Tich Freeman
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| Full name | Alfred Percy Freeman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
17 May 1888 Lewisham, London, England |
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| Died | 28 January 1965 (aged 76) Bearsted, Kent, England |
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| Nickname | Tich | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Right arm leg break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Bowler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 222) | 19 December 1924 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 17 August 1929 v South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1914 – 1936 | Kent | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: CricketArchive, 8 April 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alfred Percy Freeman (17 May 1888 – 28 January 1965), known as Tich Freeman, was an English cricketer. A leg spin bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and England, he is the only man to take 300 wickets in an English season, and is the second most prolific wicket taker in first class cricket history.
Freeman's common name comes from his extremely short stature - he was only five feet two (158 centimetres) tall. However, his stocky build and strong fingers gave him great bowling stamina, and he hated being taken off. His height gave his deliveries a low trajectory that was difficult for batsmen to reach on the full toss. This meant batsmen who did not play with a straight bat, or who lacked good footwork, rarely lasted long against him. Freeman relied chiefly on a leg-break that pitched on middle-and-leg, so that batsmen had to play at it, and a top-spinner that was notoriously difficult to detect and brought him hundreds of wickets; the googly he used sparingly. His bowling grip was somewhat unorthodox for a leg spinner: being such a small man with small hands, he gripped the ball between thumb, middle and index fingers rather than the orthodox leg break grip between the palm, index finger and ring finger.
Freeman, two of whose brothers played for Essex, played club cricket during the early 1910s and was engaged by Kent in 1914. After success with the Second Eleven, he was picked for the county side regularly late in the season, but World War I then halted county cricket for several years. Figures of 7 for 25 against Warwickshire showed Freeman's promise, and when cricket resumed in 1919 he developed rapidly. He took 60 wickets in a short season in 1919, 102 in 1920, 166 in 1921 and 194 in 1922. He was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1923 and took 17 for 67 on a rain-affected pitch against Sussex in 1922.
In 1924, Freeman's bowling for the Players (6 for 52 in the first innings) against the Gentlemen earned him a place in the MCC tour to Australia. However, owing to the rock-hard pitches and the superb footwork of Australia's batsmen, Freeman proved expensive in the two Tests in which he was selected. Freeman continued to dominate Kent's bowling in the following three years, but was only modestly successful against South Africa in 1927-1928.
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