Frederick "Fred" Spofforth (born in Balmain, Sydney on 9 September 1853, died in Surrey, England on 4 June 1926) also called "the demon bowler" was arguably the Australian cricket team's first and best pace bowler of the 19th century.
He played his first Test match in 1877 in Melbourne against England, in which he bagged 4 wickets although England went on to win the match by 4 wickets.
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 Australia's tour to 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 7 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 1 wicket. England won the match by 13 runs.
After ending his cricket career at the age of 34, he moved to England and got married. He later became the managing director of the Star Tea Company which belonged to his wife's father.
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.
Bibliography
- The "Demon" Spofforth by Richard Cashman (ISBN: 0 86840 004 1)
See also
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