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(Part ten.) Fast and furious.
It used to be said of Roy Fredericks that his version of batting heaven was for every bowler to have a new ball, such was his appetite for the pacy, bouncy stuff.
And while his most memorable moment would come a few months after, with a rampaging 169 against Australia on the fastest pitch in the world at Perth, this aggressive left-handed opening batsman from Guyana is the focus of our attention today—with 41 days to go to the 50th anniversary of West Indies’ victory over Australia in the 1975 Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s.
Fredericks was one of the new faces on the West Indies tour of Australia in 1968/69.
He scored 76 and 47 on debut in the second Test at Melbourne but could not prevent the hosts from romping to a series-levelling victory.
It is easy to cast “Freddo” in the all-or-nothing mould, especially when local aficionados recall him being bowled by a “rat” from Abid Ali with the first ball of the 1971 Test at Queen’s Park Oval, which India famously won.
Yet even failure was likely to leave an impact, most notably in the World Cup final itself. But more of that later.
However, the joyous reminiscing at his eagerness to take on the short-pitched ball overlooks a career of impressive consistency.
(via ESPN.)
The final numbers of his Test career, which concluded two years after the World Cup when he and most of his teammates signed on to Australian business magnate Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, shows a tally of 4,334 runs from 59 matches at an average of 42.49, with eight centuries and 26 fifties.
His preference for pace notwithstanding, two of those eight three-figure innings came on Indian pitches in the 1974/75 series against that country’s legendary quartet of Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar.
While Fredericks was often reminded of being bowled first ball of a Test here, he deserves to be remembered as well for a battling 80 in the second innings of the same match, before his run out dismissal at the start of the final day and a freak injury to Charlie Davis—batting in the nets before play—precipitated the home side’s demise.
Fredericks is also in the history books as the first to register a century for the West Indies in One-Day Internationals.
He scored 105 off 122 balls with ten fours and one six, which earned him the Man of the Match award in the visitors’ eight-wicket victory at their home-away-from-home in England, The Oval in London, to square the two-match series in 1973.
It would be their only experience of the format at international level before the inaugural World Cup came around two years later.
Sadly, Fredericks succumbed to cancer at 57. His scything blade and full-blooded hooks live long in our memories, even as dogged innings of 76 and 47 on debut in the 1968 Boxing Day Test at Melbourne remain quiet reminders of the other side of the Berbician’s batting persona.
Next: Gordon Greenidge—the angry “outsider”.
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Fazeer Mohammed is a journalist/broadcaster with almost 40 years’ experience across a range of media.
His interest in cricket, and particularly its history, started at home via his father’s small collection of autobiographies and magazines, offering perspectives and context which have informed his commentary and analysis on contemporary issues in the game.
Thank you for writing such a tribute article about my father. I’m currently working a book about his life with featured commentaries. Would love to use yours and if you have any other recommendations.
A friend of my father had all his original material to write his book for many years ago even before he passed away. We have not seem or heard from that friend, so we are starting from scratch collecting material.