His bowling grip was somewhat unorthodox for a leg spinner: being such as small man with small hands, he gripped the ball between thumb, middle and index fingers rather than the orthodox leg break grip between the palm, index finger and ring finger.

Freeman, two of whose brothers played for Essex, played club cricket during the early 1910s and was engaged by Kent in 1914. After success with the Second Eleven, he was picked for the county side regularly late in the season, but World War I then halted county cricket for several years. Figures of 7 for 25 against Warwickshire showed Freeman's promise, and when cricket resumed in 1919 he developed rapidly. He took 60 wickets in a short season in 1919, 102 in 1920, 166 in 1921 and 194 in 1922. He was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1923 and took 17 for 67 on a rain-affected pitch against Sussex in 1922.

In 1924, Freeman's superb bowling for the Players (6 for 52 in the first innings) against the Gentlemen earned him a place in the MCC tour to Australia. However, owing to the rock-hard pitches and the superb footwork of Australia's batsmen, Freeman proved expensive in the two Tests in which he was selected. Freeman continued to dominate Kent's bowling in the following three years, but was only modestly successful against South Africa in 1927-1928.

However, 1928 was Freeman's great year: he set his record of 304 first-class wickets, and took 22 wickets in three Tests against the West Indies (plus 9 for 104 against them for Kent). In 1929 Freeman took 22 wickets in two Tests against South Africa, but their batsmen's mastery over him in the Fifth Test, when he did not take a wicket in 49 overs and conceded 169 runs, meant that this Test was his last. Yet, between 1930 and 1933 Kent so depended upon Freeman's bowling that he took 951 County Championship wickets - over 55 percent of Kent's total - for only 15.21 runs each. Among his best performances in these years were:

• 17 for 92 against Warwickshire at Folkestone in 1932^[7]
• 16 for 82 against Northamptonshire at Tunbridge Wells in 1932^[8]
• 16 for 94 (10 for 53 in first innings) against Essex at Southend in 1930^[9]
• 15 for 94 against Somerset at Canterbury in 1931^[10]
• 15 for 122 against Middlesex at Lord's in 1933^[11]
• 15 for 142 against Essex at Gravesend in 1931^[12]
• 15 for 144 against Leicestershire at Maidstone in 1931^[13]
• 10 for 79 in an innings against Lancashire at Manchester in 1931^[14]
• 9 for 50 against Derbyshire at Ilkeston in 1930 (match figures of 12 for 210)^[15]

Freeman even did well against the 1930 Australians, taking 5 for 78, but he was never selected for a home Ashes Test. However, it is illustrative of how the exceptional skill and brilliant footwork of top county batsmen could master the best bowling on the most difficult pitches that Freeman averaged as little as 11 runs per wicket against Leicestershire, but more than 26 against the strong Surrey batting lineups.

In 1934 and 1935, although he was still the leading wicket-taker in England, Freeman fell away gradually. His average rose from around 15 to over 21 runs per wicket, and he was rarely as lethal as before when the ground helped him or against weak batting - though his amazing work rate still earned him many wickets. In early 1936, Freeman was again superb, and he took 70 wickets in the first fourteen matches. But his performance deteriorated dramatically thereafter, with only 33 wickets in the next fourteen games, so that Kent did not engage him for 1937. Freeman played for Walsall in the Birmingham And District League for a few years after that. He was granted life membership of MCC in 1949.

48.6% of his 3776 first class wickets were taken without assistance (either bowled, caught and bowled, leg before wicket, or hit wicket).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tich Freeman at Cricket Archive