Fred Charles Gardner (4 June 1922 – 12 January 1979) was an English

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 ...

er and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. As a footballer, he played

inside-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

, Newport County, and Rugby Town. In his cricket career, he was a right-hand opening batsman who played for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

Football career

Gardner was playing for

when

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

came to Europe. He guested for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in 1946. He signed with

after the war, and scored three goals in 13 league games for the "Bantams" as the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club posted mid-table finishes in 1946–47, 1947–48, and 1948–49 under the stewardship of

Billy Frith William Frith (9 June 1912 – 1996) was an English football player and manager. Starting his career with Worksop Town, Mansfield Town, and Chesterfield; he won a move to Coventry City in 1932. He stayed with the club right up until the outbr ...

and Harry Storer. He scored two goals in four

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

games for

Tom Bromilow Thomas George Bromilow (7 October 1894 – 4 March 1959) was an English international left half footballer who played for Liverpool between 1919 and 1930. He was virtually ever-present during the back-to-back League title triumphs of the early ...

's Newport County in the 1949–50 season. After leaving

Rodney Parade Rodney Parade is a stadium in the city of Newport, South Wales, owned and operated by the Welsh Rugby Union. It is located on the east bank of the River Usk in Newport city centre. The ground is on Rodney Road, a short walk from the city's cen ...

, he played for Rugby Town and later became the trainer-

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

of Lockheed Leamington.

Cricket career

Gardner was a solid defensive player,Wisden 1980 – Obituaries

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 ...

, Retrieved on 15 November 2019Warwickshire County Cricket Club Greatest Ever
GreatestEver.com, Retrieved on 9 November 2008 who formed a productive opening partnership with

Norman Horner Norman Frederick Horner (10 May 1926 – 24 December 2003) was an English first-class cricketer, who played two games for Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1950, before moving to Warwickshire County Cricket Club in 1951. A right-handed batsma ...

for

. He played 338 first-class matches for the county between 1947 and 1961, and also made one appearance for an England XI against the touring South Africans in 1955 and one for the Players against the Gentlemen in 1957. Gardner made his first-class debut in 1947 at the age of 25, becoming a regular in 1949 when he was awarded his county

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

. He was an ever-present in the 1951 season when Warwickshire won 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 ...

, he contributed 1,338 runs and 27 catches to the success. He scored a total of 17,905 first-class runs at an average of 33.71, passing 1,000 runs in a season for ten consecutive years between 1949 and 1958. His highest score was 215

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

in 415 minutes against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in 1950; Warwickshire went on to win by an innings and 126 runs. In 1953 Gardner scored 110 against the touring Australians, becoming the first Warwickshire batsman to score a hundred against an Australian side. He was awarded a benefit season in 1958, the last season in which he appeared regularly. After finishing his playing career in 1961, he joined the umpires list standing in 98 first-class matches between 1962 and 1965. Following this he dedicated time to coaching juniors in the Coventry area. Gardner died at the age of 56, in his native

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, following a long illness.

Football career statistics

Source:

References

External links

*
Cricket Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Fred 1922 births 1979 deaths Cricketers from Coventry English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Birmingham City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. wartime guest players Coventry City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Rugby Town F.C. (1945) players English Football League players Association football coaches English cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Players cricketers English cricket umpires