William Howard Frindall, (3 March 1939 – 29 January 2009)
was an English
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
scorer and
statistician
A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors.
It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may w ...
, who was familiar to cricket followers as a member of the
Test Match Special
''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW ...
commentary team on
BBC radio. He was nicknamed the Bearded Wonder (shortened to Bearders) by
Brian Johnston
Brian Alexander Johnston (24 June 1912 – 5 January 1994), nicknamed Johnners, was a British cricket commentator, author, and television presenter. He was most prominently associated with the BBC during a career which lasted from 1946 until h ...
for his ability to research the most obscure cricketing facts in moments, while continuing to keep perfect scorecards and because he had a beard.
Angus Fraser described Frindall as "the doyen of cricket scorers" in his obituary in ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
''.
[Obituary]
''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', 3 February 2009
Early life
Frindall was born in
Epsom, Surrey and named after
Victorian journalist
William Howard Russell. His father was a laboratory assistant and later a research chemist. He was educated at
Tadworth county primary school and
Reigate Grammar School and studied architecture at the
Kingston School of Art.
A schoolmaster introduced Frindall to cricket scoring one rainy sports afternoon when he was a boy. After joining the
RAF as a
National Serviceman in 1958 (he called it "training in advanced shirking"), and rising to the rank of corporal, he was commissioned as an accountant officer in the secretarial branch in November 1963. Two of his six years' service were spent at
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
headquarters at
Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissemen ...
, outside Paris, and on leaving the RAF in 1965 he developed his
handlebar moustache into a full beard.
Cricket player
Frindall was an enthusiastic cricketer from his early years and played cricket for the RAF. He later played one match for the
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
Second XI in 1972, against
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of ...
's Second XI, bowling six wicketless overs for 22 runs, and scoring one run in the second innings before he was
caught and bowled
Caught is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket. A batsman is out caught if the batsman hits the ball, from a legitimate delivery, with the bat, and the ball is caught by the bowler or a fielder before it hits the ground.
If the ball h ...
. He continued as an effective
fast bowler
Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...
in
club cricket
Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are o ...
for many years, particularly in charity matches, although his batting was somewhat agricultural.
[Obituary]
''The Times'', 31 January 2009 He ran a touring team, the Malta Maniacs,
and also played for the Elvinos and the
Lord's Taverners
The Lord's Taverners is the UK's leading youth cricket and disability sports charity. Its charitable objective is to empower and positively impact the lives of young people facing the challenges of inequality.'.
It was founded in 1950 by a grou ...
.
[
]
TMS scorer
He became a freelance statistician in 1966, and took over the scoring for ''Test Match Special
''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW ...
'' on 2 June 1966, at the First Test against West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
at Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...
. He went on to become the longest-serving member of the ''TMS'' team, covering more than 350 Test matches, which he considered the only "proper" form of the game.
He replaced the previous scorer, Arthur Wrigley, who had been the BBC scorer from 1934 up to his death in October 1965. Frindall speculatively wrote to the BBC, pointing out that they would need a new scorer, and secured the job. After a trial period, Frindall continued to score for the BBC until his death, watching all 246 Test matches in England from June 1966 to 2008. He covered 377 Tests for the BBC in all, forming a close working relationship with John Arlott and Brian Johnston
Brian Alexander Johnston (24 June 1912 – 5 January 1994), nicknamed Johnners, was a British cricket commentator, author, and television presenter. He was most prominently associated with the BBC during a career which lasted from 1946 until h ...
, providing continuity with later commentators such as Jonathan Agnew. Frindall's perfectionism clashed occasionally with Henry Blofeld's more effusive – but error-prone – delivery.[
Frindall was also known for producing scoring charts for many of his tours with England. He modified the linear scoring system invented by John Atkinson Pendlington and developed by Australian scorer Bill Ferguson into a version that is known as the Frindall system. Frindall met Ferguson in 1953, when he was 14 years old.] The concentration needed to maintain such consistently high-quality work was immense, and Frindall believed it was his time in the RAF that prepared him for the task. Writing honed by his training to be an architect meant that each page was beautifully laid out and easy to read. Every scorecard, like the wagon-wheels he produced to show where a batsman scored his runs after playing a significant innings, was a work of art. Frindall's work was so meticulously accurate that the commentators would habitually trust his figures if they differed from the official scoreboard.[
It was a common boast of Frindall that he was born on the first day of the last " Timeless Test", between ]England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
and South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
, which became the longest Test ever played (the game was abandoned after 9 days' play spread over 12 days). He last appeared for ''Test Match Special'' at England's Test against India at Mohali
Mohali, officially known as Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, is a planned city in the Mohali district in Punjab, India, which is an administrative and a commercial hub lying south-west of Chandigarh. It is the headquarters of the Mohali district. ...
in 2008. Given his love of such statistics, it is fitting that his funeral took place on 13 February 2009, the day of the shortest Test; the second Test between England and the West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
was abandoned after just 10 balls.
Opinions
Frindall was known for staunchly defending his beliefs about cricket statistics
Cricket is a sport that generates a variety of statistics.
Statistics are recorded for each player during a match, and aggregated over a career. At the professional level, statistics for Test cricket, one-day internationals, and first-class cri ...
. When the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians attempted to revise the status of many 19th century and pre-war matches, which would have produced statistics that are different from the conventional, Frindall was among those who objected to their "rewriting of history". As a result, until 2022, some ACS statistics were different from those in '' Wisden'', which is regarded as the standard. For example, the ACS awarded Jack Hobbs
Sir John Berry Hobbs (16 December 1882– 21 December 1963), always known as Jack Hobbs, was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Mast ...
199 first-class hundreds (as recorded on Cricinfo
ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...
), while ''Wisden'', the generally accepted standard, gave Hobbs his "traditional" total of 197 centuries. Wisden aligned with the ACS in 2022.
More recently, when the International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the '' ...
decided to award Test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
and One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
status to the matches played for the tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
benefit and the ICC Super Series between Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
and a Rest of the World team, Frindall, in common with many statisticians and historians, disputed the ruling. As a result, '' Playfair'' and other publications to which he supplied statistics did not classify those matches as official Tests or ODIs.
Publications
His autobiography, ''Bearders – My Life in Cricket'', was published by Orion in June 2006. Other works include the '' Playfair Cricket Annual'', which he edited for 23 years, from 1986 until his death; the ''Wisden Book of Test Cricket''; the ''Wisden Book of Cricket Records''; the ''Guinness Book of Cricket – Facts and Feats''; and the 'Cricket records' section of the ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...
'', which he maintained for 22 years. He was also briefly a correspondent for the '' Mail on Sunday''.
Honours and awards
In 1998, Frindall was made an honorary Doctor of Technology
The Doctor of Technology (abbreviated variously in different countries) is a degree normally conferred upon candidates after having completed a course of study in technology and a dissertation or a project of lengthy duration in a technologically r ...
by Staffordshire University, for his contribution to statistics. He was appointed an MBE for services to cricket and broadcasting in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dynastic ...
.[ He received several awards from the Beard Liberation Front, including "]Beard of the Year
The Beard Liberation Front (BLF) is a British interest group which campaigns in support of beards and opposes pogonophobic discrimination against those who wear them. It was founded in 1995 by socialist historian Keith Flett who continues to orga ...
".
Frindall was the first president of British Blind Sport
British Blind Sport (BBS) is a British charity that makes sport and recreational activities accessible to people who are visually impaired. The charity enables blind and partially sighted people to experience the same sporting opportunities as ...
, a charity co-ordinating sport for the blind and partially sighted.
Personal life
Frindall was married three times. He married Maureen Wesson in 1960, and they had two sons and a daughter together. After their divorce in 1970, he was married to Jacqueline Seager in May 1970. After a second divorce in 1980, he married Deborah Brown in 1992; they had a daughter. Away from ''TMS'' he lived in Wiltshire, latterly at Urchfont near Devizes, and was an accomplished after-dinner speaker, telling tales of the commentary box, which often displayed his excellent powers of mimicry; he could do Arlott and Trueman brilliantly.
Death
Frindall died at the Great Western Hospital
The Great Western Hospital is a large hospital in Swindon, Wiltshire, England, near junction 15 of the M4 motorway. It opened in 2002 and is run by the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
History
The original hospital in Swindon was ...
in Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon unitary authority area had a population ...
on 29 January 2009, following a short illness after contracting Legionnaires' disease
Legionnaires' disease is a form of atypical pneumonia caused by any species of '' Legionella'' bacteria, quite often ''Legionella pneumophila''. Signs and symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, high fever, muscle pains, and headaches. Na ...
during a charity cricketing tour of Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...
with the Lord's Taverners
The Lord's Taverners is the UK's leading youth cricket and disability sports charity. Its charitable objective is to empower and positively impact the lives of young people facing the challenges of inequality.'.
It was founded in 1950 by a grou ...
. He was survived by his third wife, Debbie, who used to deliver his lunch to the commentary box each day, and his four children. His funeral was held at St Michael and All Angels Church, Urchfont on 13 February 2009.
References
External links
Bill Frindall's website
(archived 2013)
Frindall's "Ask Bearders" column at the BBC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frindall, Bill
1939 births
2009 deaths
Cricket scorers
Cricket historians and writers
English cricket commentators
British radio personalities
People educated at Reigate Grammar School
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Sportspeople from Epsom
Infectious disease deaths in England
Cricket statisticians
Military personnel from Surrey
Royal Air Force officers
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel