Fred Spofforth

Fred Spofforth was an Australian cricketer who was widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of the nineteenth century. He played in 18 Test matches for Australia between 1877 and 1887, taking 94 wickets at an average of 18.41. He was the first bowler to take 50 Test wickets, and the first to take a Test hat-trick, in 1879 against England at Melbourne. He also played in 155 first-class matches, taking 853 wickets at an average of 14.95¹. He was known as "The Demon Bowler" for his fearsome pace and ability to make the ball deviate sharply from the pitch. Spofforth was born on 9 September 1853 in Balmain, Sydney, the son of a bank clerk and his wife. He spent his early childhood in New Zealand, where his father was posted, and then returned to Sydney where he attended Sydney Grammar School and Eglinton College⁵. He developed an interest in cricket and learned to bowl fast underarm lobs. He later switched to overarm bowling after watching the English quick bowlers on their tour of Australia in 1863-64⁵. He joined the Albert Cricket Club in Sydney and became friends with fellow cricketer Billy Murdoch⁵. Spofforth made his debut for New South Wales in 1874 against Victoria and impressed with his speed and accuracy⁵. He was selected for the Australian team that played against James Lillywhite's English team in the second-ever Test match in 1877 at Melbourne¹. He took four wickets in the match, but England won by four wickets¹. He had boycotted the first Test because he preferred Murdoch as the wicket-keeper over Jack Blackham⁵. He toured England with the Australian teams of 1878, 1880, 1882, 1884 and 1886, and achieved remarkable success against the best batsmen of the time⁵. He was especially famous for his performance at Lord's in 1878, when he took 10 wickets for 20 runs and helped Australia to win by nine wickets in one day⁵. He also played a crucial role in Australia's first-ever Test victory on English soil in 1882 at The Oval, when he took 14 wickets for 90 runs and inspired his team to win by seven runs after declaring "This thing can be done" when England needed only 85 runs to win⁵. This match gave rise to the legend of "The Ashes", as a mock obituary of English cricket was published in The Sporting Times after the defeat. Spofforth was a tall and wiry man, with an aquiline nose and a menacing expression. He had a distinctive bowling action, described as "all legs, arms and nose", that generated great speed and movement. He could vary his pace, length and direction, and also mastered the art of swing bowling. He was feared by many batsmen, who found him almost unplayable on bad wickets. He was also a useful lower-order batsman, who scored one half-century in Tests and three in first-class cricket. He was a popular and genial person off the field, who enjoyed telling stories and jokes. He was also interested in horticulture and botany, and planted many Australian trees in his English garden⁵. Spofforth settled in England after his last tour in 1886 and married Florence Morphy, the governess of Murdoch's children, in 1885⁵. He played for Derbyshire from 1889 to 1891 and then retired from first-class cricket. He worked as a stockbroker and became a wealthy man. He had two sons and two daughters, who inherited his love of cricket. He died on 4 June 1926 of chronic colitis at his home in Long Ditton, Surrey⁵. He was buried in Brookwood Cemetery, where a memorial stone was erected by his friends and admirers. He was inducted into the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame in 2009².