Douglas Linford Freeman (8 September 1914 – 31 May 1994) was a New Zealand

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 who played in two

Tests 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), ...

in 1933. He was born in Australia in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

suburb of Randwick, and also died in Sydney.

Cricket career

Freeman attended

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

from 1931 to 1933. In a match for the College team in the Nelson club competition in 1931-32 he took 18 wickets: 8 for 64 and 10 for 132. A leg-spinner, Freeman made his first-class debut in January 1933, only two months before his Test debut, taking 4 for 85 and 5 for 102 for

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

against

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. In his second first-class match, for Wellington against the MCC, he took 3 for 71, his victims

Eddie Paynter Edward Paynter (5 November 1901 – 5 February 1979) was an English cricketer: an attacking batsman and excellent fielder. His Test batting average of 59.23 is the seventh highest of all time, and second only to Herbert Sutcliffe amongst Englis ...

Wally Hammond Walter Reginald Hammond (19 June 1903 – 1 July 1965) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed cap ...

and

Les Ames Leslie Ethelbert George Ames (3 December 1905 – 27 February 1990) was a wicket-keeper and batsman for the England cricket team and Kent County Cricket Club. In his obituary, ''Wisden'' described him as the greatest wicket-keeper-batsman of a ...

. He also played his first two

Hawke Cup The Hawke Cup is a non-first-class cricket competition for New Zealand's district associations. Apart from 1910–11, 1912–13 and 2000–01 the competition has always been on a challenge basis. To win the Hawke Cup, the challengers must beat t ...

matches for

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

in January and February 1933, taking 13 wickets for 133. Freeman was selected to play Test cricket while still a school student, making his debut in March 1933 at the age of 18 years and 197 days. He was New Zealand's youngest Test cricketer until

Daniel Vettori Daniel Luca Vettori (born 27 January 1979) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer who played for the New Zealand national cricket team. He was the 200th player to win their Test cricket cap for New Zealand. Vettori was the young ...

made his debut in 1997. Freeman took only one wicket (of

Herbert Sutcliffe Herbert Sutcliffe (24 November 1894 – 22 January 1978) was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the tw ...

) in the two Tests of the series, in which Hammond made 227 and 336 not out. He played one match for Wellington in the 1933–34 season, taking one wicket, and that was the end of his first-class career, at the age of 19.

Later life

Freeman moved to

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

in 1935, where he worked for the Colonial Sugar Refining company. He managed the

Fiji cricket team The Fiji national cricket team is the men's team that represents the Republic of Fiji in international cricket. Fiji has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1965,

's tour of New Zealand in 1953-54 and played in some of the minor matches, but achieved little with bat or ball. He later worked for CSR in Australia.''

Wisden ''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 ...

'' 1995, pp. 1384–85.

References

External links

*
BLACK CAP WHITE FERN: Doug Freeman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Doug 1914 births 1994 deaths New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand cricketers Wellington cricketers People educated at Nelson College Cricketers from Sydney Australian emigrants to New Zealand