Fred Titmus

Fred Titmus

Fred Titmus in 1962
Personal information
Full name	Frederick John Titmus
Born	(1932-11-24)24 November 1932 Somers Town, London, England
Died	23 March 2011(2011-03-23) (aged 78) England
Batting style	Right-hand bat (RHB)
Bowling style	Right-arm off-break (OB)
International information
National side	England
Test debut	23 June 1955 v South Africa
Last Test	30 January 1975 v Australia
ODI debut	8 March 1975 v New Zealand
Last ODI	9 March 1975 v New Zealand
Career statistics
Competition Tests FC LA ODIs Matches 53 792 149 2 Runs scored 1,449 21,588 1,038 11 Batting average 22.29 23.11 13.48 11.00 100s/50s –/10 6/105 – – Top score 84* 137* 41 11 Balls bowled 15,118 173,450 7,126 56 Wickets 153 2,830 159 3 Bowling average 32.22 22.37 25.66 17.66 5 wickets in innings 7 168 3 – 10 wickets in match – 26 – – Best bowling 7/79 9/52 5/25 3/53 Catches/stumpings 35/– 472/– 34/– 1/–
Source: Cricinfo, 19 August 2013

Frederick John Titmus MBE (24 November 1932 – 23 March 2011) was an English cricketer, whose first-class career spanned five decades. He was the fourth man after W.G. Grace, Wilfred Rhodes and George Hirst to take 2,500 wickets and make 20,000 runs in first class cricket. Although he was best known for his off spin (though at first he bowled medium pace as well), he was an accomplished lower-order batsman who deserved to be called an all-rounder, even opening the batting for England on six occasions. Outside of cricket, Titmus was also an able footballer; at one stage he was contracted to Watford as a professional, having earlier played for Chelsea as a junior.

Educated at William Ellis School, Highgate, London, Titmus was in his school's first XI by the age of thirteen, and when sixteen he wrote to Lord's, the ground being close to his home, to ask for a trial. He was accepted on to the groundstaff after bowling only a few balls, and in June 1949 he made his first-class cricket debut for Middlesex against Somerset at Bath, at the age of 16 years and 213 days, Middlesex's youngest cricketer ever at that point.

1950 was Titmus's first full season of county cricket, and he performed reasonably well, taking 55 wickets including 7–34 against Minor Counties in July. His appearances in 1951 and 1952 were restricted because of his National Service obligations, although he played for the Combined Services. In 1953 he returned to play for Middlesex full-time, and took 105 wickets, the first of 16 years in which he would reach three figures.