Frank Allan
Allan, 1878
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| Full name | Francis Erskine Allan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
2 December 1849 Allansford, Victoria, Australia |
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| Died | 9 February 1917 (aged 67) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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| Nickname | The Bowler of a Century, Kangaroo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | right-handed batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | left arm medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricinfo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Francis Erskine "Frank" Allan (2 December 1849 – 9 February 1917) was an Australian cricketer who represented Victoria in first-class intercolonial matches and made one Test appearance for Australia. A tall, wiry left-arm medium pacer known by the sobriquet "The Bowler of a Century", Allan possessed great spin and a peculiar swerve which he claimed to have developed through his use of boomerangs and waddies growing up amongst Aborigines in the Victorian bush. He was also given the nickname "Kangaroo" on account that he would jump like the animal to celebrate dismissing a batsman.
Allan began a lifelong association with the South Melbourne Cricket Club in 1866 when he played for the side in his first ever match. Winning the club bowling average that season, he was quickly recognised as a natural of unusual ability, and in 1867, aged seventeen, made his first-class debut for Victoria against New South Wales, taking a first innings five-wicket haul in a performance described by William Hammersley as "unprecedented". Allan became the mainstay of Victoria's bowling attack, securing extraordinary figures in a series of intercolonial victories, and played havoc with W. G. Grace's touring England XI in 1873–74. Grace offered to employ Allan as a professional, stating that he had never batted against a greater bowler.
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