Charles Anthony Fry (born 14 January 1940) is an English former first-class

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 striki ...

er and cricket administrator. The son of the cricketer Stephen Fry, he was born in January 1940 at Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire. He was educated at Repton School, before matriculating to Trinity College, Oxford. While studying at Oxford, Fry played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for Oxford University Cricket Club, making his debut for the club against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1959. He scored 576 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 26.18 in debut season, including a maiden

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

against the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Willi ...

, sharing an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 256 with

Abbas Ali Baig Abbas Ali Baig (born 19 March 1939) is an Indian former cricketer who played in 10 Tests between 1959 and 1967. In a career spanning 21 years, he scored 12,367 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 34.16. He coached the Indian cricket ...

which remained a first-class record for the fifth wicket for Oxford until 2017, when it was broken by

Dan Escott Daniel Alexander Escott (born 26 September 1996) is an English cricketer and schoolteacher. On his first-class debut, playing for Oxford University, he scored a century and took six wickets in an innings. Cricket career Escott attended Winch ...

's and

Matthew Naylor Matthew A. Naylor (born 11 December 1996) is an English former first-class cricketer. Naylor was born at Coventry in December 1996. He was educated at Finham Park School, before going up to Merton College, Oxford. While studying at Oxford, he m ...

's partnership of 267. He gained his

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

in this season, when he played against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in The University Match at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. The Oxford side of 1959 was considered the last great Oxford University side, with

E. W. Swanton Ernest William Swanton (11 February 1907 – 22 January 2000) was an English journalist and author, chiefly known for being a cricket writer and commentator under his initials, E. W. Swanton. He worked as a sports journalist for ''The Daily T ...

proffering that it was good enough to finish in the top half of the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

. The following season, Fry made fifteen first-class appearances for Oxford in 1960 and made his second appearance in The University Match, which gained him his second blue. In his season, he scored 642 runs for Oxford and made his second century. Later in the season, he made five first-class appearances for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in the

, scoring 134 runs with a highest score of 38. Against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, he was notably bowled by Robin Marlar, who would later become one of his successors to the presidency of the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC). He followed in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather,

C. B. Fry Charles Burgess Fry (25 April 1872 – 7 September 1956) was an English sportsman, teacher, writer, editor and publisher, who is best remembered for his career as a cricketer. John Arlott described him with the words: "Charles Fry could b ...

in playing for Hampshire. As of , this remains the only instance of three generations of one family playing for the county. Fry did not, however, feature for Hampshire in their County Championship winning campaign the following season. Fry played his third and final season for Oxford University in 1961, making twelve appearances and scoring 358 runs at an average of 18.84; his highest score in this season was 61. In his final year, he made his third appearance in The University Match and thus, gained his third blue. 41 of his 50 first-class appearances came for Oxford, with him scoring 1,576 runs for the university at an average of 24.24. The following season, having graduated from Oxford, he appeared twice for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

against Cambridge University at

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, and

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

in the

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

. He later appeared twice for the Free Foresters in first-class cricket, against Oxford University in 1964 and 1968. Fry has had a long association with the MCC, succeeding Sir Tim Rice as its president in 2003. His tenure was not without controversy, with critics in the MCC claiming he ran club affairs akin to a dictator. At the end of his twelve-month presidency, he was succeeded by Tom Graveney, who was the first ex-professional to hold the post. In addition to holding the presidency, Fry has also been chairman of both the MCC and the MCC Foundation.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Charles 1940 births Living people People from Henley-in-Arden Cricketers from Warwickshire People educated at Repton School Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Hampshire cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Free Foresters cricketers Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club English cricket administrators