Today’s post sees an all time XI of players whose given names begin with F make their appearance. There will be plenty of honourable mentions as well.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

1. Frank Woolley (England, left handed batter, left arm orthodox spin bowler). The only player ever to complete the career triple of 10,000 runs, 1,000 wickets and 1,000 catches in first class matches.
2. *Frank Worrell (West Indies, right handed batter, left arm medium fast bowler, captain). One of the finest captains in the game’s history and a test batting average of 49 as well.
3. Frank Tarrant (Middlesex, left handed batter, left arm slow medium bowler). A habitual opener for Middlesex, and a very fine bowler as well.
4. Fawad Alam (Pakistan, left handed batter). Someone who when he gets in takes a lot of getting out – five of the seven 50+ scores he amassed at test level were centuries, a Bradmanesque conversion rate.
5. Francois ‘Faf’ du Plessis (South Africa, right handed batter). Just over 4,000 test runs at an average of 40.
6. +Farokh Engineer (India, wicket keeper, right handed batter). An attacking batter and an excellent keeper. He once scored 94 runs in a morning session of a test match.
7. Frank Foster (England, left arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). Though I have listed his bowling first among his attributes he was a genuine all rounder, good enough with the willow to be Warwickshire’s first ever triple century maker. Even at test level his averages are the right way round – 23.57 with the bat and 20.57 with the ball.
8. Fred Titmus (England, off spinner, right handed batter). A fine off spinner and plenty good enough with the willow to come in at number eight.
9. Fred Trueman (England, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter). The first ever to capture 300 test wickets. His 307 test scalps came in 67 matches, and at an average of 21.57 each. He was not entirely without merit as a batter either, amassing three first class centuries over the years.
10. Frederick Spofforth (Australia, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). In 1878 pace alone sufficed for him to destroy a strong MCC batting line up at Lords (MCC 33 and 19 all out in their two innings, Spofforth 10-20 in the match). Four years later at The Oval he helped to inaugurate The Ashes by taking 14 wickets in the match with a mixture of pace and guile as England lost a low scoring match by seven runs. WG Grace, whose 32 in the final innings was one of only two 30+ individual scores in the whole match was fourth out with a mere 32 further runs needed, but a combination of English nerves and the sheer relentlessness of “the Demon” proved sufficient to put this beyond them.
11. Fazal Mahmood (Pakistan, right arm fast medium bowler, right handed batter). Pakistan’s first great test match bowler, star of their win at The Oval in 1954. His great weapon was the leg cutter, which led to comparisons with England’s Alec Bedser, who deployed the same weapon to great effect.

This side has decent batting strength, with a strong top five, Engineer and Foster both definitely counting as all rounders, and Titmus a capable number eight. It also boasts a stellar bowling line up, with Spofforth, Trueman, Fazal Mahmood and Foster a fine pace/seam/swing/cut quartet, Titmus and Woolley to provide orthodox spin and Tarrant’s slow medium also available as an extra variation. Fazal Mahmood, given his expert usage of the leg cutter, can also be said to attend to the leg spinner’s angle of attack.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Had I been picking with limited overs cricket in mind Fakhar Zaman would have been one of the first names on the team sheet. In long form cricket he would be a more dubious asset and therefore I have omitted him. Faoud Bacchus of the West Indies was a possible for a batting slot, but although he did score a test match 250 that was his only three figure score at that level. Francis Ford had a decent first class batting record by late 19th century standards, but at test level he was an unequivocal failure, with a best score at that level of a mere 48. Fred Grace was among the leading batters of the 1870s, but his death at the age of 29 after one England appearance meant that there is no way of assessing his test capabilities. Frank Chester seemed destined for the top before a war time injury ended his playing career. He would certainly by one of the umpires, having stood in a then record 48 tests in the course of his second cricket career, and his colleague would be Frank Lee. Freddie Calthorpe was a decent county all rounder, but save for having the embarrassment of leaving what was supposed to be a ‘timeless test’ with a draw in a match his side had bossed (he deemed a first innings advantage of 563 insufficient to enforce the follow on, and a combination of two days of rain and the timing of England’s boat home punished him for his timidity) he did little of note at international level. Another Freddie, Brown of Surrey and Northants, was similarly not quite good enough as a player, though he handled himself better as a captain than did Calthorpe. There are cartloads of seam/ pace bowlers who were in the mix: Frank Farrands, a fine fast bowler of the 1870s, Frank Laver, one of the first great swing bowlers, Fanie de Villiers (good record for South Africa in the 1990s, but loses points for provoking Devon Malcolm into producing that 9-57 at The Oval in 1994) and current Afghanistan bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi who would be a strong candidate for a limited overs side being the most obvious. Feroze Khushi, a talented young middle order batter for Essex, is not there yet, but there are promising signs, and he may force his way in in due course.

PHOTOGRAPHS

It has not been an ideal day for photography. to put it mildly, but I do have enough for my usual sign off…