Wilfred Frederick Frank Price (25 April 1902 – 13 January 1969) was a

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 str ...

er who played for Middlesex County Cricket Club from 1926 to 1947. Price also stood as an umpire from 1950 to 1967. He played in one

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and officiated as an umpire in eight. Price was a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

who took 648 catches and 316 stumpings in his first-class career. He was named as one of the

Wisden Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1940. Price was unfortunate to be around in the same era as

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 ...

, which limited Price's opportunities for an international career. He toured abroad twice, once with the Honourable Freddie Calthorpe's side in 1929/30, when he went as a replacement for

Rony Stanyforth Lieutenant-Colonel Ronald Thomas "Rony" Stanyforth, (30 May 1892 – 20 February 1964) was an Army officer and English amateur first-class cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, captaining England in the four Tes ...

, and then on a non-Test tour to South America in 1937/8. Price's reputation as an umpire was as someone who would stand up strongly for what he felt was right. He once no-balled

Tony Lock Graham Anthony Richard Lock (5 July 1929 – 30 March 1995) was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each. Lock took 2,844 first-class wicket ...

, the Surrey and

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 b ...

spin bowler for throwing against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He also lay down at square-leg, refusing to get up, to stop barracking at a Surrey-Yorkshire game.

References

*
Wisden obituary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Fred 1902 births 1969 deaths English Test cricket umpires England Test cricketers English cricketers London Counties cricketers Middlesex cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Players cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 North v South cricketers Sir T. E. W. Brinckman's XI cricketers